Augusto Mendes has confidence in his abilities to overcome Aljamain Sterling.
The two Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweights are set to do battle tomorrow night (April 15) inside the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The bout will take place as part of the UFC on FOX 24 card.
For Mendes, this is a chance to make his debut on the official UFC bantamweight rankings. He told MMAFighting.com that he believes he can make it happen:
“I don’t think I’m a good match-up for him. His biggest chances are standing, but I don’t believe his striking has anything special. Most of his wins came with his wrestling and submissions, using his jiu-jitsu, and I expect him to come and wrestle me. I hope he comes for it. I truly believe he’ll move around, throw some kicks, and do pretty much what he always does. I’m not sure I’d have the advantage standing, we’ll find out when the fight starts, but looking at his striking skills, it doesn’t scare me at all. He has some strong points, some kicks, but he has no hand combinations. He plays it safe. He only used his wrestling against Raphael Assuncao in the first round because it wasn’t going well for him in the first round. There’s nothing there that scares me. I train with guys here that are way better than him standing.”
