Tag: UFC on Fox 7

Bendo vs. Melendez Rumored for UFC on Fox 7 in San Jose

It looks like a UFC title unification might be waiting in the wings. MMAFighting.com is reporting that UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson’s next title defense will be against final Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez at UFC on Fox 7 o…

It looks like a UFC title unification might be waiting in the wings. MMAFighting.com is reporting that UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson’s next title defense will be against final Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez at UFC on Fox 7 on April 20 in San Jose, Calif.

Benson Henderson is reigning lightweight champ and most recently beat The Ultimate Fighter 5 winner Nate Diaz at UFC on Fox 5. Diaz and Melendez are teammates, both training under Cesar Gracie.

Melendez has long been a favorite for fans of fighters outside the UFC, and sports an impressive 21-2 record fighting for the WEC, Shooto, Pride and, most notably, Strikeforce.

Melendez long been ranked among the best at 155 pounds, but has never fought in the UFC, which has left many wondering how he would fare against top-ranked fighters from the last five years like BJ Penn, Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson.

UFC on Fox 7 is scheduled to take place at HP Pavilion in San Jose. That venue was home to many Strikeforce events over the years, and Melendez himself has fought there eight times. Melendez was born and raised in Southern California, making this a homestate fight for him.

The centerpieces of the UFC’s TV deal with Fox had been struggling ratings-wise through 2012.

While the initial event, headlined by a heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos drew numbers, it has been steadily downhill since. UFC on Fox 5 bucked that trend, averaging 4.4 million viewers and peaking at 5.7 million during Henderson’s fight with Diaz.

While there are still some hoops to jump through for the UFC in organizing this event, promotional brass is betting on lightning striking twice by booking Henderson to headline another event.

Keep checking Bleacher Report for official confirmation of these reports.

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Ben Henderson to Defend Lightweight Title Against Gilbert Melendez at UFC on FOX 7 in April


(Photo via Esther Lin for Strikeforce)

Update: The booking has been confirmed.

According to a new report from MMAFighting that cites “sources with knowledge of the situation,” reigning UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will attempt to make his third title-defense against longtime Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez at UFC on FOX 7, which is slated to go down April 20th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.

Henderson is coming off arguably the most impressive win of his career, dominating Gilbert’s homey Nate Diaz for five rounds in their meeting last month at UFC on FOX 5. It was the sixth-consecutive win for “Smooth” since he migrated to the UFC from the WEC, though Henderson has yet to score a stoppage victory in the Octagon. That’s not likely to change against Melendez, who has never been knocked out or submitted in 23 professional fights.

Melendez picked up his seventh-straight win in May 2012, winning a split-decision in a rubber match against Josh Thompson. Since then, the Cesar Gracie product has been sidelined by injury after injury. And though we were skeptical of Melendez’s latest withdrawal — the Cesar Gracie fighter had much more to lose from a fight against Pat Healy at Strikeforce’s final event than he stood to gain, and may have acted accordingly — it’s clear that his devious plan worked.

But before you go booking your travel plans, MMAFighting adds this caveat:


(Photo via Esther Lin for Strikeforce)

Update: The booking has been confirmed.

According to a new report from MMAFighting that cites “sources with knowledge of the situation,” reigning UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will attempt to make his third title-defense against longtime Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez at UFC on FOX 7, which is slated to go down April 20th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.

Henderson is coming off arguably the most impressive win of his career, dominating Gilbert’s homey Nate Diaz for five rounds in their meeting last month at UFC on FOX 5. It was the sixth-consecutive win for “Smooth” since he migrated to the UFC from the WEC, though Henderson has yet to score a stoppage victory in the Octagon. That’s not likely to change against Melendez, who has never been knocked out or submitted in 23 professional fights.

Melendez picked up his seventh-straight win in May 2012, winning a split-decision in a rubber match against Josh Thompson. Since then, the Cesar Gracie product has been sidelined by injury after injury. And though we were skeptical of Melendez’s latest withdrawal — the Cesar Gracie fighter had much more to lose from a fight against Pat Healy at Strikeforce’s final event than he stood to gain, and may have acted accordingly — it’s clear that his devious plan worked.

But before you go booking your travel plans, MMAFighting adds this caveat:

According to sources, there are still potential roadblocks to the Henderson vs. Melendez that could force the organization to take a different path, but that matchup is the organization’s intended direction.

If the fight goes through, it will be Melendez’s ninth appearance at the HP Pavilion, where he often competed for Strikeforce events. So, is Melendez really an elite-level lightweight, capable of becoming the UFC lightweight champion, or did it he just seem elite-level when he was tearing through the best opponents that Strikeforce could dig up for him? In other words, Bendo vs. Niño: Who ya got?

No other fights for UFC on FOX 7 has been officially confirmed yet, although Daniel Cormier has already reserved his spot on the card against Frank Mir.

Daniel Cormier Calls Out UFC Champion Jon Jones: “I’m Going to Kick His Ass”

Daniel Cormier won in style at the final Strikeforce card on Saturday night, but he dropped a few bombshells in his post-fight interview.Just minutes after a second-round TKO stoppage against overmatched opponent Dion Staring, the Oklahoma crowd looked…

Daniel Cormier won in style at the final Strikeforce card on Saturday night, but he dropped a few bombshells in his post-fight interview.

Just minutes after a second-round TKO stoppage against overmatched opponent Dion Staring, the Oklahoma crowd looked on as Cormier revealed two huge pieces of MMA news.

