I always liked how Melvin was the Achilles Heel of the "athleticism is everything-- an amazing athlete will dominate this sport" ideal-fighter theory. Especially since he had the
quintessential style for utilizing your athleticism. You
have to have a big, wild style in order to make full use of your athleticism. The whole point of athleticism is that it makes it so you can land those big, wild, powerful strikes so fast that they'll land and you'll get an early knockout; that's what
really separates those guys from anyone who can just throw a fast, hard punch. Just using athleticism to be a super-fast jabber isn't enough, since it's not gonna make your jab anywhere near more invulnerable to the problems that jabs face than anything else; unless you're more comfortable with that, you're wasting a lot of what your athleticism has to offer by doing that. You need form, but you still have to be wild, and Melvin was more of the perfect ratio of that than anyone else, even Krazy Horse (since Melvin
did have some legit striking skills and wasn't just a brawler). And when he
tried to be "more technical", it led to his extremely-underwhelming victory over Fabricio Camoes, then he went "fuck this shit".
His chin was never
so amazing that he could survive the wild exchanges with certainty, and I don't think he ever really developed a passion for the finer points of grappling until he was in his 30's and his athleticism started to fade (so, since he didn't have a passion for it, his gains weren't much, and his time would be better spent working more on his striking and trying to survive exchanges with his striking style and having a hands-down-for-takedown-defense stance), and if you're gonna wish for those things on him you'd might as well start wishing for more shit until he's an unrealistic fantasy-fighter that nobody could ever hope to fill.
He can still make a comeback; he's only 34, and his body isn't so far gone that, with enough hard work, he could go on a respectable run. There're guys who're on
really nice streaks from all over the world whose bodies are about at Melvin's level now.
Melvin has been addicted to cocaine for years he started partying a long time ago burning the candle at both ends it' truly catching him now.
He tested positive for cocaine after a 2007 fight and brawled with fellow fighter Rich Clementi outside the cage,then tested positive again for cocaine after his fight at Bellator 159 against david rickels.
He has had a reputation for being very gifted but a complete headache to work with......he believes his own hype and feeds his ego.
One look at his last 8-9 fights shows him missing weight for title fights and just underpreparing and underwhelming performances.
Young assassin is his own worst enemy and has been for quite some time.
He sounds kinda like the "hot but dumb" girl.
"Athletic... but lazy and egotistical."
