Gilbert Melendez Wants To Fight Eddie Alvarez In Mexico City
A few years back, Gilbert Melendez and Eddie Alvarez were not only two of the best lightweights not signed to the UFC, but two of the best fighters outside of the UFC period. Melendez reigned supreme in Strikeforce as the company’s lightweight champion from 2009-2012, while Alvarez wore the lightweight gold in Bellator from 2009-2011 and again in 2014.
Back during this time, both men were the top of the food chain when it came to the 155 pound division and both men wanted to fight each other. The bout was proposed as a genuine “superfight”, but the two promotions couldn’t seem to strike a deal with each other.
Now in 2015, both men are under the Zuffa banner and signed with the UFC. Alvarez is coming off of his debut, a loss to Donald Cerrone and Melendez is coming off of a loss to current champion Anthony Pettis. According to “El Nino” this is the perfect time to set up the blockbuster showdown that never took place. He appeared on today’s (February 2, 2015) edition of the MMA Hour and said that he’d like his next fight to be against Alvarez at the proposed UFC 188 card in Mexico on June 13, 2015:
“If Eddie Alvarez is out there and he’s open to fight me and I think he is — no doubt in my mind he’s open to fight me — I think we should try to fight each other,” Melendez said. “There would be no better place than Mexico City. That would be the one to do it on if you ask me.”
Melendez is of Mexican descent, so the fight would likely do very well in Mexico. The main event of this card is expected to be the long awaited Cain Velasquez vs. Fabrico Werdum title fight, but “El Nino” vs. Alvarez could be a very solid main card or co-main event edition. The two lightweights are also both efficient boxers, and Melendez believes it would make for a great fight:
“It’s two guys that probably have similar fighting styles,” Melendez said. “It would be a good recipe for a bad ass MMA fight.”
When the fight was first being talked about years ago, the two men had a slight war of words so to say going back and forth in interviews and on social media. This undoubtedly caused more hype around the potential clash, but Melendez said he never took any of the talk to heart, as he believes Alvarez did:
“I believe I was calling out Eddie Alvarez first,” Melendez said. “Again, I called him out because I thought he was one of the best guys. Initially, I called him out back in the day thinking that Strikeforce and Bellator could have made it happen. This is years ago. I think he took it a little bit as an insult, because I think he thought it wasn’t even possible.”
With both men in the UFC, and both men coming off loses, the bout definitely makes sense at this point. Although the former Strikeforce champion is not too concerned with Alvarez, he definitely wants to square off with him soon:
“I don’t really care much about him, but I do respect him as a fighter,” Melendez said. “”I’d like to share the Octagon with him finally.””
Melendez even said that his management has already reached out to the UFC. Although nothing has been confirmed or made official, if the promotion can make it happen, it’s what he wants:
“If the UFC could make that happen and if Eddie wants it, I think that’s the next fight for me,” Melendez said.
What do you think of this scrap between two former champions finally happening after all of these years?
