After negotiating a new eight-fight extension, Benson Henderson appears poised to accept his next marching orders in the form of a highly anticipated champion vs. champion matchup.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the UFC has its sights set on April 20's UFC on FOX 7 event to pair UFC lightweight titleholder Henderson against Strikeforce's last reigning divisional champion, Gilbert Melendez.
The event is likely to take place in Melendez's backyard, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, where he competed eight times while on the Strikeforce roster. That promotion went out of business after last Saturday night's event.
Henderson (18-2) has shot up the world's pound-for-pound rankings since defeating Frankie Edgar for the belt last February and successfully defending it twice. Most recently, he dominated Melendez's teammate Nate Diaz in a lopsided unanimous decision victory at UFC on FOX 5.
Melendez (21-2) has been for a long time considered among the top fighters never to appear in the octagon. The two-time Strikeforce 155-pound champion currently boasts a seven-fight win streak, although he has been shelved since a decision win over Josh Thomson last May. Melendez was twice expected to face Pat Healy in recent months but was forced to withdraw due to lingering shoulder problems. If he fights Henderson in April, it will amount to an 11-month layoff.
According to sources, there are still potential roadblocks to the Henderson vs. Melendez that could force the organization to take a different path, but that matchup is the organization's intended direction.
Just last week, it was reported that coveted free agent Eddie Alvarez could find himself fighting for the UFC championship in his promotional debut, but legal wrangling between Alvarez and Bellator over his UFC offer sheet and Bellator matching rights have stalled his career for the time being.
Awesome. Looks like we could see a number of SF fighters on this card. Looks like we got DC and Jacare on this card as well. I'm sure there will be more as well.
Yeah I think Bendo is too good everywhere. Gil probably won't be able to get him down or keep him there for any significant amount of time and Bendo has very good striking aswell.
I'd imagine that Gil gets boxed up by the Diaz boys though. Benson is a smart guy that follows gameplans perfectly. Gilbert isn't that tricky of a puzzle IMO. He is a good fighter but I don't see this as his best matchup. He'd smash a Jim Miller though.
Gil is tough and has never been finished. It's going to be tough to put him away so Bendo will have his hands full. I think people are too down on Gil after the latest Thompson fight. IMO Thompson is just a tough matchup for Gil. Kind of like KJ Noons is a tough matchup for Nick Diaz. I think people underrated Gil right now.
Gil is good at everything and will make for a good fight but I don't thing he has a single advantage were he can win. Bendo's far more versatile and sound striking will win him the fight.
Looking forward to this one. I've found it hard to rank Melendez considering the fact that hes always been in Strikeforce and hasn't fought anyone who I consider to be a real elite top five lightweight. My prediction is Henderson will control Melendez and win a decision in a spirited fight. Either way after this bout is done everyone will know what Melendez is made of and whether he is one of the best or the best lightweight in the world like many people believe.
Bendon will decision a lot of people IMO. The only guy I think that will be able to stop him now that Frankie is gone is Maynard. Alvarez might KO him though (I don't rate Alvarez as no.1 but he has legit KO power and probably matches up better with Bendon than anyone else aside from the Bully).
Bellator has good guys all throughout the lighter weight classes, they are really quite a good organisation. It's the majority of their HWs that make me want to rip my eyes out of their sockets.
Maynard matches up well cos he can probably put Bendo on his back and his striking was already good but training with Pederneiras, Aldo and Barao at Nova Unaio will have improved him tenfold.
Nate V Maynard 1&2 were years ago, both fighters have improved so much it's ridiculous. I think Maynard is a notch above Jim Miller. If Gray wanted to he could beat Pettis the way he did Florian. Chandler is an interesting one, I think he's top 5.
Pettis come on people he shouldn't even be in contention right now and the rematch if it happens won't be competitive. Same with Cerrrone guys are good fighter but not title material.
That's the exactly the kind of thinking that makes him extremely underrated right now. He dominated much better fighters then Thompson, that's just a bad matchup for him. Everyone has someone like that.
I think Bendo wins. Probably not by domination, but comfortably I think.
Now Pettis is starting to cry I see. Says "no more Mr. Nice Guy" in reference to saying the title shot will come. Well hey Pettis, maybe if you weren't out for a year you could have been getting it. You lost to Guida, won a split over Stephens, and then KO'd Joe Lauzon....then you sat out for a year. Bendo needs an opponent. You have a tough fight in 2 weeks. Get real Pettis, you aren't entitled to anything. And I like Pettis, but now he will start sounding like Hendricks. At least Hendricks has a case. Pettis really doesn't.
Melendez will win if there's any justice in this world, can't stand Bendo and I hope we see the guy who pounded out Kawajiri and steamrolled Aoki and not the guy who looked unmotivated against Masvidal and Thomson.
He has good wins and I will root for him in this fight. But in my opinion Aoki and Kawajiri are pretty overrated fighters. Aoki is as one-dimensional as they come who strokes his ego by fighting straight cans. Kawajiri went down to 145 and really wouldn't do anything in the UFC 155 division. Melendez straight wrecked him though.
I think Thomson would do some damage in the UFC, not a Champion but could he creep into the lower end of the top ten? In my mind yes, he's better than a guy like Lauzon and I'd place him on the same caliber as a Jim Miller or someone like that. I think that was just a rough fight for Gil everything considered, Masvidal's another guy who I think can make some noise but not as much as Thomson can, Gil was fighting good guys in Strikeforce but his motivation was lacking towards the end, in the UFC I expect him to shine bright, this is what he's been wanting.
I agree and that is sort of the point. He beat the crap out of overrated Asian fighters who traditionally never do as well in America as they do in Japan. When he faced a guy like Thompson, who I think is better...he struggled.
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