Chad Edward Mendes was born on 1 May 1986, in Hanford, California USA, of mixed Irish, Puerto Rican, Native American, Italian, and Portuguese descent. Chad is a mixed martial artist, best known for being part of the featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He was recently ranked as the number 4 featherweight in the UFC, and all of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Chad Mendes? As of mid-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $1.5 million, mostly earned through his career in mixed martial arts. He’s been competing since he was in high school, and has been in over 20 professional mixed martial arts fights. As he continues his career his wealth will likely increase.
Chad Mendes Net Worth $1.5 million
Chad attended Hanford High School and wrestled while at school. He steadily improved throughout the years and eventually finished in 3rd place as a senior, earning him a Cadet All-American honor. After matriculating, he went to Cal Poly and achieved a wrestling record of 64-14 – his senior year was his most dominant, as proved by his 30-1 record, and he finished in second place in the 2008 NCAA championships. After college, he decided to train with the mixed martial arts team, Alpha Male and also joined Palace Fighting Championship, going undefeated.
In March 2010, Chad became part of World Extreme Cagefighting and made a strong debut winning via unanimous decision. The following month he faced Anthony Morrison and would win in the first round through a submission. He continued making strong performances in 2010, defeating Cub Swanson and Javier Vazquez in his next two fights. He used an unorthodox front flip against Vazquez while he was on the ground. Afterwards, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with Ultimate Fighting Championship and all of their fighters including Mendes became part of the UFC. His first fight in the UFC was against judo black belt Michihiro Omigawa in February 2011. He would go on and win that fight via unanimous decision, and was slated to fight UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, but due to injuries he would instead fight Rani Yanya, getting another win.
The championship fight eventually took place in January 2012 but Mendes lost in the first round, being knocked out by Aldo. This was his first professional loss, and his next fight would come in July 2012 when he fought Cody McKenzie – this time he bounced back and won via knockout. Later in the year, he was set to fight Hacran Dias, but Dias was replaced by Yaotzin Meza and Chad won again through knockout. His next fight would be in April 2013 against Darren Elkins and Chad won by TKO during the first round. He then fought Clay Guida in August, winning by TKO and then went on to win against Nik Lentz in December. After this string of wins, he was set to get a rematch with Jose Aldo, but Aldo was injured again so they were rescheduled to fight in October 2014. He got a knock down during the first round but Mendes would lose a very close fight. The following year, he fought Ricardo Lamas, after which his contract was extended for another eight fights. He was set to fight Conor McGregor as a replacement for Jose Aldo, and Conor would win in the second round. In late 2015, he lost against Frankie Edgar and after a few months was investigated for a potential doping violation.
For his personal life, it is known that Chad was charged with battery because of being involved in a bar fight. The charges were later dropped but he was charged with public disturbance, and was fined. Any relationships have been kept very private.
