Fans and journalists both thought that the Strikeforce event in December was going to be the company’s last and that whoever left with one of their championship belts was going immediately to the top of the UFC.
Instead, Strikeforce is going to live on into 2012, even though it has lost most of its champions. That means that Melendez might have a place to still collect a paycheck if he keeps winning.
At one point, many fans thought he was close to getting faced with UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar, but a trilogy with Gray Maynard and a backlog of challengers for Edgar’s title has put that on ice.
So Melendez may be stuck as the Strikeforce champion for a little while longer.
Of course, he will only stay that way if he gets past Jorge Masvidal this Saturday.
On paper, the fight is a bit of a mismatch. Masvidal has lost to fighters like Luis Palomino and Toby Imada.
But a closer look at Masvidal’s recent fights and even his losses tells fans something else.
The loss to Palomino was via split decision and the loss to Imada was by inverted triangle choke which hadn’t really been seen before.
Masvidal’s only other recent loss was to welterweight Paul Daley and he was able to go the distance.
Considering the weight difference between the two and Daley’s natural punching power, it means that Masvidal has a great chin.
After the Daley fight, Masvidal returned to lightweight and is undefeated in his last two fights against Billy Evangelista and KJ Noons. It is the fight against Noons which Masvidal won by unanimous decision that shows he could be a threat to Melendez.
Noons is an accomplished boxer in the world of MMA and also has participated in some kickboxing, yet Masvidal was able to handle him by grappling him and even knocking him to the ground with a kick.
Melendez is able to win most of his fights by knockout, but it comes either from standing but from a wrestling position. He may have some power, but most of the KO’s on his record have come from multiple blows while he has his opponent subdued and on the ground.
Masvidal might not have trouble handling those punches, though, as he was able to find ways around being knocked out by a powerful welterweight and a decent lightweight striker. Melendez won’t be able to finish him when they couldn’t.
As for when the fight hits the ground?
It would be easy to say that Melendez has the edge because he is a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and trains with fighters like Jake Shields.
But Masvidal has dabbled as a boxer and has some power, which he’s used in the past to knock out fighters such as Yves Edwards and Joe Lauzon. He may not have the same grappling skill as Melendez, but he probably has enough skill to stop from being completely dominated.
More importantly, he knows how to strike and to not get knocked out. That means he has a puncher’s chance.
It is slim and it doesn’t give Masvidal much, but if Melendez starts thinking about UFC gold while in the cage with him, it could end up being Masvidal’s night to shine.
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