Mixed Martial Arts Career
Melendez aka El Nino began fighting in the pre-Zuffa World Extreme Cagefighting and Rumble on the Rock shows and also spent some time overseas where he fought for Shooto and PRIDE Fighting Championships
Melendez won the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship from Clay Guida by split decision on June 9, 2006.
Melendez held the belt for two years before losing it on June 27, 2008 to Josh Thomson by unanimous decision (50–45, 50–45, 50–45) at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson.
On April 11, 2009, Melendez was scheduled to rematch Josh Thomson for the title at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz but the bout was cancelled on April 1 as Thomson broke his ankle in training for the fight. Rodrigo Damm replaced Thomson on the card and the two squared off for the interim title which Melendez would go on to win, stopping Damm with strikes in the 2nd round.
On August 15, 2009, Melendez was again set to rematch Josh Thomson at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg but Thomson was not cleared to fight, due to lingering problems with his leg. Mitsuhiro Ishida was selected to replace Thomson in what became Melendez' first Interim title defense.
On December 19, 2009, Melendez fought Josh Thomson to unify the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship belts. Melendez won the fight via unanimous decision to become the Undisputed Lightweight Champion. With the win he also avenged the second of his only two losses to date.
Melendez successfully defended the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship against current DREAM Lightweight Champion and former Shooto Middleweight Champion Shinya Aoki on April 17, 2010.
A rematch between Melendez and Tatsuya Kawajiri took take place on April 9, 2011 at Strikeforce 33 in April. Melendez dominated his opponent showing excellent striking, knocking down Kawajiri with a right hand near the beginning of the fight. Melendez then again knocked down Kawajiri with a combination of knees to the body and a right hook followed by a right uppercut. The beginning of the end came when Melendez sprawled one of Kawajiri's takedowns and then began landing short left hands which knocked Kawajiri down into half-guard where Melendez began landing vicious right elbows before the referee stopped the fight declaring Melendez the winner by TKO 3:14 into the first round.
Melendez faced Jorge Masvidal next. UFC president Dana White briefly put the bout in question when he revealed to reporters that he was working to bring Gilbert Melendez into the UFC fold "ASAP" with the possibility of Melendez entering with an immediate shot at the belt. Melendez eventually defended his title against challenger Jorge Masvidal at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal. He won the fight via unanimous decision.
Melendez took on Josh Thomson in a rubber match for the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier in San Jose, California on May 19, 2012. He won the fight via split decision. Fans did not agree with the decision and Josh Thompson was visible disappointed by the decision. Booing immediately followed the decision and cont. throughout Melendez post fight interview. although not please with the decision showed class in defeat by asking the crowd to stop booing and support the local fighter.
Melendez was expected to face Pat Healy for the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship on September 29, 2012 in Sacramento, California. It was announced on September 22, 2012 that Melendez suffered an injury and had to withdraw from the fight. Due to Melendez' injury, Showtime opted not to air the card without the main event, thus causing Strikeforce to cancel the card becoming the second MMA card cancelled within a month under the Zuffa organization.
The bout with Healy was recheduled for January 12, 2013 at Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine, but again, Melendez pulled out of the bout citing a shoulder injury.
Read more about this topic: Gilbert Melendez
Famous quotes containing the words mixed, martial, arts and/or career:
“Ireland still remains the Holy Isle whose aspirations must on no account be mixed with the profane class-struggles of the rest of the sinful world ... the Irish peasant must not on any account know that the Socialist workers are his sole allies in Europe.”
—Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)
“To a surprising extent the war-lords in shining armour, the apostles of the martial virtues, tend not to die fighting when the time comes. History is full of ignominious getaways by the great and famous.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“If we will admit time into our thoughts at all, the mythologies, those vestiges of ancient poems, wrecks of poems, so to speak, the world’s inheritance,... these are the materials and hints for a history of the rise and progress of the race; how, from the condition of ants, it arrived at the condition of men, and arts were gradually invented. Let a thousand surmises shed some light on this story.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)