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MMA Top 10 Lightweights: Gilbert Melendez Makes His Case

Filed under: UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Rankings, LightweightsGilbert Melendez thinks he’s the best lightweight in mixed martial arts. Is he right? I don’t think so, not yet. But I sure would love to find out.

The best thing about the UFC buying…

Filed under: UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Rankings, Lightweights

Gilbert Melendez thinks he’s the best lightweight in mixed martial arts. Is he right? I don’t think so, not yet. But I sure would love to find out.

The best thing about the UFC buying Strikeforce is that it means we’ll eventually see the champions of the respective promotions fighting each other. For now the mantra is “business as usual,” but we all know it’s just a matter of time before we see the best of Strikeforce inside the Octagon. And there might not be a better fight out there than Melendez taking on the top of the UFC lightweight division.

It will probably be 2012 before we get to see that: UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar has to fight Gray Maynard in May, and the winner of that fight is expected to fight the winner of the June Anthony Pettis-Clay Guida bout after that. But it sure would be fun to see Melendez retiring the Strikeforce belt to his trophy case and fighting for the UFC gold.

Find out where I think Melendez stacks up in the lightweight division below.

Florian’s Featherweight Future: ‘A Top Contender, Then Aldo in Brazil’

(Plan your work, work your plan. PicProps: ESPN)
You didn’t think Kenny Florian would just drop to 145-pounds without a plan in mind, did you? If you did, you don’t know KenFlo. Nope, the now former perennial lightweight contender&rsqu…

(Plan your work, work your plan. PicProps: ESPN)

You didn’t think Kenny Florian would just drop to 145-pounds without a plan in mind, did you? If you did, you don’t know KenFlo. Nope, the now former perennial lightweight contender’s camp has a pretty detailed blueprint of what they’d like to see Florian do at featherweight. As manager Malki Kawa tells MMA Weekly on Wednesday, they think their guy will be on the fast-track to the top once he returns from a knee injury and gets his weight headed in the right direction. Check it out:

“A top contender,” Kawa says about Florian’s first 145-pound opponent. “Whoever the No. 1 contender is at that point is the guy I’d like to get. What would be my ideal situation is for him to get a fight in June, whoever the No. 1 contender is, win that fight and then hopefully set something up for Brazil with (Jose) Aldo, if the UFC’s up for it.”

Kenny Florian and Tyson Griffin Are Headin’ Down to Featherweight

(They can beat up pretty-boys and clowns, but how will Florian and Griffin do against the featherweight elite?)
Now that the UFC has a 145-pound division, it was only a matter of time before a few lightweight contenders decided to chase the belt whe…

(They can beat up pretty-boys and clowns, but how will Florian and Griffin do against the featherweight elite?)

Now that the UFC has a 145-pound division, it was only a matter of time before a few lightweight contenders decided to chase the belt where the competition’s a little smaller. The biggest name so far is Kenny Florian, who told ESPN.com yesterday that he’s taking himself out of the lightweight mix to try his hand at featherweight:

"I started playing around with the idea: could I make 145? Originally, I didn’t think it was possible," Florian said. "I spoke with a few nutritionists, got their opinions, told them what my body fat was, my walking-around weight, all that stuff and the general consensus was that it was very possible…[The UFC] is very supportive. They’re very excited about the move…My goal is to get the 145-pound belt, and then go up to 155 and challenge for that belt as well."

You may recall that Jose Aldo‘s management turned down a fight with Florian at lightweight because Florian was coming off a loss, was never a champion, and isn’t in the pound-for-pound top ten. You have to wonder if the insult is still weighing on Ken-Flo’s mind. Florian’s manager Malki Kawa definitely still has Aldo in his sights:

Fighter vs. Writer: UFC 126 Picks

Filed under: UFCLast time on Fighter vs. Writer, Sean McCorkle suffered one of the most lopsided defeats in the history of the series. It was brutal, it was ugly, and — I have to be honest — it was not anywhere near as satisfying as I thought it woul…

Filed under: UFC

Last time on Fighter vs. Writer, Sean McCorkle suffered one of the most lopsided defeats in the history of the series. It was brutal, it was ugly, and — I have to be honest — it was not anywhere near as satisfying as I thought it would be.

So for UFC 126 I decided to challenge myself. I decided to go after bigger (although technically physically smaller) game. I decided to take on someone who would make picks on the basis of something other than his hatred for Clay Guida’s brother.

Enter Kenny Florian. As an ‘MMA Live’ analyst and occasional color man on the UFC broadcasts, he’s serious competition. But is he good enough? Find out below, as we go head to head with our UFC 126 picks.

Florian Fires Back at Guillard: ‘Who Has He Beaten? What Has He Done?’

("Tell me the truth, does this haircut make me look washed-up?" PicProps: MMA Convert)
It was just a matter of time before some intrepid MMA journalist got to Kenny Florian to get his response to all that shit Melvin Guillard was talking befo…

("Tell me the truth, does this haircut make me look washed-up?" PicProps: MMA Convert)

It was just a matter of time before some intrepid MMA journalist got to Kenny Florian to get his response to all that shit Melvin Guillard was talking before Fight for the Troops 2. During his appearance on our own Bum Rush podcast (and a bunch of other shows) Guillard quipped that he no longer considers Florian a top contender for the UFC title and said he thinks KenFlo should get out of the way and let some new blood have a chance. “I’ll fight Kenny Florian,” Guillard told us, “but to be honest with you, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say he’d be a pretty easy fight for me." Damn, playa. Really?

On Monday, Al Pepe of ProMMA Radio invited Florian on the air to play him some clips of Guillard talking crazy. As always, Florian was gracious and well-spoken, but when the topic of “The Young(ish) Assassin” came up, you could hear a hint of irritation creeping into his normally composed broadcast voice. Dig it, after the jump …

Kenny Florian and Kurt Pellegrino are Really Cracking Themselves Up, You Guys

(VidProps: YouTube/PellegrinoMMA)
Not to pull back the curtain too much, Nation, but there’s been a lot of talk behind the scenes lately about CP branching out into a new webshow. Well, consider the open casting call for hosts officially …

(VidProps: YouTube/PellegrinoMMA)

Not to pull back the curtain too much, Nation, but there’s been a lot of talk behind the scenes lately about CP branching out into a new webshow. Well, consider the open casting call for hosts officially closed now that we’ve seen Kenny Florian and Kurt Pellegrino doing … whatever it is they’re doing here. All we know is that Pellegrino looks pretty snazzy in that suit jacket (not to mention that finely coiffed hair) and Florian’s vamping alter-ego is approximately 100 times more entertaining than the average MMA fighter’s real personality. We assume that when Chael Sonnen said fighters spend a few hours a day working out and have the rest of their lives to choose between screwing around and ~~positively contributing to society~~ committing crimes, this is what he meant. Personally, we’ll take screwing around. You had us at “Don’t talk back to me,” KenFlo.