Unbeatens Mendes and Koch Collide At WEC 47

By Frank Curreri

He’s a former collegiate wrestling star with only 18 months in the MMA game. But as Chad Mendes crams for his WEC debut against unbeaten Erik Koch (9-0), the Urijah Faber protégé makes it abundantly clear that he is a quick study.

The Cal Poly graduate (5-0) insists he’s just as capable and explosive with his fists as he is with his slams. To make his point, the short and stocky Mendes compared his standup style to that of the second most famous boxing legend walking the earth.

“I’m hoping Erik doesn’t underestimate me because I’m coming at him like a young Mike Tyson,” Mendes said with a chuckle, only half-kidding. “Me and coach, (pro boxing standout) Juan Lazcano, have been working a lot on mimicking Tyson’s style. It’s perfect for me because I’ve got these real short arms. I’m not the type of guy who is going to sit on the outside and pop you with jabs.”

A former NCAA Division I runner-up, the 5-foot-6 inch Mendes will be at a decided disadvantage in the reach department against the 5’10” Koch. Which is why Koch, who is coached by his brother, Keoni Koch, and Duke Roufus, is entering this fight with a simple gameplan and refuses to underestimate Mendes standup arsenal.

“He resembles Faber’s body type. He’s very explosive and I’m sure he’s got heavy hands,” Koch said of Mendes. “The biggest advantage I have over him is my reach and my leverage, so I’ll probably use my reach and be fast with in-and-out combinations. He trains with Faber so he’s no joke. He’s nothing to take lightly.”

While Mendes respects Koch, he wasn’t overly impressed by Koch’s most recent unanimous decision victory over Jameel Massouh. Mendes was in the stands at WEC 45 in Las Vegas and witnessed Koch’s WEC debut in the opening bout of the night.

“He’s a tough, durable guy, a lanky dude,” Mendes said. “But in my eyes he didn’t seem to be too threatening.”

A wrestler since the age of 5, Mendes obviously expects to outwrestle Koch, but realizes that being a one-trick pony won’t take him very far in his new profession. Out of necessity, wrestling carried Mendes to victory in his last fight, a unanimous decision win over Mike Joy. Just as Faber was forced to do against Mike Brown in their title fight last year, Mendes broke his right hand early in the second round of his fight with Joy, but kept grinding away with only one good hand.

“I couldn’t really squeeze anything or punch with it,” the 24-year-old Mendes said of coping with the injury in the heat of battle. “It was pretty much just taking him down and throwing elbows.”

Like Mike Joy, Koch is a southpaw. But the vanilla ground-and-pound strategy that stifled Joy may not cut it against the slicker and craftier Koch, and Mendes knows it.

“Me and my boxing coach, Juan Lazcano, have gone the last five or six weeks preparing for a southpaw,” the featherweight said. “I’ve been working a lot on my standup, probably more than anything else. I feel really comfortable in there with boxing and kickboxing.

“Erik’s kicks are pretty powerful so I’ve been working on taking him down off kicks, that kind of stuff. He’s also long, so in his guard I’m working on staying solid and keeping everything nice and short and explosive and not getting extended. I don’t want to get submitted with those long legs.”

Perhaps most impressive about Koch, beyond a scrappiness that is reminiscent of Nate Diaz, is that his remarkable poise belies his 21 years. A native Iowan, Koch said he has always matched up well against wrestlers and, if need be, he considers himself one of the relatively few fighters in MMA who are extremely dangerous fighting off their backs (a la Antonio “Minotauro” Noguiera, Nate Diaz, and Miguel Torres, among a short list of others).

“I feel really good off my back. One of my favorite spots to be is on my back,” Koch said. “There have been fights where I was on my back and I submitted guys. I’m comfortable there and I’m really flexible. One of my favorite spots to be in is on my back. I also believe in my ability to get back up. My conditioning is great, I’m in the best shape of my life. I really don’t get tired. He’s kind of the same way; he’s an Energizer Bunny so hopefully we can make Fight of the Night out of it.”

Thus far the unflappable Koch, who began training Tae Kwon Do at 4 years old and MMA at 12, seems ready to mix it up with anyone. He shed light on the mentality that cultivates that calm, recalling the emotions that engulfed him during his organizational debut in Las Vegas.

“The experience was kind of surreal,” Koch said. “It was a blast, I loved it. The biggest thing is having fun. The fight was fun and I had a smile on my face. It was a good time in there.”

Koch was the hammer in that fight; Mendes intends to make him the nail in his next go-round. Despite having 23 fewer pro fights than Massouh, Mendes is convinced he’s much better – and possessing all the goods to become a future world champion. Koch sees the biggest opportunity of his career there for the taking and is thrilled to be thrown into the deep waters.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “He’s trained a lot with Faber and is one of his best training partners. It’s a step up in competition but that’s what I want. I’m not going to discredit him on experience because he trains with a good camp and in the short time he’s been training MMA he’s learned a lot. I’ve seen a couple of his fights and he looks well-rounded. I’m training like he’s the toughest guy I’ve ever fought.”

The undercard clash will take place March 6 at WEC 47 in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus is home to “The” Ohio State University – as Buckeye alums like to call it. Mendes has never competed or fought in Columbus but the most haunting loss of his career happened at the hands of J. Jaggers, an Ohio State University wrestler who defeated Mendes 5-2 in the 2008 NCAA national finals at 141 pounds.

To the best of anyone’s knowledge, and to Mendes’ dismay, Jaggers has not dabbled in MMA.
“Oh, I wish he would,” Mendes said wistfully, still hungry to exact revenge. “Even if he was a 155 pounder, I would bump up for that fight.”