Hot off the heels of one of the greatest lightweight fights ever between Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez, Melvin Guillard will be stepping into the cage to face Ross Pearson on the UFC Fight Night 30 card in the co-main event slot.
One would imagine…
Hot off the heels of one of the greatest lightweight fights ever between Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez, Melvin Guillard will be stepping into the cage to face Ross Pearson on the UFC Fight Night 30 card in the co-main event slot.
One would imagine trying to follow that fight would be a great deal of pressure for any two lightweights; but if it is, Melvin Guillard isn’t feeling it. In fact, while not dismissive of either Melendez or Sanchez, he was “optimistic” about his chances against either man (h/t Mike Bohn and Matt Erickson at MMAJunkie.com).
“I would have dropped either one of them,” Guillard said. “I used to drop Diego Sanchez in practice all the time. When I hit people, I hurt people. That’s just what I do.”
While this might sound like hubris, Guillard does have proven KO power. The problem he has always seemed to have is that he never follows any kind of game plan and on the ground he’s highly susceptible to submissions; of his 12 losses, nine have come via submission.
Guillard has been an up and down fighter in the UFC. He’s incredibly experienced, with a record of 32-12-2, and he’s had 20 fights in the UFC; he’s just never managed to remain consistent enough to earn a title shot.
And in spite of all of that, Guillard’s enthusiasm for himself remains unabated as he heads into hostile territory against a gritty fighter in Pearson, who is on a two-fight win streak.
“Ross better worry about my hands,” Guillard said. “I am the hardest hitting ‘55er at 155. I’ve watched him bang with guys, I’ve watched him connect on good shots and not even drop people. Everybody I hit, I drop. Everybody I hit, I f**k them up.”
…TO BE CLEANSED BY THE HOLY FLAME OF OUR LORD ALMIGHTY. For I, “The Dream,” am his vessel, the grail from which his vengeance is spilled unto the meek, uncultivated swine of this forsaken planet. Yes! Yeessssssss!!
I AM A SAVAGE. A savage who has returned to the 155 pound division to prove to the world that it is physically possible to love something to death. My enthusiasm is a river which shall break the levy of your insolence.
What must I do to draw your attention, Nate? I called you out when I announced my return to lightweight, and just yesterday, I even resorted to your species’ archaic, Godless device of social communication to further needle you. Yet still you do not respond. Is it because you KNOW and FEAR that which is “The Dream?” That whose spirit can not be broken? CONFESS AND YOU SHALL BE SAVED. YESS!!
Forget your upcoming fight with Mr. Maynard, for we both know that your heart is not invested in that little escapade. Your heart will have no such option when we tangle, for I will expose it from your chest, hold it betwixt my fingers and show you His light. And in that fragile, fleeting moment, you will thank me. You will say, “I am grateful for your friendship, Diego. God bless you.” You will SURRENDER to my influence and join the army of DREAMERS I have amassed over the years!! YES!
…TO BE CLEANSED BY THE HOLY FLAME OF OUR LORD ALMIGHTY. For I, “The Dream,” am his vessel, the grail from which his vengeance is spilled unto the meek, uncultivated swine of this forsaken planet. Yes! Yeessssssss!!
I AM A SAVAGE. A savage who has returned to the 155 pound division to prove to the world that it is physically possible to love something to death. My enthusiasm is a river which shall break the levy of your insolence.
What must I do to draw your attention, Nate? I called you out when I announced my return to lightweight, and just yesterday, I even resorted to your species’ archaic, Godless device of social communication to further needle you. Yet still you do not respond. Is it because you KNOW and FEAR that which is “The Dream?” That whose spirit can not be broken? CONFESS AND YOU SHALL BE SAVED. YESS!!
Forget your upcoming fight with Mr. Maynard, for we both know that your heart is not invested in that little escapade. Your heart will have no such option when we tangle, for I will expose it from your chest, hold it betwixt my fingers and show you His light. And in that fragile, fleeting moment, you will thank me. You will say, “I am grateful for your friendship, Diego. God bless you.” You will SURRENDER to my influence and join the army of DREAMERS I have amassed over the years!! YES!
I have literally been running up and down flights of stairs since Saturday’s decision. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING? Complaining about the sounds your opponents make when they’re kicking your ass? Rest assured that the only sounds you will hear when we dance the sacred dance will be that of your spine imploding in my grasp as I channel the fury of A THOUSAND SUNS. For I may be The Dream now, but I WILL ALWAYS BE A NIGHTMARE WHEN THE CAGE LOCKS. YES! YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
* Editor’s note: This post may or may not have been written by Diego Sanchez himself. In fact, it may have been written by a certain CagePotato staff writer under the influence of sherm sticks. We’re not naming names. But we like to think it captures the *spirit* of Diego Sanchez.
