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Chad Mendes: 'Jose Aldo is running from me'

Chad Mendes: 'Jose Aldo is running from me'

UFC featherweight contender had to wait a bit longer to fight Jose Aldo the first time around when the champ delayed their scheduled title bout because of injury. Eventually, the two met, in January 2012 and Aldo won via first round KO.

Since that fight, Mendes has won five straight fights and once more earned a crack at the belt. They were scheduled to rematch next month in Los Angeles until another injury to Aldo postponed the fight.

Mendes doesn't quite seem to see Aldo's point of view on the whole issue and recently called out the champion for supposedly running from him. "I'm tired of it," Mendes said recently to MMA Fighting.

"This is something he's been doing for so long. The first time he did the same thing.  I ended up taking another fight, I ended up fighting Rani Yahya in the meantime because I didn't want to be on the shelf for a year. I beat Yahya, I got the title shot. As far as injuries and backing out of fights, it's irritating and it pissed me off. It's time everyone sees the real picture here."

What do you make of Mendes' comments? Does he believe that Aldo is faking injuries or choosing not to fight through ones that he could?

Or, is the challenger just taking an opportunity to irritate the champion to try and get in his head? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Follow Elias on Twitter @EliasCepeda & @YahooCagewriter