Strikeforce today announced that there would indeed be a third title fight during the upcoming “Shamrock vs. Cung Le” event — Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (13-1) will put his Strikeforce lightweight strap on the line against Gabe Lemley (11-6).
That means that the Strikeforce middleweight, lightweight and EliteXC welterweight titles will all be up for grabs at the HP Pavillion in San Jose, Calif., on March 29.
Melendez is a 25-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter who trains with the Diaz brothers under Cesar Gracie in California. He’s one of the brightest young stars in the sport of mixed martial arts today.
Here are his thoughts on the bout:
“”I’m looking forward to fighting in front of my home crowd. I’ve been training hard and I feel sharper than ever. 2008 is going to be a big year for Gilbert Melendez.”
“El Nino” won the lightweight belt by beating UFC veteran Clay Guida via split decision in June 2006. He won the first 13 fights of his MMA career before losing a unanimous decision this past New Year’s Eve to Mitsuhiro Ishida.
Along with Nick Diaz and Jake Shields, Melendez now makes three Cesar Gracie-trained fighters who will be competing in San Jose. It’s clearly a very important night for their camp.
Lemley, on the other hand, is looking to extend his five-fight win streak and to capture his first major title. He started his professional MMA career off slowly, losing four of his first five fights.
However, since then he has really come into his own, defeating high-caliber fighters such Guida via first round submission (armbar).
This fight makes an already stacked card even more stacked. Three title fights and the addition of Nick Diaz is a recipe for success. This could be one of the best shows of the year … and not just for Strikeforce and ProElite.
24 Comments »
You know you’re not the UFC when either the title fight is before the main event, or you can afford to have multiple title fights in one show. lol
One of the best shows of the year??? Surely you jest.
[quote comment=”358776″]You know you’re not the UFC when either the title fight is before the main event, or you can afford to have multiple title fights in one show. lol[/quote]
UFC often has more than one title fight … look no further than UFC 73. And unless Nog and Silva are fighting big name opponents, or are on cards with bankable stars, then expect to see more of it.
This Strikeforce/EliteXC card is fantastic. I wouldn’t knock it.
I am very happy to see that El Nino will FINALLY have a fight that the mainstream public will be able to see on television.
[quote comment=”358776″]You know you’re not the UFC when either the title fight is before the main event, or you can afford to have multiple title fights in one show. lol[/quote]
Sherk vs Penn will be the first time since the LW belt came back to the UFC that a LW title fight will be the main event. Sherk vs Florian nor Sherk vs Franca were main events.
For those that don’t know of Gilbert and think he’s just ‘another fighter’, he has actually appeared in the Top 10 of every official Top Pound for Pound fighters in MMA.
Plus he trains with the Diaz’s over at Camp Cesar Gracie.
I GOT SOME NEWS TO SHARE:
#1) HDNET will air the XFL event instead of the Dream Grand Prix on Saturday…… Booooooo!
#2) The UFC already scheduled tryouts for TUF 8, that will take place in April from Boston. Not sure about what weight class it will feature yet!
Saturdays DREAMS event wont air on HDNET!
Tryouts for TUF 8 held in Boston, sometime in early April.
[quote comment=”358811″]I am very happy to see that El Nino will FINALLY have a fight that the mainstream public will be able to see on television.
[quote comment=”358776″]You know you’re not the UFC when either the title fight is before the main event, or you can afford to have multiple title fights in one show. lol[/quote]
Sherk vs Penn will be the first time since the LW belt came back to the UFC that a LW title fight will be the main event. Sherk vs Florian nor Sherk vs Franca were main events.[/quote]
Yeah its really good for him that he will finally get some American TV air time, the kid is a great fighter and deserves it. I would have preffered him staying in the Light weight Grand Prix, that he was scheduled to appear him. But I understand that he wants to become a household name in America
Nick Diaz should have entered the DREAM grand Prix, the second he found out KJ noons wouldnt give him a rematch!
Jesus, how many split decisions does Clay Guida have? He has to be close to some kind of a record.
[quote comment=”358838″]I GOT SOME NEWS TO SHARE:
#1) HDNET will air the XFL event instead of the Dream Grand Prix on Saturday…… Booooooo!
#2) The UFC already scheduled tryouts for TUF 8, that will take place in April from Boston. Not sure about what weight class it will feature yet![/quote]
The XFL??? As in Vince McMahon’s attempt at football????
[quote comment=”358903″]Jesus, how many split decisions does Clay Guida have? He has to be close to some kind of a record.[/quote]
I wouldnt be surprised if he did have the record. There are many great lightweights that dont finish to many fights. There fights are still very exciting but think about it when was the last time any of these guys finished fights and what percentage of top lightweights wins came by stoppage?
Huerta?
Edgar?
fisher?
