There is an old saying, “when it rains, it pours.”
Nothing can be closer to the truth when it comes to fight cards being cancelled if your are an MMA fan.
It was announced late last night via press release that this Saturday’s Strikeforce card, headlined by Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez vs Pat Healy, has been cancelled due to Melendez suffering a shoulder injury in training.
Healy, who found found out yesterday evening, gives the timeline of when he found out the fight was postponed.
“I found out about 9:30 PM PST,” Healy told Bleacher Report. “Matt Lindland (Healy‘s manager) called me and started talking about it. He told me he got a call from Sean Shelby (Strikeforce matchmaker) and all he knew was that Melendez tore something in his shoulder and that I wasn’t fighting. Then I read the press release about an hour and saw that the whole card was cancelled.”
A new opponent wasn’t brought up to Healy when he found out the fight with Melendez was off, but he would have still fought on the card if asked.
“If they (Strikeforce) would have given me any opportunity to fight, I would have taken it,” Healy states. “No doubt about it. If they (Strikeforce) had anybody, I would have fought them.”
This is the second time a Zuffa card has been cancelled in exactly a month and Healy felt this card could have been saved.
“I was shocked (on the card being cancelled),” Healy states. “A good card could have been salvaged. I know Josh Thomson said he would have stepped up and other guys said they would have stepped up and fought me. Even if they would have taken just my fight off the card, it would have still been a good card.”
Melendez was obviously disappointed in not being able to defend his title this Saturday and apologized to Healy for having to bow out of the fight. Healy appreciated the noble gesture.
“He texted me and said, “Hey man, I’m sorry and I’m going to heal up and we can do it for real”, Healy said.
“It was a kind gesture from him. I asked him how long he thought he would be out for and he said about five weeks. It looks like it will be a little bit of a wait.”
Healy has always been known as a fighter who likes to stay busy, and feels Strikeforce should possibly schedule an interim title fight if Melendez is out for a lengthy period of time. If that’s the case, a rematch with Thomson makes sense.
“If they (Strikeforce) did an interim title, I would be happy with that,” Healy stated. “I like to fight. I don’t necessarily have to wait for Gilbert, especially if it’s going to be a long wait. I’d be happy to get in there and fight. Josh and I would probably make the most sense, unless they (Strikeforce) brought somebody in from the UFC.”
After everything that has happened in the last 24 hours, Healy is obviously disappointed.
“I was devastated,” Healy stated. “I’ve been working so hard for this. The camp went so well. I felt this was my moment. It was all leading up to this and for it to be postponed is a huge letdown. This definitely the biggest bummer of my career.”
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