IMO Melendez is a little better than Bendo, and Bendo was a pretty silly opponent for Alvarez as it was when he lost to Cowboy, who up until now at least is 0-2 against Bendo.
Yeah, in a way the injury could be good for all involved, if not long-term. But not because it sets up a fight against the likes of Melendez instead. More like if it sets a fight against Miller, Green, or that ilk. However, if they set him up with someone like Barboza, it's even worse for Alvarez. Because he wouldn't get a lot of credit for beating him, and it's a bad style match-up for similar reasons as Cowboy was. At least with Bendo, even though Alvarez was giving up a lot of size then, he could use his tdd to give his better technical stand-up a good chance to win. It was a neutral style match in that way, albeit against a better opponent.
Set Eddie and Gil up to win their next fight, regain hype, and THEN do that fight.
