Dominant Mendes shows he’s worthy of another UFC title shot

Another dominant performance by Chad Mendes left no doubt that he’s the top contender for the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight title.

Mendes stopped Ricardo Lamas midway through the first round of UFC Fight Night 63 on Saturday in Fairfax, Va., to secure his spot at 145 pounds. He’ll be watching with great interest July 11 when longtime champion Jose Aldo defends his title against Conor McGregor at UFC 189 at the MGM Grand Garden.

It didn’t take long for Mendes to establish his dominance in Saturday’s main event. The final sequence began when Mendes landed to the top of Lamas’ head as both fighters fired right hands. Lamas dropped immediately and never fully recovered in the featherweight-contender bout.

Mendes stalked Lamas around the cage, alternating between punches and submission attempts, until stopping him with two punches on the mat.

The victory put Mendes in line to challenge for the belt again, but the title picture isn’t entirely clear.

Mendes has lost twice to Aldo, making a third fight a somewhat difficult sell.

Should McGregor defeat Aldo, a rematch between the two certainly could be in order.

It also remains possible that the winner of a May fight between Urijah Faber and Frankie Edgar could be next in line to fight the belt.

Mendes said he hopes his win over Lamas will be enough to state his case.

“Obviously I think I did enough (to earn a title shot), but I really don’t want to wait for a year to fight again,” Mendes said on Fox Sports 1. “I only got one fight in last year. I would hate to only have one fight this year as well. If the fight’s not too far off from making sense, I would take another fight, but ultimately I’m looking to get that belt. This is a dream, a goal of mine, and I’m working one fight at a time to back in there.”

Mendes, 29, improved to 17-0 against everyone but Aldo. But those two losses against the champion could keep Mendes from getting another title shot in the near future.

“There is some weird unwritten rule, I don’t know who the hell wrote that rule or why it’s in place,” Mendes said, “but I understand it’s tough for a guy who’s lost to the champ twice to get back in there and fight for a third time.”

Also on the card, lightweight Al Iaquinta won a controversial split decision over Jorge Masvidal.

Iaquinta struggled in the first round, but did enough to win the final two rounds on two of the three scorecards. The other judge gave Masvidal all three rounds. The crowd angrily booed the decision, and Iaquinta stormed out before the traditional postfight interview after expressing his displeasure with the reaction.

He later explained his irritation.

“I got extremely frustrated when the crowd was booing me,” Iaquinta said. “I do this for them. I looked in the crowd, and a guy was giving me the middle finger. It really got to me because I do this for the fans. I don’t know if they were booing me or the decision, but that hurt. I do this for the cheers.”

Julianna Pena, winner of Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, returned from a 16-month layoff because of a knee injury with a first-round knockout of Milana Dudieva in a women’s bantamweight bout. Pena secured a mount and battered Dudieva with punches until the fight was stopped at 3:59.

“That felt great, that felt amazing, I feel like we rewound time back to the (reality show),” Pena said. “My game plan was to get on top, stay on top and get the finish, but I was surprised at how quick I was able to finish her. I waited for the perfect moment to unwind my punches, and it worked out great.

“I need to take a minute, put my toes in the sand and work on my tan, then I’ll be ready to get back in there.”

Michael Chiesa and Clay Guida won decisions on the main card. Lightweight Dustin Poirier scored a first-round knockout of Carlos Diego Ferreira.

Las Vegan Gray Maynard lost by unanimous decision — his fourth consecutive defeat — in a featured lightweight bout on the preliminary card. Maynard was unable to take down Alexander Yakovlev and never got in a striking rhythm.

“I think I had the mindset of playing it close,” Maynard said. “He came out to win, and he’s a lot tougher than I expected. He got off the cage really well. I just have to take my loss on this one. I thought it could’ve gone either way with rounds one and three. He got a takedown at the end of the third, and I guess that locked it up.”

Also on the preliminary card, women’s bantamweight contender Liz Carmouche won a unanimous decision over Lauren Murphy.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.