Remember When: Gilbert Melendez & Diego Sanchez Fought ‘The Greatest Fight’ Joe Rogan Has Ever Seen

Heading into his co-main event bout with Eddie Alvarez at this Saturday night’s (June 13, 2015) UFC 188 pay-per-view (PPV) event form Mexico City, former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez only has three UFC fights under his belt since making his way to the Octagon in April of 2013.

Two of them were title losses to Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis, but the third was an all-time classic slugfest against hard-nosed veteran Diego Sanchez at UFC 166 in October 2013. Melendez was understandably a big favorite going into the bout with The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 1 winner Sanchez, and he proved why by controlling the early round action with his crisp boxing and grappling skills.

But true to form, Sanchez fought back with his own brawling style in the brutal third round, and nearly knocked out ‘El Nino’ with a vicious late uppercut. Ultimately Melendez won by unanimous decision, but the fight will forever go down in UFC history as one of the best back-and-forth brawls the promotion has ever staged.

Relive the fight that Octagon announcer Joe Rogan dubbed, “The greatest fight I have ever seen in my life” above.