Chad Mendes Has Battery Charge Dropped After Pleading to Lesser Offense in California

Mendes’ management recently announced the news. The fighter was formally charged on Aug. 24 for his alleged role in a July 29 bar fight in Hanford, Calif. Mendes faced a $2,000 fine and a sentence of up to six months in county jail had he been convicted.

Instead, the featherweight was placed on informal probation and fined $560 after pleading no-contest to a misdemeanor charge of fighting in a public place, according to a report from the Hanford Sentinel, the publication that first reported Mendes’ alleged involvement in the July 29 incident. According to the initial report, Mendes allegedly punched another patron at the Lacey Inn Bar and then fled the scene.

“I have said from the beginning that the ridiculous allegations published by the media were either false or incredibly sensationalized,” Mendes said in a prepared statement. “[Monday’s] outcome proves it.”

Mendes, 27, has been defeated just once as a professional mixed martial artist, falling by knockout to featherweight king Jose Aldo this past January at UFC 142. The setback snapped an 11-fight winning streak for the Team Alpha Male representative, who rebounded from the loss by knocking out Cody McKenzie with a body shot in just 31 seconds on July 7 at UFC 148.