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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight number one contender, Chad Mendes, is facing misdemeanor battery charges after an altercation at a bar last month in Hanford, California.
From The Sentinel:
The Kings County District Attorney’s Office announced today that they would seek a battery charge against Mendes, which carries with it a possible $2,000 fine and up to six months in county jail.
"The victim felt lucky to walk out with just a contusion after being punched by Mendes," Assistant Sheriff Dave Putnam said.
Mendes was "shocked" and "surprised" by the allegations, which first hit the airwaves earlier this month, and "contends that the majority of the facts pertaining to him in the story are absolutely false."
After the jump, longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) journalist and frequent MMAmania.com contributor Larry Pepe says there's actually more less to the story, which claims Mendes reeled off a "sucker punch," than first reported.
Original story in @HanfordSentinel about Chad Mendes way overblown & inaccurate. Never punched anyone, ran or evaded police. Close sources tell me bar patron started in with Mendes, he slapped patron, no injury or knockdown and all on videotape. That's why he was charged with simple misdemeanor, not felony. Sensationalism can damage careers.
You know the old saying: "Money" talks and bullshit gets reported by the Hanford Sentinel. It will be interesting to see what actually transpired if and when that video finds its way online.
Mendes is coming off a blistering knockout win over Cody McKenzie at UFC 148: "Silva vs. Sonnen 2" back on July 7, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The stoppage was expected to catapult him back into contention in the 145-pound division after he came up short in his first title shot against Jose Aldo at UFC 142 earlier this year.
How much this recent run-in with the law affects his fighting future, if at all, remains to be seen.
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