After a grueling and massively entertaining three-round battle with top contender Gilbert Melendez at UFC 166 on Saturday, Diego Sanchez is already thinking about a five-round rematch with the former Strikeforce champ.
Check out what “The Dream” …
After a grueling and massively entertaining three-round battle with top contender Gilbert Melendez at UFC 166 on Saturday, Diego Sanchez is already thinking about a five-round rematch with the former Strikeforce champ.
Check out what “The Dream” tweeted at Melendez last night:
@GilbertMelendez it was fun going to war, you have pettis and Josh’s number get the belt I’ll be climbing the rankings WW2 will happen 5rds
Thankfully for the fans, “El Nino” was quick to respond and made it clear he is also looking forward to a championship rematch somewhere down the line.
For any fight fan who still hasn’t seen Sanchez vs. Melendez, the bout is a must-see. The Cesar Gracie fighter picked apart the original Ultimate Fighter for 10 minutes, yet the underdog refused to stop coming forward and throwing his own shots.
Clearly well ahead on the scorecards after two rounds—turning his opponent into a bloody mess in the process—Melendez refused to take the easy way out and continued to trade leather with his fellow Mexican-American adversary for one more round.
As the fans at Houston’s Toyota Center clapped and cheered in appreciation and astonishment, Sanchez nearly scored the comeback of a lifetime by dropping Melendez with an uppercut.
For better or for worse, Sanchez attempted to end the fight with a guillotine choke. However, it was to no avail, as both fighters ended up swinging for the fences for a few seconds longer after they climbed back to their feet.
The front-runner for 2013 “Fight of the Year”—and a blatantly obvious choice for UFC 166 “Fight of the Night”—has UFC President Dana White strongly considering giving Melendez the winner of Anthony Pettis vs. Josh Thomson at UFC on FOX 9 in December, per BJPenn.com.
Melendez fought then-champ Benson Henderson at UFC on FOX 7 in April, losing a heavily disputed decision.
While White has been non-committal about what’s next for Sanchez, the entertaining brawler has thrown former title challenger Nate Diaz‘s name into the equation.
Needless to say, Sanchez doesn’t feel three rounds will do this matchup the justice it deserves.
Im thinking maybe natediaz for the next fight would be a epic 5 rounder.
Diaz is booked to face Gray Maynard at TUF season 18 finale next month, entering the bout on a two-fight losing streak with a 3-4 record in his past seven fights.
Sanchez holds a victory over Nate’s brother Nick, a welterweight contest that mostly took place on the ground all the way back in November 2005.
Does Sanchez have what it takes to work his way back into the title picture at lightweight, or is any hope of Sanchez vs. Melendez II simply wishful thinking?
JohnHeinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
Fifteen minutes of hell.
That is what Gilbert Melendez planned to bring to Diego Sanchez when the two men squared off last Saturday night at UFC 166. With the hard-nosed mindset both men possessed, and each having a notorious love for the scrap, “El Ni…
Fifteen minutes of hell.
That is what Gilbert Melendez planned to bring to Diego Sanchez when the two men squared off last Saturday night at UFC 166. With the hard-nosed mindset both men possessed, and each having a notorious love for the scrap, “El Nino” knew exactly what he was going to have to do in order to pick up the victory in Houston.
The biggest issue would come down to execution, and against a fighter who brings a unique brand of nonstop forward pressure like Sanchez, that is a tremendous challenge in itself. Nevertheless, the 31-year-old “Skrap Pack” leader was more than up for the challenge and met Sanchez’s intensity with absolute ferocity at every turn.
When those elements are put inside a locked cage, it is a formula for magic. And that is precisely what transpired between Melendez and Sanchez at UFC 166.
In what is being heralded as the most entertaining three-round fight in UFC history, both fighters hunkered down in the line of fire and threw leather with terrible intentions. The former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion answered Sanchez’s aggression with crisp counterpunching—punishing “The Dream” every time he charged forward. Despite a multitude of exciting exchanges that laced the first two rounds, Melendez was sitting comfortably ahead on the judge’s scorecards going into the final frame.
