With ten TKO wins, seven unanimous decision wins, a submission victory by punches, two clear wins over Tatsuya Kawajiri, a dominant five-round victory over Shinya Aoki and wins over Hiroyuki Takaya, Jeff Hougland and Clay Guida, one would think that Strikeforce Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez would have been proven as a good fighter by now.
After all, he’s beaten many top names in the sport, he’s looked as good as a champ can look in Strikeforce, and speaking of Strikeforce, he’s cleared out every credible contender that has contended for his title, with only one familiar foe left to contend for the belt in the form of Josh “The Punk” Thomson, who is set to do battle with Melendez this May.
With a win, Melendez will have justified his claim as one of the best lightweights in the world aside from former UFC 155-lb. champ Frankie Edgar and current UFC 155-lb. champ Benson Henderson, but will it tell us how good he really is?
The consensus is that, after a win over Thomson, any fight Melendez takes on as a title defense, barring a sudden resurgence from K.J. Noons, is only a means of prolonging the inevitable movement of Melendez to the UFC, thereby not proving much in the way of how good Melendez is.
One of the two most loaded divisions in MMA is the lightweight division, as it has been for about the past three to four years, but ironically enough, the most loaded division in the sport is also looking like the most dry division in Strikeforce right now. Chalk it up to Melendez clearing out the division on his own merit, or chalk it up to would-be contenders coming up short when it counts, but in any event, Melendez just does not have any remaining challengers to his crown and throne, even if he only squeaks out a decision over Thomson, who stands as the last man to have defeated Melendez.
Going back in history, specifically to the time in 2010 when he and Aoki were seen as the two best lightweights not named BJ Penn, Melendez still proved his merit as one of the best and cemented his claim towards being the best, which again, came in the form of his win over Aoki.
In an equal manner of speaking, his comeback last year saw Melendez pick up where he left off with wins over Kawajiri and Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal, and again, it kept Melendez at the top of the ranks as the arguable number-one lightweight in the sport or at least one of the top-three best lightweights in the world.
But while Kawajiri and Masvidal were opponents posting impressive wins prior to facing Melendez for the belt, some would see both men as examples of Melendez doing what a champion is supposed to do against a challenger, as opposed to showing exactly how good Melendez is, and that’s quite unfortunate when considering how dominant Melendez has looked since the sting of his 2008 loss to Thomson.
Despite all of this doubt, however, MMA fans can rest easy, knowing that the time will come when Melendez finally has the opportunity to show the world how good he really is by way of a long-awaited run with the UFC, and when that time comes, the rest of the lightweight division should be prepared.
Why would they need to be prepared for a man who has never faced the likes of the UFC lightweight division? They need to be prepared because they may not like what they feel when Melendez brings his relentless wrestling, his quick pace and his unbridled aggression with him into the world’s largest proving ground for MMA.
With a man that has done and can do what Melendez has done and is capable of doing inside the cage, coupled with the types of fights he brings almost every time he steps in the cage, is it possible that we find out how good Melendez is, eventually?
Not only is it possible, but with the Strikeforce lightweight division having no legitimate threats left to line up for Melendez, it’s inevitable that Melendez shows how good he is, and believe you me, when the time comes, he will look great in his showcase.
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