Gilbert Melendez on Eddie Alvarez’s move to the UFC: ‘I’m so not scared at all’

LOS ANGELES – For quite some time, Eddie Alvarez has made it clear that he wants to fight Gilbert Melendez.

“He’s a phony,” Alvarez said of Melendez back in March. “It’s a facade, a mask. He says he wants to fight me. He doesn’t want to fight me.”

The bout hasn’t happened to this point because the two competed under different promotional banners for several years.

But with Alvarez, the former Bellator champion, finally making the jump to the UFC, the possibility the two will collide became a lot more real.

Melendez, who will challenge Anthony Pettis for the lightweight title on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas, isn’t putting an Alvarez fight on his front burner at the moment.

“He acts like it’s real personal and stuff,” Melendez said. “I just wanted to fight him. I thought he was number one in the world. At this point, I don’t feel that’s the case. I think he’s fallen off the last couple years to be honest.”

Still, though, the two could find each other in opposite corners of the Octagon some day, particularly if Alvarez defeats Donald Cerrone at UFC 178. While he’s not going out of his way to campaign for an Alvarez fight, nor would Melendez run for such a challenge.

“Maybe our paths will cross now,” Melendez said. “And I’m so not scared at all if that’s the case.”

LOS ANGELES – For quite some time, Eddie Alvarez has made it clear that he wants to fight Gilbert Melendez.

“He’s a phony,” Alvarez said of Melendez back in March. “It’s a facade, a mask. He says he wants to fight me. He doesn’t want to fight me.”

The bout hasn’t happened to this point because the two competed under different promotional banners for several years.

But with Alvarez, the former Bellator champion, finally making the jump to the UFC, the possibility the two will collide became a lot more real.

Melendez, who will challenge Anthony Pettis for the lightweight title on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas, isn’t putting an Alvarez fight on his front burner at the moment.

“He acts like it’s real personal and stuff,” Melendez said. “I just wanted to fight him. I thought he was number one in the world. At this point, I don’t feel that’s the case. I think he’s fallen off the last couple years to be honest.”

Still, though, the two could find each other in opposite corners of the Octagon some day, particularly if Alvarez defeats Donald Cerrone at UFC 178. While he’s not going out of his way to campaign for an Alvarez fight, nor would Melendez run for such a challenge.

“Maybe our paths will cross now,” Melendez said. “And I’m so not scared at all if that’s the case.”