Why Melendez deserves a shot over Cerrone/Pettis.

I think Bendo is going to crush him. I would much rather see the rematch with Pettis
 
I think only Dan Henderson when he came over from Pride and Nick Diaz are the only 2 times I can think of when the UFC gave the champion in another organization an immediate title shot. Diaz fucked that up, Hendo got 2 back to back title shots (Only 1 of 3 guys to get that award: Couture and Chael being the other 2, ironically all 3 are Team Quest alum).
 
Sickplicity said:
Some people are saying Melendez doesn't deserve a shot based on his last performance against Josh Thomson.

But honestly, there's so many reasons why Melendez deserves a shot over the Pettis & Cerrone winner.

- Melendez has been floating amongst the top 3 LW's in the world for quite some time. People forget the rankings in which the fighters he fought were at the time he fought them. Shinya Aoki is one of notable wins that he has, Aoki was known as one of the top LW's in the world & Melendez handled him with ease.

- Melendez is the last Strikeforce Lightweight Champion & a Title Unification is the only obvious thing to do.

- Cerrone already lost to Benson twice, it'd be hard to market that fight a 3rd time, even though their 1st fight could've gone either way, Benson won the decision and it's already stated on his record.

- Anthony Pettis lost his shot at the title against Guida, who Benson beat prior to fighting for the title.

- Anthony Pettis is coming off a win over Joe Lauzon. Though Lauzon was riding high on his win over the ranked at the time Melvin Guillard. Joe Lauzon wasn't ranked and has no top 10 wins whatsoever. Cerrone is coming off a win over Guillard during the time that Guillard wasn't ranked, and he still isn't. This doesn't warrant a shot in my opinion.

- & Lastly, Benson has been open to fighting Melendez lately anyways, I think the Pettis vs. Cerrone winner should fight Alvarez if he were to come over, or someone like Gray Maynard to solidify a shot a shot at the title. They both don't have any top 10 wins as of recent. Maybe Cerrone over Siver, but that was a way while back.
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Coulda summed it all up just by saying he is the strikeforce LW champ.
 
Henderson vs Melendez for the lw title. Cerrone Pettis winner fights the new champ after. It all makes sense to me.
 
Gil is a talented fighter, top 10 lightweight, and him vs bendo should be a good entertaining scrap. That being said, I do believe that Melendez' lofty ranking has a lot more to do with him effectively being a big fish in a small pond...

I feel that often a fighters status can get inflated when they fight (and win) outside of the ufc, Gil Melendez being on the P4P list I think is evidence of that.

He is a top LW no question, but put him in against Pettis, cerrone, miller, Maynard, Edgar, bendo or even nate Diaz (who he would not fight obviously) and I think it would be hard to make him any more than a slight favourite...

When there are 6-7 guys in your weight class that could all conceivably beat you... you can't really justify a spot on the P4P list. Just my 0.2 cents.
 
Let's do a quick comparison over the last 3 years:

Pettis' wins
Ben Henderson
Joe Lauzon
Jeremy Stephens
Shane Roller
Danny Castillo

Gil's wins
Josh Thomson
Shinya Aoki
Jorge Masvidal
Tatsuya Kawajiri

It's pretty even, though Pettis' win over Benson carries a lot of weight. I'd still say Kawajiri or Masvidal are much better overall wins than Castillo or Roller. Throw in Pettis' loss to Guida and I think a strong argument could be made either way.
 
SPL1FF said:
so lauzon , whom i think is a great fighter and true warrior, is and has been a top 5 contender for the 155 belt.

wich is why he has had a shot at it before...right?
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so lauzon isnt a notable win on any LW's resume because he isnt top 5?

SPL1FF said:
also, those guys you mentioned, they have been ranked or talked about as being top 5 in the 155 pound division in the world at some point...right?

haha...ow...oh
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thomson, aoki and kawajiri have all been top 5 at one point, yes.

aoki was top 5 when gil beat him, thomson was top 10 when gil beat him the 1st time, kawajiri was top 5 when gil beat him the 1st time, top 10 the 2nd time.

SPL1FF said:
also i didnt say that Josh was a notable win, reread my post please.

masvidal and kawajiri are not and would not be in the runnin for top 5 at 155.
i think nate would beat them both.
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so only fighters ranked in the top 5 are worthwhile wins.. okay.
 