Cormier is set to fight Frank Mir at UFC on Fox 7 on April 20.

Moreover, the American Kickboxing Academy star vowed to move down a weight class and take away the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship from current title-holder Jon Jones:

Right now, I’m telling you. April 20 on Fox. I signed my UFC contract. Frank Mir, you and me. Let’s do it.

I’m going to let Jon Jones defend his belt on April 27 and then I’m going to kick his ass in the fall.

Cormier is currently among the top 10 heavyweights in MMA, and should be similarly ranked if he does indeed move down to 205 pounds. He’ll come into the UFC with an impressive 11-0 record that includes dominant wins over the likes of Antonio Silva and Josh Barnett.

Cormier was originally scheduled to face Mir as part of the main card in Strikeforce’s final event, but Mir pulled out of the match due to an injury in training.

Although Cormier currently fights at heavyweight, his friend and training partner is none other than UFC champion Cain Velasquez.

Less than a month ago, Velasquez regained the heavyweight title at UFC 155 from Junior dos Santos, the very same man who took the belt from him at the inaugural UFC on Fox event in November 2011. Members of the American Kickboxing Academy are well- known for their refusal to fight each other, so as long as Velasquez holds the belt at heavyweight, Cormier is unlikely to challenge for it.

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UFC on Fox 7: Why Dana White Should Book Ben Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez

Now that UFC on Fox 7 has been confirmed for April 20 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, it’s blatantly obvious what the main event should be—Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez for the UFC Lightweight Championship.Yes, that Gilbert Melendez….

Now that UFC on Fox 7 has been confirmed for April 20 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, it’s blatantly obvious what the main event should be—Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez for the UFC Lightweight Championship.

Yes, that Gilbert Melendez.

Look, I know what I said about “El Nino” before.

Previously, I (correctly) pointed out that Melendez doesn’t really deserve a superfight in his first UFC match due to his lackluster competition.

Moreover, he’s historically been one of the worst draws in Strikeforce, holding a company record for third-lowest gate at the HP Pavilion out of 15 events.

And make no mistake—in any other situation, he still wouldn’t be the most attractive challenger.

But UFC on Fox 7 is the best time and place for a Henderson vs. Melendez bout.

Strikeforce has been dying a slow, annoying death for years now, so much so that even a superstar like Ronda Rousey could barely draw an audience during her only California event as a headliner.

In Melendez’s case, he was constantly overshadowed by dynamic and interesting fighters, a problem made worse when Strikeforce regularly kept its lightweight champion out of the main event.

But with the combined marketing muscle of Zuffa and Fox, a UFC lightweight title fight in San Jose could be just the thing to boost his career for the better.

Granted, Melendez still has to turn in a much better performance than his near-loss against Josh Thompson, but fortunately for him, “Bendo” is the type of person who always seems to pull “Fight of the Night”-caliber performances out of his opponents.

Melendez might not be the most deserving challenger in the lightweight division right now, but the setup here is just too good to sign any other fight.

Plus, with a shot at Henderson’s title, Melendez will finally have the incentive and drive to put up or shut up against the best lightweight MMA fighter in the world.

Additionally, it’ll even benefit the UFC lightweight division in the long run.

Gray Maynard still needs time to recover from knee surgery, while the winner of Donald Cerrone vs. Anthony Pettis likely won’t escape the UFC on Fox 6 fight with a clean bill of health. Eddie Alvarez might also be off the table, especially since it looks like Bellator is throwing up contractual roadblocks.

In a strange way, Melendez is the best option for the card despite a total lack of star power.

Simply put, it’s the right fight in the right place at the right time.

Both Henderson and Melendez aren’t valuable enough that the UFC can’t afford to put them on free television. But with a strong undercard and the right marketing, this “champion vs. champion” matchup could be good for San Jose’s action-starved MMA community and UFC on Fox’s ratings woes.

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and FightFans Radio writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld and PC World. Talk with him on Twitter.

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UFC on Fox 7 Heading to HP Pavilion in San Jose on April 20

Although the fight card hasn’t been fleshed out just yet, UFC on Fox 7 officially has a date and venue.MMA Junkie reports that the event will take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, making it the second one to head to California this year….

Although the fight card hasn’t been fleshed out just yet, UFC on Fox 7 officially has a date and venue.

MMA Junkie reports that the event will take place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, making it the second one to head to California this year.

San Jose’s HP Pavilion has played host to two UFC events so far, with the most high-profile one being UFC 139, headlined by a title eliminator main event match between Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua.

That fight drew nearly 14,000 fans to the arena, a healthy draw also helped with the presence of local favorite Cung Le vs. Wanderlei Silva as the co-main event.

(San Jose is most commonly known as the hometown of Strikeforce, which is owned by UFC parent company Zuffa, LLC.)

UFC 139 proved to be a rare night of highlights for the promotion, as both Henderson vs. Rua and Le vs. Silva earned “Fight of the Night” awards in a pair of fierce matches.

Most recently, the HP Pavilion at San Jose also hosted UFC on Fuel TV 4, headlined by middleweight competitors Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman. Attendance for that card was much lower, with little more than 4000 fans in attendance at the 18,000-seat arena.

Lately, the UFC seems to be set on showcasing lighter-weight title fights as the main events for fight cards broadcast on Fox. Currently, the only champion below welterweight not currently booked for a fight is lightweight champion Benson Henderson.

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