Chad Mendes reveals the UFC allowed his BKFC bout, open to possible MMA return down the line

Ahead of his BKFC debut, Chad Mendes has revealed that he’s still signed to the UFC.

Mendes retired from MMA in 2019 following a loss to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 232. During his eight year stint in the UFC, he was considered amongst the most entertaining fighters in the promotion. He also challenged for gold on three different occasions, coming up short against Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor.

Mendes officially announced he was coming out of retirement in 2021. He quickly signed with the Bare Knuckle fighting promotion BKFC. His debut is set for this weekend’s KnuckleMania 2 event, where he’ll take on Joshua Famez.

Ahead of his debut, he’s revealed some shocking news. Chad Mendes revealed in an interview with MMAJunkie, that he’s still actually contracted to the UFC. It’s extremely rare for the promotion to allow a fighter to fight under a different banner while signed to their company.

Furthermore, Mendes actually noted that he’d be down for an MMA return somewhere down the line. However, he noted that he’d have to be paid a lot more to return to the cage. He currently has three fights left on his UFC deal.

Image: Chad Mendes on Instagram

“I still have three fights on my UFC contract, and what that pay is right now, not a chance. It’s just not worth it for me. If I ended up talking and we could renegotiate, possibly. But it would have to be really good money.” – said Chad Mendes on MMAJunkie radio.

Mendes continued, “[The UFC] were actually really cool about letting me come here [BKFC] and making money for my family. They could have said no, so the fact that they did say yes, that’s good on them. Thank you.”

What do you think about Chad Mendes one day potentially returning to the UFC? What do you make of his BKFC debut this weekend?