UFC 232 featured a rematch involving a consensus pound-for-pound talent, as well as a super-fight of proportions never seen prior in female mixed martial arts, and yet there’s a good argument that neither bout featured the most skilled fighter of the event.
Opening the pay-per-view portion was a bout between streaking prospect Alexander Volkanovski and Chad Mendes; Mendes came up short, losing via second-round knockout, and announced his retirement after the fight. As his decade-long professional fighting career has seemingly come to a close, it appears prudent to look back on Mendes’ career and recognize just how rare of a talent he turned out to be.