Diego Sanchez vs. Gilbert Melendez likely for Oct/Nov

Brown Belt Posts : 2894 Join date : 2013-01-04

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/06/diego-sanchez-off-ufc-164-targeted-for-fall-bout-with-gilbert-melendez wrote:: Diego Sanchez won't be fighting at UFC 164 in Milwaukee after all, but the fight lined up for him might be worth a little bit longer of a wait.

Sanchez (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) in April told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) he had been penciled in for an August fight against an opponent to be determined. But with less than three months until that card and no opponent yet, Sanchez won't be heading to Wisconsin this summer.

Instead, multiple sources close to the fighters on Thursday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Sanchez is targeted for a fight against former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez (21-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) this fall, likely in October or November.

UFC 164 takes place Aug. 31 at Bradley Center in Milwaukee with a lightweight title fight between Benson Henderson and T.J. Grant.

The UFC's fall schedule got a little clearer on Thursday when UFC President Dana White said the company would be heading to Houston in October, likely for UFC 166, and to Las Vegas in November. The Sanchez-Melendez fight could wind up on one of those two shows, which do not yet have dates attached to them – just headlining title fights.

Sanchez is coming off a close split-decision win over Takanori Gomi in March at UFC on FUEL TV 8 in his return to the lightweight division after a 2-2 run at welterweight. Sanchez missed weight for the fight, making it a 158-pound catchweight bout. At welterweight, he beat Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann, but dropped fights to John Hathaway and Jake Ellenberger.

The move back up to welterweight to begin with for the Season 1 middleweight winner of "The Ultimate Fighter" came after losing a lightweight title fight to B.J. Penn in 2009.

Melendez will be fighting for the first time since an April lightweight title fight split-decision loss to champion Benson Henderson at UFC on FOX 7. The former longtime Strikeforce 155-pound champ made his UFC debut in the fight.

Coincidentally, Sanchez told MMAjunkie.com Radio that Melendez was an opponent he'd be interested in fighting on the Milwaukee card. Now he'll get him, just a little bit later.

Melendez works Diego over so hard.

Better be careful, Gil. Beating Diego over 3 rounds didnt work out so well for Takanori Gomi and Martin Kampmann.

EASY win for Melendez, terrible matchmaking.

GDPofDRC wrote:: EASY win for Melendez, terrible matchmaking.

I can't post outside this box so fuck it.
Yeah weird match making.

Click on Switch Editor Mode to be able to go back to the old quote format where it has the [quote] brackets instead of a table.

Ludo wrote:

Click on Switch Editor Mode to be able to go back to the old quote format where it has the

Quote :: brackets instead of a table.

Weird. Yesterday I was able to use the tables and quote just fine.

» Gilbert Melendez vs Diego Sanchez the 3rd round
» A sitdown with Gilbert Melendez
» Frankie Edgar vs Gilbert Melendez- Who would win?
» Ben Henderson vs Gilbert Melendez (who wins?)
» Gilbert Melendez vs Eddie Alvarez set for July SF PPV