Issue 122

December 2014

After a year on the sidelines who will emerge with the UFC championship when the planet’s leading lightweights collide in Las Vegas?

Reigning UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis (17-2) finally makes the first defense of the title he won in such shocking, memorable fashion back in August 2013 at UFC 164 in his hometown of Milwaukee.

The long delay, caused by a knee injury and then the schedule for the history-making all-female season of The Ultimate Fighter, on which he coached, may have been frustrating, but this fight with his fellow TUF 20 coach and top contender Gilbert Melendez promises to be something special.  

A black belt under long-time mentor Cesar Gracie, Melendez (22-3) has never been finished in a fight, and despite regularly going the distance, is one of the sport’s most accomplished and entertaining athletes.  

An excellent grappler who sets and keeps a furious pace, he’s also a busy striker both on his feet and on the ground and has picked up half his truly global career wins via stoppage.

A healthy Melendez’s stamina is unquestioned. The 32-year-old trains regularly, and has done for many years, with two of the sport’s premier cardio machines: Nick and Nate Diaz. Since the start of 2008, he’s fought 11 times, with all but one booked for five rounds.  

He went the distance in seven of those fights while amassing a record of 9-2. The two losses, both by decision, came against old foe and former training partner Josh Thomson in the first of their epic three-fight series (Melendez won the following two) and most recently, a desperately close split decision loss to Benson Henderson for the UFC belt in 2013. A close, hugely entertaining fight, the decision was no ‘robbery’, but Melendez probably deserved the nod.

And while this may be just his third UFC fight, in his 12-year career he’s won titles in WEC and Strikeforce and been one of the sport’s most highly rated lighter weight fighters for a decade.  

Between 2004 and 2007, Melendez fought six times in Japan at a time when most of the sport’s best 145 and 155lb’ers (he fought at both weights) were over there. He went 5-1, including scoring wins over Rumina Sato and Tatsuya Kawajiri.  

The only loss of his Japanese career, to Mitsuhiro Ishida, he emphatically avenged in a 2009 Strikeforce title fight. He’s also beaten Clay Guida, Shinya Aoki, Jorge Masvidal and, most recently, Diego Sanchez in an incredible three-round war.

But will Melelndez beat the champion, five years his junior and widely regarded as one of the fastest, most versatile and skilled strikers in the sport? A professional fighter since early 2007, Pettis racked up an 8-0 record on the local Wisconsin fight scene, scoring seven first-round finishes. 

In his second WEC appearance (on the same night Melendez edged out Thomson in their second fight, unifying the Strikeforce championship) Pettis dropped a very close split decision to the durable and experienced Bart Palaszewski. But then won three straight, all inside the distance, to earn a WEC title shot at Benson Henderson.  

Main-eventing the final WEC show before it was absorbed into the UFC, the final significant strike of the promotion’s history was Pettis’ unforgettable, and much-replayed ‘Showtime kick’. Leaping up and then pushing off the cage to land a foot to Henderson’s face that sent the champion to the mat and sealed Pettis’ title victory with a decision win in a superb fight.

A pair of flat performances in his first two UFC outings, a surprise decision loss to Guida and a close judges’ verdict over Jeremy Stephens, had many questioning how good Pettis really was.  

But he was back to his best in two destructive first-round wins over Joe Lauzon and Donald Cerrone, earning another shot against Henderson, who was by now the UFC champion. This time Pettis finished the fight in the first round with a beautiful armbar, becoming the first man to tap the ‘unsubmittable’ now former champion.

However, both men have been out of action for over a year. How will Pettis’ recovered knee hold up? Will a long career finally start catching up with Melendez? Can ‘El Nino’ counter Pettis’ sheer array of weapons? Can Pettis cope with Melendez’s pace and pressure, especially in the later rounds?  

After many years of previewing big fights, this writer has no idea – but is ticking off the days on the calendar, desperate to find out.