Gilbert Melendez: ‘It’s not about the UFC, it’s about the fighters out there’
"It's something on my mind. It's not so much the UFC as it is the fighters out there. I think I've taken out most of the guys outside of the UFC. ... The guys I'd like to fight in the UFC are obviously Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Kenny Florian, BJ Penn, those are all the guys I'd like to fight out there. So, yeah, it's definitely on my mind. ... Whatever makes the most sense with business."
Gilbert Melendez tells MMA Weekly he knows where the big fights are and it's not with the organization he's currently signed with in Strikeforce. Having avenged his only two career losses, to Mitsuhiro Ishida and Josh Thomson respectively, not to mention defeating the best lightweight Japan has to offer in Shinya Aoki, "El Nino" is on the back end of the merry-go-round and looking at a dearth of new opponents. After seeing his friend and training partner Jake Shields make his way to the UFC for fresh matchups and a bigger payday, the current Strikeforce Lightweight Champion just might be thinking of doing the same. Would you like to see Melendez in the UFC? Who would you want to see him face off with if he came over to the biggest promotion in the world? Have at it, Maniacs.