Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez
The co-main event is a highly-anticipated rematch between Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh “The Punk” Thomson and Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez. Melendez has not fought since his first matchup with Thomson, in which he was utterly dominated in a unanimous decision loss. Needless to say, “El Nino” will be out for revenge against Thomson, who will try to repeat his performance and hold on to his title a while longer.
Melendez, the challenger, is an extremely skilled kickboxer who, until recently, was tearing through every opponent put in front of him. Recently, though, his success has dropped off somewhat, and he has lost two of his last three contests, one of which was the utter manhandling he suffered at the hands of Thomson. One of Melendez’s problems is that he is somewhat one-dimensional. It’s not that he is clueless on the ground, he certainly isn’t, but he also isn’t a threat to end a fight with grappling either. It’s a lot easier to deal with a fighter’s good standup when you don’t also have to worry about him shooting in for the takedown.
Thomson, for his part, is a long way from one-dimensional. A good kickboxer who trains at the highly-regarded American Kickboxing Academy, “The Punk” is actually even more effective on the ground than he is standing. Considering Melendez’s quality striking, I would expect Thomson to take this fight to the ground, where his advantage cannot be denied. Considering the way he dominated Melendez in their last fight, Thomson must be feeling confident going into the rematch.
In the end, I see this one playing out very similarly to their last fight. Thomson is just too versatile and has too much big-fight experience for Melendez to compete. Thomson should hold his own in the standup and dominate the score cards on the ground en route to a relatively easy unanimous decision.
