Chad Mendes is now a perfect 10-0 in his MMA career after a one-sided beatdown of Michihiro Omigawa at UFC 126.

Mendes now has to be considered one of the truly elite fighters in the UFC's featherweight division, and likely a future title contender. Omigawa had been doing great things in Japan, and it was a coup for the UFC to sign him, but he wasn't prepared to step into the cage with an American opponent of Mendes' caliber.

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Mendes repeatedly went for takedowns in the first round, and although Omigawa shrugged most of them off, Mendes eventually got on top of Omigawa on the ground. However, he went right into Omigawa's guard, and Omigawa actually came close to submitting Mendes with an arm bar. It was a close first round, but Mendes was the one on offense for most of it, and that's why I gave the round to Mendes.

In the second round Mendes started to out-box Omigawa, landing some hard jabs that Omigawa was failing to block. By the midway point of the round Omigawa's nose was badly bloodied, and Mendes was completely imposing his will. With about 20 seconds to go in the round Mendes shot for a perfect takedown, and he easily won the round.

It was more of the same in the third, with Mendes completely dominating the fight, and Omigawa looking frustrated and incompetent. Give Omigawa credit for fighting hard for 15 minutes, but he was no match for Mendes, who ended the fight on top of Omigawa, raining strikes down.

The judges all gave it to Mendes 30-27. That was the right score: This was a one-sided beatdown.