They’re things in life that are worth waiting for longer than others. The mixed martial arts community will finally get to see one of those opportunities come the UFC on Fox 7 card when Gilbert Melendez makes his Octagon debut. After so many years making a claim to being the best lightweight in the world, but not fighting against the best opponents in the UFC, Melendez will step into the bright lights with a chance to prove his point.
Since his first time winning the Strikeforce title back in 2006, Gilbert Melendez has been a name that carried a cult following. As he competed in the Strikeforce promotion he slowly became one of the promotion’s flag bearers and did so proudly as he turned away opponent after opponent. With two title reigns under that organization, Melendez suffered defeat to Mitsuhiro Ishida and Josh Thomson but was able to return the favor to both of those individuals in dominating fashion.
As the years past he would shout from the roof tops that he was the world’s best lightweight but names such as BJ Penn, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard were consistently ranked above him. Now current champion Benson Henderson is considered the top lightweight in the world and has leapfrogged Melendez, much to his dismay. Melendez continued to toil away in Strikeforce, taking bouts that experts considered “beneath” him in the talent category. After his second victory over Josh Thomson last year, it was apparent that Melendez was no longer interested in the rat race that had become the Strikeforce lightweight division.
Before the company was completely absorbed into the UFC, Melendez was expected to place his title on the line against Pat Healy on two separate occasions. However, both of those occasions would be cancelled as the champion would cite injury after injury to have the bout scrapped. Healy made suggestions that the champion was ducking him but in reality this was the best business move for “El Nino.” Now he’s walking into the UFC to give the fans the first title unification bout since UFC 82 on the promotions biggest free television event.
When looking at this fight it becomes very difficult to choose someone to take the fight. While betting odds will be placed on Henderson, much of that can be attributed to mainstream recognition. Melendez has all the abilities to put together the strategy to defeat Henderson much as Edgar did but also convince the judges that he truly did show.
Both Henderson and Melendez use a pressure style that is meant to keep them in their opponent’s face from the very start of the fight. According to Fight Metric Henderson is much more accurate with landing his strikes by a 45 percent to 33 percent margin, but Melendez throws more power as he lands 3.56 significant strikes per minute compared to Henderson’s 2.93. An interesting note to this bout is how well Henderson will use his size to control where this fight takes place. Both athletes are solid MMA wrestlers but Henderson is more prone to score the takedown as he scores 3.2 takedowns per 15 minutes of action in comparison to Melendez scoring just 1.94. Melendez hasn’t competed against a fighter who is as physically imposing at lightweight as Henderson, so that size advantage may come into play multiple times throughout the fight.
Gilbert Melendez may be the biggest name to ever walk into the UFC carrying a title from an outside promotion. He’s begged for fans and media alike to consider him the top name in the weight class and now his opportunity to take that position is here. He’s the last member of the “Skrap Pack” to get a UFC title shot and is perhaps the best suited to win said title. There’s so much on the line for “El Nino” this weekend, but none of those things may be as important as his chance to say “I told you so.”
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