It has been a long time since Gilbert Melendez competed in a mixed martial arts fight.
This is not to say he has not been busy. Melendez hasn’t spent his time playing video games or getting fat or hitting nightclubs during frequent trips to Las Vegas. He spends his days overseeing the evolution of his San Francisco gym, mostly. That, and attempting to find enough time to play with his four-year-old daughter. And help his prodigy kickboxing wife prepare for her 115-pound mixed martial arts debut. And train with all of the teammates who need him. And perform duties as an analyst for ESPN and Fox Sports.
You get the point.
He spent a chunk of 2014 in Las Vegas, of course, but it was in the service of The Ultimate Fighter. Melendez coached opposite Anthony Pettis, overseeing a team of 115-pound strawweights who are all vying to become the first UFC strawweight champion. And between finding the time to spend with his family—who came to Las Vegas during roughly half of the filming days—and balancing his own training needs with the needs of the TUF production staff, well, Melendez says the experience was a whirlwind.
Family is important to Melendez. He and his wife have put off the inevitable second baby because his wife wants to make a run at the UFC. But it will happen, eventually.
“I’m pretty behind for a Mexican,” he says with a laugh during a Tuesday phone interview. “She’s going to do damage in the UFC, and I’ve been getting her ready. We’re going to hold off on the baby. She was a great sparring partner for Rose Namajunas when she came out to train, and she was a great sparring partner for Bec (Hyatt).”
Melendez and his gym used to operate in a small sliver of a venue near downtown San Francisco. These days, he is operating on a grand scale, with roughly 350 members and an ever-growing professional fight team. Melendez still loves his old dojo, with its scuffed walls and dank locker room smell. But growing his brand and business is important, and with such growth comes change.
More change could be in the air for Melendez in just a few weeks, when he faces Pettis for the lightweight title. The fight is the result of a long road that began earlier this year when Melendez signed with Bellator, only to see the UFC match his contract. Melendez watched Bellator‘s event on Saturday night, and he is happy for Scott Coker, his old friend and promoter from the Strikeforce days.
“I watched both Bellator and the UFC. Scott is a great dude, and he is doing great things for the sport. I think it’s great,” Melendez says. “Joe Schilling vs. Melvin Manhoef was great matchmaking. Will Brooks vs. Michael Chandler? Will Brooks is bad ass.
“People complain that Scott put Tito vs. Bonnar as the main event, but it was the right thing to do. Because of that, and because I tuned in to see that fight, I saw Brooks vs. Chandler.”
Brooks and Chandler are two of the world’s best lightweights, but at the moment, Melendez and Pettis are on top of the heap. And it feels like the pair have been doing a dance forever, and we have been waiting forever to see them fight.
Pettis is notoriously injury prone, but Melendez says he is not worried about whether the champion will be standing across from him in a few weeks. He says he’s confident Pettis will be there, mostly because he hasn’t competed in a long time and probably needs to make money.
“I think we all get a little hungry. We all have to pay our bills. And there is that point where you have to just suck it up,” he says. “It’s been too long for him. He is a smart guy, and he’s going to suck it up. He’ll be there.”
Melendez has spent more time around Pettis than he cares to. He doesn’t hate Pettis, but he doesn’t like him either. There is a palpable tension, and he says he does not have to work himself up to fight the champion.
But it is like this with all of Melendez’s opponents, because he is from an era and an upbringing and a team where the opponent he’s facing is not just another athletic obstacle he must overcome. The guy standing across the cage? He’s trying to steal food from his table. He is trying to hurt his family.
“It’s a war. It is what it is. This guy is trying to kill me. He is trying to take my money and hurt me and kill me,” Melendez says. “And I am trying to do the same thing.
“I don’t know how some of these guys can high five and shake each other’s hands. It’s not cool or fun. It’s war.”
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