Coach: ‘Elite’ Thad Jean has a target on his back after ‘brilliant’ PFL title win

Thad Jean dominated the PFL welterweight grand prix in 2025 with three victories in four months, and his head coach Daniel Mendes believes this is just the beginning of a very successful career in the sport.

Mendes, who leads Fight Sports Deerfield Beach alongside longtime MMA veteran Gesias Cavalcante, met Jean when their athlete Roman Faraldo gave him what  would be Jean’s last loss as an athlete in July 2018, still in amateur MMA. Jean fought another fighter from the team 16 months later, topping Jorge Molina via decision.

Mendes and Cavalcante invited Jean to be part of the team after that, and began training “The Silverback” for his professional debut during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast forward four years, and Jean now holds a perfect 11-0 record with a 7-0 run under the PFL banner.

“He’s the new generation of MMA,” Mendes told MMA Fighting. “We brought him from amateur to professional in five years, and now to the elite. There are professionals, and there’s the elite. I told him after this last fight, ‘You have a target on your back now.’ People will focus on him, reading his mistakes to try to beat him next time. This is the turning point of his career now.”

Jean kicked off the 170-pound tournament with a first-round knockout over Mukhamed Berkhamov in April, and won a split decision over former Bellator champion Jason Jackson two months later. Logan Storley, another ex-Bellator titleholder, was beaten via unanimous decision in the final.

“We won in brilliant fashion, given the circumstances,” Mendes said. “People said, ‘Let’s fight this kid because he has no experience.’ He fought Berkhamov, he fought Jason Jackson, he fought Logan Storley, who are all more experienced than him.”

Jean turned 27 in July, and Mendes sees him with the potential of being the face of the PFL alongside flyweight star Dakota Ditcheva.

“He’s a very sellable kid, let’s put it that way,” Mendes said. “He knows how to speak, he knows how to get attention, he knows how to talk trash when he needs to, like he did against Jason Jackson. I have no doubt he can be — in a way he already is a great MMA product like Dakota, especially in PFL.”

Mendes, who also works as a scout for fighters from other camps, such as Gilbert Burns, Vicente Luque, Gregory Rodrigues and Marc Andre Barriault, said that the plan for Jean is to focus on evolution for the remainder of the year.

“We do serious work here, very scientific and smart,” Mendes said. “The best scenario for him would be resting and preparing this year so we can fight again around February or March. He’s still a developing fighter. We need time to work on the technique with him.”