As a spectator of combat sports, there is nothing better than having a fighter completely surprise you with his heart, determination, and skill. At UFC 179, such was the case for both fighters in the main event, a rematch between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes for Aldo's featherweight belt. Mendes gave Aldo more trouble than anyone before him, and yet Aldo showed that, when pressed, he is more dangerous than any of us realized. Perhaps the champion has coasted against the likes of Ricardo Lamas and Frankie Edgar, but presented with the threat of being knocked out, he showed that he is all but willing to die to defend his belt.

Today we will explore the mentalities and techniques of these fighters in the first two rounds of this bout, which should already be regarded as an absolute classic, and quite possibly the best featherweight title fight of all time.

This is Pivotal Moments: Aldo vs Mendes.

(Author's note: This is part one of a two-part article. You can find part two here.)

ROUND ONE

"Are you ready?" Referee Marc Goddard asked both fighters in turn. They both nodded, and the fight began.

Immediately Mendes swarmed Aldo, pressing forward, feinting with his feet and his left hand. A hard right low kick from the challenger (GIF) set the tone for the evening: this was not the Chad Mendes who had anxiously peppered Aldo with low kicks and dived desperately into a fight-ending knee. This was a man who truly aimed to take the champion's belt. This time, when Mendes told the referee that he was ready, he was.

Of course, Aldo is a master of small moments. It is very difficult to find prolonged success against him, as he constantly adapts, not necessarily focused on winning the rounds or even winning the fight, but completely concentrated on one goal: to win each and every exchange. In Aldo's mind, fighting is summed up by one thought. "Whatever you do, I will do it better than you."

So when Mendes connected with three clean shots within the first twenty seconds of the bout, Aldo shifted into a gear we're not used to seeing from him. Evidently, one reserved for real challenges. Three clean sharp punches, right-left-right, and Aldo stepped back out of range. Suddenly Mendes had something to think about, and Aldo pressed his advantage. Another low kick from Mendes was answered with a pair of body punches. Aldo pressed with another combination, but this time Mendes responded, landing a counter right inside Aldo's left hook.

Unacceptable. Aldo pressed forward yet again. Returned to the body, unwilling to let Mendes claim even momentary victory on the feet. And in that moment . . .

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GIF

1. Mendes moves toward Aldo.

2. Mendes takes a hard step forward and feints with both hands--Aldo begins to react.

3. The champ leads with a fake jab . . .

4. . . . followed by a wound-up right uppercut. Mendes blocks this punch with his left elbow.

5. Aldo pulls back, but Mendes has already begun to counter.

6. Aldo pulls his punching hand back to guard but not in time--Mendes clips him hard with a tight left hook.

7. Aldo goes down.

For the first time in his professional career, Aldo was knocked to the canvas. By a wrestler.

What happened? For Aldo, the focus has always been on tactics. To draw once more from a discussion with Sherdog analyst Patrick Wyman (and a Sherdog thread which that discussion inspired), this tactical mindset means that Aldo is often overtly focused on the "how" of fighting--"how can I beat his right hand with my own? How can I get past his parries? How can I set up my left hook?" This is part of what makes Aldo such an amazing adaptive fighter, but his fixation on the "how" means he is very susceptible to forgetting strategy, which is the "why" of fighting--"why am I trying to counter his punches? Why should I try to get power punches around his guard? Why should I plant my feet and throw combinations?"

In a word, Aldo forgets his long-term goals and finds himself wholly absorbed in the how, and the now. In my pre-fight Gaps in the Armor, I wrote that constant, varied pressure could force Aldo to work harder than he intended and end up tiring him out. Like Aldo, I somewhat overlooked the possibility that Mendes might not have to tire Aldo out to beat him--that Mendes is a hell of a puncher, and that perhaps it would be ill-advised for Aldo to stand and trade with him at all. That turned out to be the case--at least for a bit.

Because despite all of that, this knockdown is not my pivotal moment for round one. Rather, in a first for this series, the pivotal moment of the frame came in the form of a very telling foul.

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GIF

1. Aldo stalks toward Mendes, having just partially connected with a series of punches.

2. Mendes prepares to cover up with some sort of cross-armed guard.

3. Aldo chooses one of the best weapons to confuse an inexperienced striker, connecting with a lead right as Mendes confusedly covers up.