Guida?
Griffin?
All great fighters but it seems like many of their fights go to decisions. Maybe its because the lightweight division is so good and fighters are evenly matched…I dont know. Maybe I am wrong, like I said I dont have their records in front of me, but it seems like they dont finish fights too often.
I am not trying to take anything away from these fighters because weather they end the fights or not, they usually fight their hearts out in very entertaining wars.
this card looks better than ufc83
Melendez should be fighting a better opponent.
[quote comment=”358922″][quote comment=”358903″]Jesus, how many split decisions does Clay Guida have? He has to be close to some kind of a record.[/quote]
I wouldnt be surprised if he did have the record. There are many great lightweights that dont finish to many fights. There fights are still very exciting but think about it when was the last time any of these guys finished fights and what percentage of top lightweights wins came by stoppage?
Huerta?
Edgar?
fisher?
Guida?
Griffin?
All great fighters but it seems like many of their fights go to decisions. Maybe its because the lightweight division is so good and fighters are evenly matched…I dont know. Maybe I am wrong, like I said I dont have their records in front of me, but it seems like they dont finish fights too often.
I am not trying to take anything away from these fighters because weather they end the fights or not, they usually fight their hearts out in very entertaining wars.[/quote]
You may want to reconsider your assessment of Huerta in that listing, since of his 6 UFC bouts, only 2 went to decision. Likewise with Spencer Fisher, who’s finished 5 of his 8 octagon bouts as well…
[quote comment=”358922″][quote comment=”358903″]Jesus, how many split decisions does Clay Guida have? He has to be close to some kind of a record.[/quote]
I wouldnt be surprised if he did have the record. There are many great lightweights that dont finish to many fights. There fights are still very exciting but think about it when was the last time any of these guys finished fights and what percentage of top lightweights wins came by stoppage?
Huerta?
Edgar?
fisher?
Guida?
Griffin?
All great fighters but it seems like many of their fights go to decisions. Maybe its because the lightweight division is so good and fighters are evenly matched…I dont know. Maybe I am wrong, like I said I dont have their records in front of me, but it seems like they dont finish fights too often.
I am not trying to take anything away from these fighters because weather they end the fights or not, they usually fight their hearts out in very entertaining wars.[/quote]
Huerta — 20 wins, 14 by stoppage (70%). UFC — 6-0, 4 by stoppage (66.6%)
Edgar — 8 wins, 4 stoppages (50%). UFC — 3-0, 1 stoppage (33.3%)
Fisher — 20 wins, 18 stoppages (90%). UFC — 5-3, 4 stoppage wins (80%), 1 stoppage loss (33.3%).
Guida — 22 wins, 14 stoppages (63.3%). UFC/WEC — 3-3, 1 stoppage win (33.3%), 1 stoppage loss (33.3%).
Griffin — 11 wins, 8 stoppages (72.7%). UFC — 4-1, 1 stoppage win (25%), 0 stoppage losses (0%).
[quote comment=”358999″][quote comment=”358922″][quote comment=”358903″]Jesus, how many split decisions does Clay Guida have? He has to be close to some kind of a record.[/quote]
I wouldnt be surprised if he did have the record. There are many great lightweights that dont finish to many fights. There fights are still very exciting but think about it when was the last time any of these guys finished fights and what percentage of top lightweights wins came by stoppage?
Huerta?
Edgar?
fisher?
Guida?
Griffin?
All great fighters but it seems like many of their fights go to decisions. Maybe its because the lightweight division is so good and fighters are evenly matched…I dont know. Maybe I am wrong, like I said I dont have their records in front of me, but it seems like they dont finish fights too often.
I am not trying to take anything away from these fighters because weather they end the fights or not, they usually fight their hearts out in very entertaining wars.[/quote]
You may want to reconsider your assessment of Huerta in that listing, since of his 6 UFC bouts, only 2 went to decision. Likewise with Spencer Fisher, who’s finished 5 of his 8 octagon bouts as well…[/quote]
Correction on Fisher, 8 octagon bouts, 5 victories, 4 of those coming from finishes…
[quote comment=”358922″][quote comment=”358903″]Jesus, how many split decisions does Clay Guida have? He has to be close to some kind of a record.[/quote]
I wouldnt be surprised if he did have the record. There are many great lightweights that dont finish to many fights. There fights are still very exciting but think about it when was the last time any of these guys finished fights and what percentage of top lightweights wins came by stoppage?
Huerta?
Edgar?
fisher?
Guida?
Griffin?
All great fighters but it seems like many of their fights go to decisions. Maybe its because the lightweight division is so good and fighters are evenly matched…I dont know. Maybe I am wrong, like I said I dont have their records in front of me, but it seems like they dont finish fights too often.