“I’ve always felt pretty confident in the pocket but I worked extra hard on that for this fight,” Melendez told Bleacher Report. “I knew a lot of this fight would be spent in the pocket and worked on finding the right range to land what I was throwing but still avoid getting hit. I feel I accomplished that against Diego. It took a lot of movement, sticking and slipping, but I was able to land hard shots where his were missing.
“I want to be mature in there, keep my composure and never allow anyone to break me physically or mentally. Trying to coax me into these exchanges and being so tough and not going down isn’t going to affect me. I was able to stop him in his tracks plenty of times with nice right hands when he would try to get crazy.
“Diego would eat them, regroup and then try to get crazy again,” the Santa Anna native added. “But I was able to stick him with my right hand over and over and they forced him to back off. It was something I prepared for. I knew it could happen in there and it did. I kept my composure and was able to handle it the right way.”
With a comfortable lead in the fight, the former No. 1 contender could have found a way to slow down the action or ride out the momentum to victory on the cards, but that simply isn’t the way the Team Cesar Gracie fighter is wired. Granted, tempering the Jackson’s MMA fighter’s attack would have been difficult, especially since he knew the only route to victory would have been to put Melendez away.
While the final five minutes of the tilt provided the most adversity for Melendez, it came as no surprise to the former title challenger. He knew full well what Sanchez was coming across the cage with in the final round, and after action-packed, rapid-fire exchanges, Melendez emerged with a unanimous decision victory.
“Going into the third round, I knew he was going to come at me,” Melendez said. “I was fighting my game and it was working for me. I didn’t feel like I needed to back down and he was open for me to land shots. That has always been my style. Yeah, I could have cruised around, but that’s just how it goes. He called me out and I wasn’t about to back down. I was totally down for it.
“I prepared for that. If it was the first time anyone had seen Diego or the first time I had fought him, that might have been discouraging. But there is fight tape out there and I do my homework. I watched his fight against Martin Kampmann. I watched his fight against Jake Ellenberger. I’d seen him take big punches then come back strong and fight that way until the finish. I prepared for that aspect of his game.
“I told everyone coming in I was going to experiment in this fight, take risks, try to finish and refuse to back down,” he added. “It did get me dropped in there, though. That guy was rolling the dice and finally caught something. But I overcame adversity and bounced back up. I’m never going to run, man. I’m not going out like that. I’m always going to step up and fight.”
In the moments after the judge’s decision had been announced and his hand raised for the first time inside the Octagon, Melendez checked off an accomplishment that had been a long time in the making. Despite his five-year reign as the 155-pound strap holder in Strikeforce, finding victory for the first time under the UFC banner meant something different. Even more so, picking up that win after one of the most memorable bouts in UFC history gave the Bay Area resident plenty of reasons to hold his head high.
“It felt great to get that first UFC win,” Melendez said. “I saw Joe Rogan in there to do the interview and I was in awe. I tried not to put that pressure on myself and think about getting my first UFC win, but in the moment when it happened it was special.
“My goals are far from being reached, but getting that under my belt was another big weight off my shoulders. The more weight that comes off my shoulders, the more it is going allow me to be free out there, and that is only going to allow me to perform that much better. It allows me to be the artist I know I can be when I’m out there fighting.”
With his victory over Sanchez last weekend at UFC 166, Melendez has put himself on the doorstep for another shot at the 155-pound title, and it is ground he’s happy to reclaim. Following the split-decision loss to Benson Henderson in his UFC debut at UFC on Fox 7 back in April, and the rise of Canadian T.J. Grant, the title picture became cloudy where Melendez was concerned.
That said, with Grant suffering an injury which has forced him to miss out on two championship opportunities, Melendez believes the timing is right for him to get another chance. Recently crowned champion Anthony Pettis and Josh Thomson are set to mix it up at UFC on Fox 9 in December, and Melendez wants to make his bid to get the winner of that tilt.
“At this moment right now, I want to campaign for that title shot,” Melendez said. “I think I’ve earned it. I’m the uncrowned champ of the lightweight division. I believe I have what it takes to beat [Anthony] Pettis and I’ve proven I can beat Josh Thomson. I think me stepping in with whichever one of them walks out of their fight with the title would be good business for the UFC. I think people want to see it and I want that next shot.”
While Melendez will have to wait for things to play out in the title picture, for the time being he can sit back and take comfort in a job well done against Sanchez. Fights of that caliber and magnitude are rare in combat sports, and where terms like “instant classic” and “war for the ages” have become somewhat cliched, there are certain instances like what transpired between Melendez and Sanchez, where lofty descriptions hardly seem to do it justice.
He knows he was a part of something special at UFC 166, but just a handful of days removed, he’s admittedly uncertain if it has truly set in.
