By Dwight Wakabayashi
Strikeforce has two championship titles up for grabs this weekend at Strikeforce 40: Barnett vs. Cormier at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
Many are geared up for the long-awaited Heavyweight Grand Prix final between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier, but a grudge match between Gilbert Melendez (20-2) and Josh Thomson (19-4) for the lightweight title could end up stealing the show.
Melendez is the champion and regarded by many as the best 155-pound fighter outside the UFC. He has not lost a fight since 2009 and is on a six-fight run. His last loss was a close, unanimous decison at the hands of Thomson.
Melendez already avenged that loss later that year to set up a nice rubber match Saturday night in San Jose. Many feel that Melendez should be swimming with the sharks in the UFC and a large step up from Thomson, but a fight is a fight and the veteran Thomson will look to seize this incredible opportunity.
Melendez is a buzz saw in the cage with his relentless pressure, ground-and-pound and improved striking and at 30 years old he is in the prime of his career. The Cesar Gracie fighter has earned his nickname “El Nino” with wins against some of the best lightweights in the world including Clay Guida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Shinya Aoki and Thomson. His last fight was a unanimous decision win over Jorge Masvidal in December.
Some people are expecting Melendez to breeze through Thomson in this fight and pave his way to the UFC, but both previous encounters have gone to a unanimous decision. Thomson is a former champion and brings a lot of game and experience to the cage with him. The AKA fighter and BJJ black belt lives and trains in San Jose, and will be fighting in front of his home crowd this weekend like he has many times before.
In their first meeting, Thomson’s takedowns ruled the day and led him to a win, although he wasn’t able to finish Melendez with a submission, which is the strength of Thomson’s game. In the rematch, Melendez stuffed many of Thomson’s takedown attempts and used improved striking to pick him apart.
The blueprint to victory in this fight is no different. If Melendez can keep this fight standing as much as possible, he will outstrike Thomson again, and put this rivalry to bed once and for all. If Thomson can get it down to the mat quickly, he will be able to outgrapple Melendez, and steal a decision win. I see the first scenario playing out Saturday and expect the fight to look eerily similar to the last one, with Melendez taking home a decision win to pave his way for debut in the UFC.
If Melendez is as good as everyone thinks he is, he should win in convincing fashion and set up a fight with a top-five UFC lightweight. In my opinion, Melendez must beat at least one top-five UFC lightweight before there can be any talk of a title shot.
A rematch with Clay Guida, or a fight with a Joe Lauzon or Melvin Guillard, would be a good first test to get his feet wet in the UFC.
Here are Friday’s full weigh-in results:
Main card (Watch on Super Channel at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT)
Josh Barnett (248) vs. Daniel Cormier (238)
Gilbert Melendez (153) vs. Josh Thomson (153)
Rafael Cavalcante (206) vs. Mike Kyle (203)
Nah-Shon Burrell (170) vs. Chris Spang (169)
Preliminary card
Gesias Cavalcante (156) vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg (156)
Virgil Zwicker (204) vs. Guto Inocente (205)
Derrick Mehmen (205) vs. Gian Villante (205)
Quinn Mulhern (170) vs. Yuri Villefort (170)
Bobby Green (155) vs. James Terry (156)
Dwight Wakabayashi is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a writer/analyst for MMACanada.net.
