Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez could be coming to the UFC sooner than expected.
According to UFC President Dana White, the UFC is currently working on a deal to bring the Cesar Gracie student over to the big show “right now.”
This puts Melendez’s upcoming December 17 Strikeforce title bout with Jorge Masvidal in question.
“We’re looking to bring Gilbert Melendez over ASAP,” White told MMAWeekly.
Melendez has long been considered one of the premier lightweights in the sport. Most MMA rankings have him placed at third behind Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.
He is coming off dominant wins over tough opposition in Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Josh Thomson and Mitsuhiro Ishida.
With his position in the lightweight division, the question on most people’s minds is whether or not Melendez will receive an immediate title shot upon entry into the UFC.
Ben Henderson, Clay Guida and Melvin Guillard are all potential title contenders. If these guys win in their next outings, could Melendez still leap frog them in the UFC title picture?
“It’s a possibility [Melendez gets the shot],” said White. “The thing is with that division, it’s so stacked, there’s a lot of possibilities. Do you take a kid, depending on what happens, like a guy like Melvin Guillard and throw him right into the title?
“I don’t know. We gotta see, and usually, timing has a lot to do with that. We’ll see what happens with the timing. They have this title fight between Edgar and Maynard and praise the Lord nobody gets hurt, broken hand, or this and that, or all these other things. It can happen, so, we’ll see. We’ll go with the flow.”
Guillard is slated to face Joe Lauzon on Saturday at UFC 136. Henderson and Guida will do battle on the historic UFC on Fox 1 card slated for November 12.
Melendez will surely be watching the coming UFC bouts with much interest. Only time will tell how this situation plays out.
In any case, a storm is brewing, and “El Nino” is looking to bring the thunder to the UFC lightweight division.
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