Gilbert Melendez, who will be left to fight him?

Gilbert Melendez (20-2) is scheduled to fight Josh Thomson (19-4-1) for a third time on May 19, 2012 in San Jose, California at Strikeforce 40: Barnett vs. Cormier.

The odds are favoring Melendez, and even though Thomson is coming off a recent victory, his last loss was to Tatsuya Kawajiri (31-7-2), whom Melendez had defeated in 2011.

The question becomes: What happens next for Melendez?

Dana White has gone on record saying that he wanted to bring Melendez over to UFC. White went so far as to attempt to arrange former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion B.J. Penn to face him in a Strikeforce event. Unfortunately it never came to fruition and Melendez is still in a contract with Strikeforce and Showtime.

With the UFC absorbing the vast pool of talent in the Lightweight division, worthy prospects to fight Melendez are drying up. There are always great fighters coming up in the ranks, but will any one of them prove to be a worthy contender?

Melendez told MMAWeekly.com that he wants to prove that he is Number One and part of that is: “beating everyone, every match-up. I think I can beat every style out there.”

Melendez knows that talk is cheap and wants to show that he is the best lightweight fighter out there. Unfortunately, the San Francisco-based fighter is going to have to wait.