Melendez vs Kawajiri:

Not a lot of talk about this fight and to me it's the best fight of the bigs fights we have coming up in the coming month. Maybe not in terms of overall star power, but in terms of having 2 top 10 LWs in what looks like the closest matchup of the fights this month. I mean GSP/Sheilds and Diaz/Daley are great fights no doubt, but Gil/Crusher looks like a more evenly matched fight then the other two. Very pumped for this fight, haven't decided who to roll with yet.

I don't think Kawajiri is a top 10 LW but he's close. I have Melendez pretty comfortably actually.

Thought Kawajiri won their first fight convincingly. Not sure how much first time in a cage/Japanese turmoil will effect his performance though. Still impressed by how much he ragdolled Thomson although he did get tagged on the feet in the later rounds. I'm going with the upset though, Gil has been out a long time and is coming back against a really strong and motivated grappler

Haven't seen their first fight. It was 5 years ago and Melendez got the decision. Was it a screw job? Melendez is much improved since then.

I'm kind of 51-49 Crusher right now. Melendez is actually coming off a pretty long layoff since the Aoki bout here. Not good against somebody who can wear you down like Crusher.

and Kawajiri is a top 10 LW IMO. The only reason i had him out of it after the Aoki loss was because it has been awhile since Crusher had fought anybody decent before the Aoki fight, and i thought he would be out of action for awhile because of the injury sustained in the Aoki fight,,plus i always had Crusher around 8-9 anyway...but i don't think there are 10 LW's in the world that are better than Crusher. Not a full 10.

I also don't think the cage will be a problem. Crusher is like the LW Okami. His style can translate to the states and the cage can work in his benefit...more so than it does for Gilbert IMO. But Melendez is more used to it.

To be honest gil beating aoki was like werdum beating fedor. A guy in the top 3 losing to a guy barely ranked as num 10. Suddenly gil and werdum win and both are in the #3 spot. Aoki and fedor go on to be beaten by lesser fighters later that year and gil and werdum stay in as #3. to sum it up just like i believe ther are plenty other hws out ther to beat werdum there are several lws to perhaps beat gil. Crusher might be one of them. Who knows, the cage might be a factor.

No, Fedor is the GOAT, Aoki was arguably top 3 at LW.

Crusher is ranked in the top 10 everywhere, def a top 10 LW.

Damn little love everywhere for this fight.

im 50/50 on who'll take it, it should be a great fight none the less

your right its not getting a lot of love at all

LA wrote:

Damn little love everywhere for this fight.

Definitely overshadowed by Diaz/Daley (expected) and this late Jardine replacement

Crusher hasn't been training in a cage at all

http://mmaweekly.com/no-cage-no-problem-tatsuya-kawajiri-ready-for-gilbert-melendez-rematch

WOWZERS!