The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finally comes to its conclusion Saturday night when Strikeforce hosts its 40th annual event. In the tournament finals, submission specialist Josh Barnett takes on heavy-handed wrestler Daniel Cormier in a bou…
The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finally comes to its conclusion Saturday night when Strikeforce hosts its 40th annual event.
In the tournament finals, submission specialist Josh Barnett takes on heavy-handed wrestler Daniel Cormier in a bout that all but promises an entertaining finish.
Beginning the main card action are two up-and-coming welterweight prospects looking to make a name for themselves in the form of Nah-Shon Burrell and Chris Spang.
Also on the main card, light heavyweights Rafael Cavalcante, a former Strikeforce champion, and Mike Kyle square off. Kyle defeated Cavalcante in impressive fashion back in June 2009, but both fighters have made strides in their game since then.
In the co-main event, Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez has a rubber match with his old foe Josh Thomson. Thomson was the last man to beat “El Nino,” but Melendez has defeated him since and has been on a tear recently.
Bleacher Report MMA Featured Columnists Matt Juul, Jeffrey McKinney, Kyle Symes and myself, John Heinis, are bringing the predictions your way this time around.
Take a look inside to see who walks away with a “W” Saturday night.
Strikeforce Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez is a widely talked-about commodity in the MMA community. From his dominance over a talent-depleted roster to his involvement in the infamous Nashville Brawl of 2010 to his relationship with gossip light…
Strikeforce Lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez is a widely talked-about commodity in the MMA community. From his dominance over a talent-depleted roster to his involvement in the infamous Nashville Brawl of 2010 to his relationship with gossip lightning rods Nick and Nate Diaz, Melendez is a name that has been on the tongue on MMA pundits for years.
Saturday night, Melendez returns to put his Strikeforce championship on the line for a sixth time against one of the only two men to previously defeat him, Josh “The Punk” Thomson. Although Melendez avenged the loss with a decision victory back in 2009, it appears that they have come full circle to clash for a rubber match.
Going into the contest, motivation and stagnation are issues that may plague the reigning champion. Here are four questions that we have for Gilbert Melendez.
There was a scare last week when rumors that Josh Thomson injured his knee and would be forced to pull out of his title fight with Gilbert Melendez were circulated, but those rumors were unsubstantiated.Thomson will be showing up for the rubber match a…
There was a scare last week when rumors that Josh Thomson injured his knee and would be forced to pull out of his title fight with Gilbert Melendez were circulated, but those rumors were unsubstantiated.
Thomson will be showing up for the rubber match against Melendez at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier. Thomson took some time to talk to Bleacher Report about the fight, among other things.
Thomson is making a quick turnaround from his last fight, a decision victory over K.J. Noons in early March. Prior to the fight with Noons, Thomson hadn’t fought in over a year. Despite the quick turnaround, Thomson relished at the chance at a rubber match with Melendez.
“I wanted the opportunity to fight him [Melendez] for the trilogy, and it presented itself and here we go,” Thomson told Bleacher Report. “I think it’s going to be a great fight.”
The last fight with Melendez, Thomson lost in a five-round war, but he is looking to fight more like he did in their first meeting, when the five-round decision went in his favor. Win or lose, though, he’s ready to go five rounds for the third time with the Stirkeforce champ.
“Every time you fight Gil you’ve got to prepare for the full five rounds,” Thomson said. “I’ve had years of training with him, I’ve fought him obviously twice and he’s really hard to finish on the ground.”
“I’m not looking to have a war like we did for the second fight, I’m really kind of looking to pick him apart like I did in the first fight, frustrate him, get in, get out and land my shots,” Thomson said about how he wants the fight to play out.
The title fight came Thomson’s way after his decision win over Noons, a victory that saw him very critical about his performance and conditioning. Thomson made some tweaks to his training to try to take it easier on his body, but ultimately he felt that it affected him negatively in his fight with Noons.
With the Noons fight behind him and Melendez on the horizon, Thomson was able to adjust his training once more to where he feels he has it just about right.
