Issue 084

January 2012

Headhunted by UFC president Dana White for the three-lettered juggernaut’s lightweight division, Strikeforce 155lb champ Gilbert Melendez is MMA’s hottest property. Ready to fight up a storm, ‘El Niño’ has a heart to heart with Gareth A Davies…

What’s your earliest memory of seeing a major sporting event?

Gilbert: “Wow, as a tiny boy my first sporting event had to be Hulk Hogan at the pro wrestling. I just thought that was the s**t.”

Did you think it was sport when you were a baby then?

“For sure. I thought he was a real American hero and I thought it was for real but I never got crushed when I figured out that it wasn’t. I flocked to that, then next was Jean Claude Van Damme and then it became freestyle wrestling when I found out about that and the UFC in junior high. My first was UFC 4 when Dan Severn lost to Royce Gracie in the finals. From then on I was hooked.”

Was it like watching something taboo at that age, then? Like you weren’t meant to be watching that kind of thing.

“Yeah, probably, but I was watching boxing before that too. I grew up watching Julio Cesar Chavez. I guess I can backtrack. I was watching Bloodsport and pro wrestling and then after that I started watching boxing. I saw Oscar De La Hoya’s first fight on TV. I think I’ve seen every one of his fights, you know. He fought on the undercard of Cesar Chavez. I had been watching that during junior high and then that’s when I finally saw the UFC. Boxing was something that was embraced in our culture, what it was with the OGs (original gangsters). The dads and the grandpas thought MMA was bullshit and thought I was weak, you know, but mom didn’t care.”

At the time, because of the Mexican heritage and the love of the trade of boxers, MMA taking it to the ground meant it was was seen as a dirty sport was it?

“Yeah maybe dirty, maybe seen as weird or boring. I think they had just a lack of knowledge of the sport. They just didn’t know what the f**k was going on or didn’t know what it was going to become. But now I think Mexicans are starting to like it. I have friends and their kids are getting dressed up as Tito Ortiz. The kids are going to be more influenced by MMA than we were by boxing, I think, which is f**king hard to say. It’s a big culture change.”

Were you a multi-sport man growing up? Because you’ve got the physique. 

“Yeah, well, I grew up into that. That’s lately what I’ve focused on. I wasn’t the most athletic kid. I had a lot of heart and that took me a long way, and I played football.”

Running back?

“No I played defense. I was too slow, but I’d always get the tackle and I had really good instincts so I could read well and do stuff, but maybe my body wasn’t fast enough to react to. But I had a big heart and made wise choices when it came to sports. I tried baseball, which I wasn’t very good at. I tried soccer, which I wasn’t very good at. I wanted to box when I was young but my mom wouldn’t let me and I ended up finding wrestling.”

Why wouldn’t she let you?

“She didn’t want me to get punched, she wanted me to be a swimmer. I played Pop Warner football. She wouldn’t let me do that until seventh grade. Then I started wrestling in high school, which I liked a lot because it was just one-on-one competition and a lot of it is conditioning, which I had the discipline to do. A lot of it’s heart.”

You were the bad boy though weren’t you? 

“I was alright man, I was alright. I was scared shitless of my parents. My dad was a disciplinarian; I had my chores and did them well so I didn’t get a smack. But they also showed us all a lot of love. We weren’t too wealthy a family but we were good. My dad was hard working and was structured, he did things right. That’s kind of how it was at our house. They laid down the blueprint for me.”

You never set out to launch a career in MMA did you?

“Not really. I was in it for my free trip to Hawaii or my free trip to Japan. That’s all I thought at first: I fight I can travel. I got a trip over to Hawaii plus I was getting $1,000 a fight too, and I was in college, I had to pay my own rent. It was perfect. Plus I was working at the Fairtex gear shop too, working a couple of mornings, then school, then training. Then I was off to Hawaii. After I won that fight in Hawaii, when I beat Stephen Palling, I knew I had to take it more serious, I knew I had to be more dedicated to my training. I dropped out of school and the training got more intense. Then, eventually, I stopped working too.”

From a fighter’s perspective, what would you like to see develop further in MMA?

“I would like a little more structure with the judging. It would make things a little easier to follow. I would also like there to be no time limit, you know, like just let the two guys go. I’d also like to see the referees involved a little more also. Perhaps when the fight is on the ground and people are wondering who is on top, but they’re in a neutral position, maybe the referee should call out ‘neutral’ so the fans and the fighters know what is going on. Or he should say this guy is winning or that guy. Basically there needs to be a structure. I’d love to see referees calling the fights as they happen.”

Do you think Strikeforce, now owned by Zuffa, should be abandoned and everyone compete under the one banner of UFC?

“I like Strikeforce, I like the fighters and I like Showtime; I enjoy being a part of it. I think it’s neat to have champions in both leagues. Perhaps do some tournaments involving rival fighters, but I like the segregation. That works in pro wrestling. But if it is absorbed then so be it, that’s up to them. I just like the people at Showtime who I have met and I would like them to stay involved in the sport. They have done a lot for me.”

Tell me about the ‘Nashville Brawl’ where yourself, Jake Shields and the Diaz brothers had a physical altercation with Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller in the ring during a post-fight interview?

“Boys will be boys. It got a little out of hand, but we felt a little disrespected. Jake is cool with ‘Mayhem’ Miller though, and so am I. It was just something to look back at and laugh. We are all fighters and I am sure that wasn’t the first time Mayhem has been jumped! But he’s a cool dude, a funny f**king guy. Whatever, it is what it is. I think everyone on the outside was more upset about it than we were.”

So, are we going to see you crowned the unified world lightweight champion, Strikeforce and UFC, inside the next year or so?

“I’m definitely going for it. Hopefully, the fans want to see it as much as they want to see Nick Diaz against Georges St Pierre, because it’s the fans that make these fights happen. But I am going to make a big statement, I’m going to have to, to make it happen.”