Why the Lack of Respect for the Strikeforce Lightweight Champ
The latest fighter rankings were published yesterday and the biggest surprise was the absence of a 4-time Lightweight champ. This fighter has a 17-2 record and is currently wearing the belt for a major US promotion, Strikeforce. That fighter is Gilbert Melendez and from his own mouth he gets no respect and I tend to agree.
While doing the fighter rankings & a quick lightweight survey only 2 people list Melendez in their top 5 out of 20 people asked. To make it worse the lesser know fighter George Sotiropoulos got more votes than did Melendez. Title contending Fighters like Grey Maynard and Frankie Edgar also got more votes than Melendez. Newly WEC lightweight champ Ben Henderson made the top 5 for the first time this month yet the former WEC and current Strikeforce champ gets no love. So why is that?
Many fans have Zuffa tunnel vision and when it comes to ranking fighters they never seem to think of fighters in the other organizations. With that said though every other Strikeforce champion (Fedor Emelianenko at Heavyweight) made the top 5 but Melendez, so it can’t be that. The likely reason is they just flat out forget about him, mainly because he is not marketed heavily outside of the California Bay Area.
That will all change though with a win on April 17that Strikeforce: Nashville against what many consider the 2ndranked Lightweight in the world Shinya Aoki. Aoki (23-4) is the holder of the Dream Lightweight Champion and is a submission specialist. Though they are both champs the fight will not be for Aoki’s Dream belt as it will be ref’d under Strikeforce rules. This fight will be a great match-up and a great opportunity for Melendez to finally earn the respect he deserves.
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I had him on my list as number 5 I think, but you honestly can’t say he is better than aoki, florian, penn!
I also think george would most likely beat gilbert, if they ever fought.