Jose Aldo Keeps Streak Alive With First Round KO Over Chad Mendes

UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo extended his unbeaten streak to fourteen straight tonight in his backyard of Rio de Janeiro, exceeding expectations to knock out Chad Mendes in the first round of their championship bout.

Having drawn some criticism for appearing less dominant in a few of his recent appearances, 145lbs. kingpin Jose Aldo reminded everyone why he's considered to be one of the very best in the game tonight by completely outclassing a very talented, previously undefeated Chad Mendes en route to scoring a knockout in the first round.

Mendes was clearly in trouble early, as Aldo had little trouble denying his takedown attempts, while he had plenty of difficulty avoiding Aldo's savage leg kicks. Though Mendes was game, Aldo was clearly controlling the fight. As the first round came to a close, Mendes had hold of Aldo around the waist, a position from which the Brazilian exploded from, spinning around ready to strike. As Mendes ducked back in for a takedown, Aldo fired off a hard knee that caught the challenger square on the chin and sent him falling straight backward. The follow up ground and pound was academic; Mendes was out and the fight was called with one second left in the first round.

Aldo is now 21-1, having defended his belt five times and proven himself nothing short of dominant along the way. The sky is clearly the limit for the 25-year-old Brazilian, who sprinted from the cage following his win to join in celebration with the raucous Rio crowd.

Mendes picked up the first loss of his career, his record now standing at 10-1. The two fighters met at UFC 142, which took place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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