I am not trying to take anything away from these fighters because weather they end the fights or not, they usually fight their hearts out in very entertaining wars.[/quote]
You certainly could have added Sean Sherk to that list. One LW fighter who almost never goes to a decision is Kenny Florian. In his 8 UFC fights he is 6-2, and he finished all 6 of his wins. In fact, his only fight that went to a decision was his loss to Sherk for the LW title. A lot of people seem to hate on KenFlo (which is a terrible nickname by the way), and I don’t understand why. I like that he goes out and isn’t satisfied to grind out a decision.
Although this card has some talented fighters, the fights themselves are mismatches. It appears that Shaw likes to protect fighters. It is a good card for EliteXC though. To compare it to a UFC PPV is somewhat asinine. This card isn’t as good as the next UFN which has a lot of competitive fights. EliteXC can put on all the cards like this that they want, but unfortunately they still are bleeding money hand over fist. None of these guys are “stars” to the “mainstream crowd” and that is the demographic that you need in order to stay afloat in today’s business climate. To us these fights have the potential to be entertaining - but they don’t excite the casual viewer.
[quote comment=”359020″]Although this card has some talented fighters, the fights themselves are mismatches. It appears that Shaw likes to protect fighters. It is a good card for EliteXC though. To compare it to a UFC PPV is somewhat asinine. This card isn’t as good as the next UFN which has a lot of competitive fights. EliteXC can put on all the cards like this that they want, but unfortunately they still are bleeding money hand over fist. None of these guys are “stars” to the “mainstream crowd” and that is the demographic that you need in order to stay afloat in today’s business climate. To us these fights have the potential to be entertaining - but they don’t excite the casual viewer.[/quote]
It’s not necessarily that he’s protecting fighters; EliteXC has enough bodies to fill a fight card but not enough quality fighters to produce 8-10 compelling match-ups. UFC does, yet Dana still gets blasted on this site all the time.
[quote comment=”359064″][quote comment=”359020″]Although this card has some talented fighters, the fights themselves are mismatches. It appears that Shaw likes to protect fighters. It is a good card for EliteXC though. To compare it to a UFC PPV is somewhat asinine. This card isn’t as good as the next UFN which has a lot of competitive fights. EliteXC can put on all the cards like this that they want, but unfortunately they still are bleeding money hand over fist. None of these guys are “stars” to the “mainstream crowd” and that is the demographic that you need in order to stay afloat in today’s business climate. To us these fights have the potential to be entertaining - but they don’t excite the casual viewer.[/quote]
It’s not necessarily that he’s protecting fighters; EliteXC has enough bodies to fill a fight card but not enough quality fighters to produce 8-10 compelling match-ups. UFC does, yet Dana still gets blasted on this site all the time.[/quote]
dana has the talent to produce 8-10 good fights on a card but they never do that and your only gonna see 5-7 fights on the ppv.the next ufn is one of the best cards matchup wise they have given us and even though they have the talent he usally gives 1-3 great fights and fills the rest with b.s. that sometimes pans out to be good fights but i have seen whole cards end up being boring before too.
I train part time out of Cesar Gracie and let me tell you Gilbert is no joke. I rank him near the top of the 155er’s of this world. I think BJ and Sherk could beat him but anyone else I take Gilbert. He is an amazing wrestler and great JJ. Also has been training with a great muay thai coach. If this guy gets to the UFC he will make a huge impact. He would punk that pretty boy Huerta.
[quote comment=”358811″]I am very happy to see that El Nino will FINALLY have a fight that the mainstream public will be able to see on television.
[quote comment=”358776″]You know you’re not the UFC when either the title fight is before the main event, or you can afford to have multiple title fights in one show. lol[/quote]
Sherk vs Penn will be the first time since the LW belt came back to the UFC that a LW title fight will be the main event. Sherk vs Florian nor Sherk vs Franca were main events.[/quote]
One could argue that Penn/Stevenson was a main event LW bought, since it was 5 rounds.
[quote comment=”358922″][quote comment=”358903″]Jesus, how many split decisions does Clay Guida have? He has to be close to some kind of a record.[/quote]
I wouldnt be surprised if he did have the record. There are many great lightweights that dont finish to many fights. There fights are still very exciting but think about it when was the last time any of these guys finished fights and what percentage of top lightweights wins came by stoppage?
Huerta?
Edgar?
fisher?
Guida?
Griffin?
All great fighters but it seems like many of their fights go to decisions. Maybe its because the lightweight division is so good and fighters are evenly matched…I dont know. Maybe I am wrong, like I said I dont have their records in front of me, but it seems like they dont finish fights too often.
I am not trying to take anything away from these fighters because weather they end the fights or not, they usually fight their hearts out in very entertaining wars.[/quote]
It just seems that way because they dont pack a lot of power and seem to be more technical.