“I was more upset [about the Noons fight] because I had changed my training and I wasn’t in good enough shape to really push and get the submission,” Thomson said. “I’m leaning a little bit more to my old style of training.”
“In the middle of the day I was doing a Crossfit style, plyometric style workout three days a week, and so that was killing my body to the point where I just felt like I was so depleted, I had no strength and I wasn’t able to do the things that I needed to do to be competitive.
“Even in sparring, 135 pounders and 145 pounders were double legging me,” he said. “I got rid of that whole plyometric style workout altogether and I started cutting back the run in the morning, I think I was somewhat burning the candle at both ends.”
Now that his training is under control and injuries aren’t keeping him on the sidelines, we should see some vintage Thomson this Saturday night against Melendez. Many fans weren’t excited by the fact that Thomson was called upon to challenge Melendez for the belt, and even the Strikeforce lightweight champion expressed a bit of his disappointment with having to fight Thomson.
I’m interested in this fight simply because it is the rubber match and the previous two fights between these guys were decent tilts.
Thomson understands where Melendez is coming from, though.
“He’s [Melendez is] looking for somebody to boost his stock, and it’s definitely nobody in Strikeforce only because given the circumstances we’re not ranked like the guys in the UFC,” Thomson said.
“I kind of understand his dilemma, he’s 30 years old, he’s in the prime of his life and this is his opportunity,” he continued. “It kind of puts me in a weird situation because I want to feel like I’m fighting the best Gil and if he’s not motivated to fight me then it makes me feel a little less motivated to be honest.”
Besides a select few on the Strikeforce roster, Thomson is right—the big names are the guys fighting in the UFC. He would like to see some of the UFC guys come over to Strikeforce.
“It would be nice to have a Donald Cerrone over here to fight or, you know, Anthony Pettis,” Thomson said. “Then we could kind of get a feel like, OK, I’ll fight your guys, get us in there with opportunities for us to go over to the UFC and vice versa, I think it would just be great to be able to fight in both places.
“I feel like right now, we go over there to fight, we’re fighting on their home turf, it’s like when the Pride guys all came to the UFC they all got smashed, and then when the UFC guys went over there they weren’t successful, either. I think it’s just that home turf, that feeling like it’s your promotion, that your fighting in your own promotion gives you that confidence.”
Fellow American Kick Boxing Academy (AKA) teammate Daniel Cormier is one of those guys who will probably get a chance to head over the UFC. He is fighting Josh Barnett for the heavyweight Grand Prix this Saturday, but the Strikeforce heavyweight division is being dissolved after that fight, and many Strikeforce heavyweights have already made the transition to the big show. Obviously for Cormier, going to the UFC with a win over Barnett would be huge.
“Obviously his wrestling is second to none, probably the best in MMA right now,” Thomson said. “I definitely think his chances are looking really good in that division [UFC].
“He’s already knocked out ‘Big Foot’ Silva, he’s got a lot of good wins, I believe he is undefeated 9-0, and if he beats Barnett the sky is the limit for him with just nine fights to come and beat someone with 50 fights, and that’s just impressive.”
The AKA family was struggling a bit a few months back with the departure of Josh Koscheck and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach Dave Camarillo, but things are back on track according to Thomson.
“AKA, everything is good, everything was a little rough for a minute there because of all the media and negative media we were getting, but overall everything is good” Thomson said.
“We have a new Jiu-Jitsu coach Leandro Viera being affiliated with the Checkmat, him and his brothers are the founders of Checkmat, and it’s one of the best Jiu-Jitsu programs out now in the world. It’s great to have them here, it’s great to have Leandro at AKA, he’s been making big improvements with the guys.”
Maybe Thomson will have some new tricks up his sleeve. We’ll see on Saturday. It will be interesting to see what kind of T-shirts he wears into and out of the cage. Visit Thomson’s Facebook page and you can see that he wears his political opinions on his sleeve.
Last time out, Thomson created a bit of a stir in Ohio with his “Hope isn’t Hiring” T-shirt. Don’t expect anything this time, though.
