(And there was much rejoicing…)
If any of you were questioning Gilbert Melendez’s decision to remain off Strikeforce’s final card in January, maybe now you can see his motivation. In a recent interview with MMAJunkie, Dana White revealed that “El Nino” would “probably” receive an immediate title shot when he makes the trip over to the UFC, a statement that will more than likely be responsible for hundreds of conspiracy theories regarding the legitimacy of Melendez’s recent injuries. Of course, this came just before The Baldfather lamented about how bad Strikeforce fighters have had it since the UFC absorbed the promotion (presumably while mimicking Shooter McGavin), so perhaps we should take his statement with a grain of salt:
(Melendez will) probably come right in and get a title shot. Again, we’ll see.
What has happened to the fighters in Strikeforce is horrible. The way this thing went down is horrible, and they’ve been very patient. What’s happened over there has been completely s—ty.
Right, and we’re sure Hitler felt awfully bad about the living conditions at Auschwitz as well. “No veigh? Zey don’t even get a nice cot to szleep on? Zose bastards!” We’re not comparing Dana White to Hitler, we’re just saying.
On a serious note, this statement is interesting for a multitude of reasons, the first of which being how unknown a guy like Melendez is to casual fans, who are the only people the UFC seems interested in promoting fights for nowadays. As Melendez has stated in the past, the “Champion vs. Champion” angle is one that the UFC could easily market, but I mean, Melendez isn’t even coming off a loss for Christ’s sake, and now you’re gonna say he’s title shot worthy? Bitch please; I think we all know that Tiequan Zhang is the next rightful challenger to the lightweight throne.
Are you Taters excited at the idea of Henderson/Melendez, or do you think he should be given a tune up fight first?