While I wanna see cowboy vs pettis so bad.... it almost feels like gilbert vs pettis for no1 shot is deserved, heck give cowboy nate cos he will accept it ;)
 
SPL1FF said:
so lauzon , whom i think is a great fighter and true warrior, is and has been a top 5 contender for the 155 belt.

wich is why he has had a shot at it before...right?

also, those guys you mentioned, they have been ranked or talked about as being top 5 in the 155 pound division in the world at some point...right?

haha...ow...oh

also i didnt say that Josh was a notable win, reread my post please.

masvidal and kawajiri are not and would not be in the runnin for top 5 at 155.
i think nate would beat them both.
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Lauzon has never been in the top 5 and has been finished by 6 different fighters. Aoki is far superior to Lauzon and would never have been submitted by Gsot. Every single guy Melendez fought in Strikeforce would kill Jeremy Stephens and the majority would beat Guida.
 
Perhaps they should put this, and Alvarez vs. Pettis/Cerrone winner on the same card, then round it out with Weidman vs. Rockhold.....
 
Because unlike Melendez there is a legitimate chance Anthony Pettis would beat Benson again.
 
Id rather have Pettis-Bendo if he wins but timing wise i get the call, i doubt Pettis would be ready by April
 
RankingMMA said:
I'm not sure how Pettis has earned it since arriving to the UFC. I think he has the best shot to beat Henderson outside of Maynard, but let's be honest here. He lost to Guida, won a split decision over Jeremy Stephens and knocked out Lauzon. Last time I looked Guida and Stephens aren't even in the division anymore. There can be arguments made for any of the top guys at LW, but I don't think people questioning Pettis' standing should be called fools or trolls.
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But he still beat Stephens (I felt he won that easily), and his decision with Guida, again, was a classic "Guida gets away with one" IMO. Also, you have to factor in that Pettis looked less than 100% healthy, and he may finally be healthy for the first time in a while.

Again, I think a lot of how this turns out depends on not just if Pettis wins, but how he wins. If he puts on a one-sided fight (regardless of how he wins), or just brings the entertainment and technicality up to 11, he'll get the title shot, and will have earned a title shot. Whether or not Pettis gets passed over for Melendez is up to the UFC. I will 100% agree either way, and I'll be happy to watch on Fox either way! :cool:

Still, after seeing Diaz get lite up, I'm afraid that would happen to El Nino.
 
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^^^ Cerrone is in the title picture... it's just he's in the background... kinda far back there! Squint and you'll find him!
RankingMMA said:
I don't think the UFC cares about unifying the belts.
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It could at least bring some more eyes. Besides that, they could technically "unify" the WEC/UFC belts in a Pettis/Bendo fight, or "unify" the Strikeforce/UFC belts in a Bendo/Melendez fight. It would at least be a fun little spectacle, like what happened with the Pride MW/WW belts (both owned by Dan Henderson) being unified with the UFC LHW/MW belt. Although, to be entirely honest, I'm a big time sucker for title unification. :icon_chee
RankingMMA said:
If anything, they want their guys to beat the Strikeforce guys.
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The now former Strikeforce fighters are now they're fighters, too. You didn't see Zuffa talking down about Pettis, Cerrone, Bendo, etc. talking down on those guys when they came to the UFC.
 
Melendez was ranked as a top 5 FW before moving up to LW.

He was ranked P4P before the Ishida loss.



Funny sidenote:

For all their whining if Gil got the shot, that would be his camps 5th UFC titleshot.

Jake
Nick (interim, although he blew it for the real title before that)
Nate
Nick again
Gil
 
Magjee said:
Melendez was ranked as a top 5 FW before moving up to LW.

He was ranked P4P before the Ishida loss.



Funny sidenote:

For all their whining if Gil got the shot, that would be his camps 5th UFC titleshot.

Jake
Nick (interim, although he blew it for the real title before that)
Nate
Nick again
Gil
Click to expand...

It's funny they all lost and will probably lose in the future, nick vs gsp and gil vs bendo
 
I want to see Melendez fight some of the UFC guys first. He just seems too wild and I think some of the top 155'ers in the ufc will give him problems.

If the UFC is smart they will make Henderson vs Pettis(if he wins) and put it on FOX.
 
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