UFC's Chad Mendes 'shocked and surprised' by police allegations of sucker punching in bar room brawl

Just days ago, the Hanford Sentinal in Hanford, California, got word of a bar room brawl involving some 40 people or so that required local authorities showing up just to keep the peace. As it turned out, one of those 40 men was Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight contender Chad Mendes.

According to the story, Mendes was uncooperative with police and even went so far as to sucker punch an unsuspecting patron before rushing out the back door and fleeing on foot. He was never caught and has been wanted for questioning ever since.

The sheriff of Hanford would tell the Sentinel than Mendes could be charged with assault with a deadly weapon due to his extensive mixed martial arts (MMA) training and he has until Monday (Aug. 6) to turn himself in or a warrant would be issued for his arrest.

Pretty serious stuff, folks.

Mendes had remained quiet until MMAFighting.com reached his camp and got a statement on the matter. According to said statement, Mendes is "shocked and surprised" at the allegations.

Friday afternoon, Chad Mendes was shocked and surprised by the allegations contained in an article published on an Internet news site. While Chad acknowledges that an incident occurred last Saturday in Hanford, he contends that the majority of the facts pertaining to him in the story are absolutely false.

Attempts were immediately made by Chad's representatives to contact personnel at the Sheriff's Department on Friday afternoon. Despite these repeated attempts, Chad's representatives have not received any response from the Sheriff's Department at the time of this release.

Chad denies any wrongdoing and is very upset by the allegations contained in the story. He will fully cooperate with the Sheriff's Department and looks forward to clearing his name.

Mendes is fresh on the heels of a dominant first round stoppage victory over Cody McKenzie at UFC 148: "Silva vs. Sonnen 2" this past July 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The victory was expected to catapult him back into contention in the 145-pound division after he lost in his title shot at Jose Aldo to start the year at UFC 142.

Now? Who knows.

Innocent until proven guilty and all that but when the witnesses in a case are cops, it certainly doesn't sound good for the defendant. But there's much more to the story here and MMAmania.com will keep you up to date as it all happens.