4. Aldo immediately stays on Mendes, popping him with a jab.

5. In response, Mendes relaxes, standing up and dropping his hands.

6. At which point Aldo drops him with a clean cross to the jaw.

There's a narrative to this sequence. What you can't tell just by examining the diagram is that, between frames 3 and 4, the horn sounded, signalling the end of the round. That's why, as Aldo connects with his jab in frame 4, referee Marc Goddard is moving to separate the fighters, something he fails to do in time.

Whether or not Aldo heard the horn is something only he will truly know. The fact is, however, that it doesn't really matter. What matters is why Mendes was so easily hit with three clean punches in a row. The clackers had just sounded, so the Alpha Male fighter new the end of the round was near. He had just been dropped (GIF) and (somewhat) beaten up on the ground by the champion, so he was no doubt ready for a rest despite his unprecedented success earlier in the round. And, after being stung by two consecutive punches, he seemed overcome by bravado. Watching the GIF, Mendes' body language following the jab in frame 4 is that of a man about to wryly acknowledge his opponent's success, as if to say "You got lucky."

All of these factors combine to give us one very clear impression, which is that Chad Mendes is kind of new at this. Despite a long and successful wrestling career, Mendes has only been competing in MMA for six years, and he has only been learning to strike at his current level for one and a half. He's inexperienced, and prone to mistakes. Like letting his guard down with a surging Muay Thai specialist coming at him.

This moment served as a profound statement for the champion, and a harsh lesson for the challenger. With those final two punches, Aldo seemed to say: "I've been learning to fight at this level for a decade; you just started two years ago. This is my fight. My belt. My division."

But Mendes wasn't ready to give up yet.

ROUND TWO

Mendes stormed out of the gate yet again to start round two, as if to convince himself that he hadn't fallen under a barrage of punches a minute earlier. It didn't matter. He had found success with his aggressive countering style in round one, and he would look to do so again.

Unfortunately for him, the tactical Aldo is guided by the sharp strategic mind of Andre Pederneiras. The fight footage doesn't show much of Aldo's corner between the first and second rounds, but having looked at the footage I'm willing to guess one word was heavily featured: "Jab."

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GIF

1. Mendes begins to step toward Aldo.

2. Aldo stops him in his tracks with a full-body jab to the mouth.

3. With a quick step back, Aldo launches another jab to keep Mendes at range . . .

4. . . . and finds the challenger just at the end of his reach.

5. Again Mendes makes a bold step in Aldo's direction, this time ready to slip.

6. But Aldo throws his jab low, at Mendes' chest, and it connects with his shoulder even as it misses his head.

If nothing else, this fight underscores just how perfect a pair Jose Aldo and Andre Pederneiras are. Despite getting knocked down in the first round, Aldo came back to knock down and beat up Mendes, before illegally (but nevertheless momentously) knocking him down a second after the bell. His tactical brilliance is such that he can not only survive a career-first knockdown, but respond with a knockdown of his own--his first in two years, in fact. Then, consulting with Pederneiras in the corner, Aldo deftly held on to his lead in the second round with a strategic approach, using his excellent jab to keep the smaller, shorter-limbed Mendes at a range from which he had no chance of repeating his success.

There is still the moment-to-moment brilliance of Aldo himself at play in this sequence. Nearly every one of Aldo's ramrod jabs in the second round was timed perfectly so as to coincide with a forward step from Mendes. Not only was Mendes off-balanced as a result, but he was actively discouraged from advancing and closing the distance throughout the round. And because Aldo knows to jab at the chest of an evasive opponent, Mendes failed to set up a counter using his much improved head movement. The same opening that Mendes exploited against Yaotzin Meza is there against Aldo in frame 6--the champion's weight is committed forward and his head is unprotected on the left side. But Aldo's jab is not Meza's jab, and Aldo places that piston-like punch perfectly. Mendes couldn't swing his right shoulder forward to counter even if he wanted to, thanks to Aldo's disruptive fist.

Mendes wasn't done yet, of course. Over the next three rounds the challenger would push the champion even more, staggering him with clean, powerful punches and neutralizing his footwork with wrestling. We'll take a look at those pivotal moments in tomorrow's installment.

For more Aldo-Mendes discussion, check out the event preview with Patrick Wyman on Heavy Hands, the only podcast dedicated to the finer points of face-punching. This week's episode will feature more discussion of UFC 179, and an interview with Bloody Elbow's own Coach Mike Riordan on the application of wrestling in MMA.