“It’s gnarly hearing those things,” Melendez said. “I don’t think I realized after the fight exactly what I had been a part of. I heard Dana White say ‘Holy sh**’ a few times, but didn’t truly realize the impact it had. I’ve been in a lot of wars, man. I’ve been in a lot of battles and done that before, but never on a platform like that with so many eyes watching.
“Now it’s like if you didn’t know that’s how I fight, now you know. That’s basically what it is. That is also the power of the UFC. What a platform, man. They are a marketing machine and if you get to display your skills here it’s a great stage to show the world what you can do.
“I appreciate the experience, but I’m not sure it’s really set in just how crazy it was,” Melendez laughed in conclusion. “But if it somehow guarantees me a spot in the UFC Hall of Fame I’ll definitely take it.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
UFC President Dana White delivered an apropos summary of UFC 166: “… From the first fight of the night, right up to the Heavyweight championship, it’s the best fight card we have ever had,” per Thomas Myers of SB Nation’s MMA Mania.
Looking bac…
UFC President Dana White delivered an apropos summary of UFC 166: “… From the first fight of the night, right up to the Heavyweight championship, it’s the best fight card we have ever had,” per Thomas Myers of SB Nation’s MMA Mania.
Looking back on the series of vicious knockouts paused to make room for savage wars, it’s tough to argue otherwise.
Cageside fans in Houston’s Toyota Center erupted in applause countless times over the course of the evening’s 13 bouts—seven explosive knockouts, five back-and-forth exchanges that went the distance and a lone submission to boot.
Though we might recall each and every blow vividly, it’s important to respect and admire the fighters who are sometimes left without similar luxuries.
At UFC 166, several fights—with emphasis on Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez and Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos—were highlighted by fighters willing to push past the proverbial envelope.
There was much to be learned from Saturday night’s affairs, so let me take this opportunity to point out some of the most valuable lessons gleaned from UFC 166.
Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez fought a three-round instant classic at UFC 166 this past weekend.
In a fight that produced two knockdowns, countless flurries and copious amounts of blood, both men displayed indelible heart and courage.
…
Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez fought a three-round instant classic at UFC 166 this past weekend.
In a fight that produced two knockdowns, countless flurries and copious amounts of blood, both men displayed indelible heart and courage.
Just to watch was to witness something special.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan called the fight the “new greatest fight of all-time” during the pay-per-view broadcast.
UFC President Dana White, a well-known talkative character, was nearly left speechless at the UFC post-fight press conference, calling it “the fight of the friggin’ I don’t know what.”
The MMA community exploded with youthful exuberance, smattering Twitter, Facebook and forums with every imaginable metaphor and hyperbole.
But now that the dust has settled, and we have had time to collect our thoughts from UFC 166, was “El Nino” vs. “The Dream” the greatest fight of all time?
Well, that all depends on what you consider a great fight.
Ask 10 people what makes a great fight, and you will get 10 different answers.
For some, the bout must occur in the UFC, or a title must be on the line, or history should be made.
But for all of the many stipulations, one constant seems apparent: Fans enjoy a wild back-and-forth war; technical talent be damned.
The bout between Melendez and Sanchez, while entertaining, displayed laughable, almost pathetic stand-up technique at points.
During exchanges on their feet, both men kept their heads still, balanced in a squat stance and threw looping hooks from their hips.
Is that really why we enjoy MMA though: To witness two men abandon technique and launch into a physical tornado of arms and legs?
Better question, is such a fight even a good representation of mixed martial arts?
To put it simply: No, it is not.
Yes, bouts like Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia I or Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua are entertaining. But where they succeed in violence, they lack in martial arts technique.
When anyone views a professional fight, they should expect elite talent and technical superiority, especially in the UFC.
Great MMA fights are a vivid depiction of two individuals with the highest level of ability squaring off for three to five rounds.
At any point during the bout, viewers should be able to witness premier head movement, arm placement, footwork, and punch and kick technique.
Recall for a moment, fights like Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis I or Georges St. Pierre vs. Carlos Condit. The bouts held all of the drama as Meledez and Sanchez, but on a far superior technical backdrop.
Between Henderson’s takedowns or Pettis’ hooks, St. Pierre’s jab or Condit’s kicks, there is an unmatched technical ability one should come to expect from elite MMA athletes.
So while most enjoyed the war between Melendez and Sanchez, we should reserve the title of “greatest MMA fight” for a bout that displays great MMA.
Fifteen minutes of hell.