“No, I did it in Ohio cause Ohio is a swing state and I was really hoping to push it and push for Ohio to let everyone know that people from California can be conservative as well. But in California, I might get jumped after if I try to leave the stadium with that on,” he said.
T-shirt or not, injury or not, Thomson will be showing up to fight on Saturday, and if the guys over at AKA are posting videos of him in training and punking him like in this one that was posted yesterday by Showtime, I think it’s safe to say that Thomson is alright.
Leon Horne is a writer for Bleacher Report and is part of the B/R MMA team.
The sport of mixed martial arts hasn’t yet earned its fair share of coverage from major media sources, and with that, there are often rumors that take a while to get substantiated one way or another. That was the case on Thursday night when freela…
The sport of mixed martial arts hasn’t yet earned its fair share of coverage from major media sources, and with that, there are often rumors that take a while to get substantiated one way or another.
That was the case on Thursday night when freelance reporter @FrontRowBrian tweeted that former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson had suffered a torn PCL and that his fight with current champion Gilbert Melendez was in jeopardy.
—Breaking— Josh Thomson has suffered a knee injury and his fight with Gilbert Melendez on 5/19 is in jeopardy @Strikeforce
Ultimately the decision will come down to whether the California State Athletic Commission clears Thomson to fight, but as of right now, fans should assume the scheduled fight for the Strikeforce lightweight title will go on as planned.
According to Gilbert Melendez’s trainer, Cesar Gracie, the UFC are in talks to have either former UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn or former WEC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis challenge his charge for his Strikeforce strap next.
“Melendez’s situation is complex right now. We still don’t have an opponent, date or place set. They said he could fight in San Jose but it’ll probably change. They mentioned Josh Thomson but then said it was not going to happen”, Gracie explained.“I spoke to [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva and he told me maybe some UFC fighters will go to Strikeforce. We would really like to see him fighting Pettis or BJ, but we are still not sure about what’s going to happen.”
Given that “Showtime” mentioned yesterday that he is considering dropping down to featherweight to challenge Jose Aldo in the near future, it would seem that the UFC brass are leaning towards “The Prodigy” for the bout. It would make sense since Penn has been uncharacteristically mum about his fighting future since his last fight and likely would have been mulling over the offer to swing over to the UFC’s sister promotion, considering how much less promotion and exposure it gets.
(“No rematch for you, Punk”)
According to Gilbert Melendez’s trainer, Cesar Gracie, the UFC are in talks to have either former UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn or former WEC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis challenge his charge for his Strikeforce strap next.
“Melendez’s situation is complex right now. We still don’t have an opponent, date or place set. They said he could fight in San Jose but it’ll probably change. They mentioned Josh Thomson but then said it was not going to happen”, Gracie explained.“I spoke to [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva and he told me maybe some UFC fighters will go to Strikeforce. We would really like to see him fighting Pettis or BJ, but we are still not sure about what’s going to happen.”
Given that “Showtime” mentioned yesterday that he is considering dropping down to featherweight to challenge Jose Aldo in the near future, it would seem that the UFC brass are leaning towards “The Prodigy” for the bout. It would make sense since Penn has been uncharacteristically mum about his fighting future since his last fight and likely would have been mulling over the offer to swing over to the UFC’s sister promotion, considering how much less promotion and exposure it gets.
Melendez confirmed in a recent interview that reps from Zuffa indicated that he would no longer be facing Josh Thomson, who was thought to be his next opponent.
Another name that has been mentioned as an opponent for “El Nino” is Tyson Griffin, who was quietly suspended by Zuffa for failing a post-fight drug test for marijuana after his UFC 123 loss to Nick Lentz. Although it would create an interesting storyline since Griffin once trained under Gracie before leaving for Xtreme Couture, it’s unlikely considering he is 1-4 in his last five outings and rumor has it he’s been dropped by the UFC.
We’ll have more news on Melendez’s next opponent as it becomes available.
There was a scare last week when 