Bellator and Eddie Alvarez respond to Melendez

wolff is rite! in boxing mexicans vs. boricuas has to be one of the biggest rivalries if not the biggest and what a great way to get the hispanic crowd then with a fight between two top 5 guys that would imo crown the best LW not jus outside the UFC but in MMA!


ricans are more east coasters and mexicans love the west so idk were a good spot wud be

What do you guys think? Is Kenny Florian better than both, one, or neither of these guys? I have them 3, 4, 5 Alvarez, Melendez, Florian respectively.

GDPofDRC wrote:

What do you guys think? Is Kenny Florian better than both, one, or neither of these guys? I have them 3, 4, 5 Alvarez, Melendez, Florian respectively.

Lw is the one division were i honestly think the talent outside of it is better and i would make the Melendez-Alvarez fight the decider to who is top guy// no disrespect to Edgar or Florian or Penn its jus my opinion..

^the talent outside the ufc LW division is better

Ya Melendez and Alvarez would be too much for Maynard or Florian imo. The winner of this fight is the number 1 LW in the world arguably.

And fuck off to all who try and claim Strikeforce protects their champions or fighters. This would be the second time SF risked their champion against the champion of another organization in this weight class this year alone.

people underestimate Gil's boxing. I see it as a very close fight that could go either way.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Ya Melendez and Alvarez would be too much for Maynard or Florian imo. The winner of this fight is the number 1 LW in the world arguably.

And fuck off to all who try and claim Strikeforce protects their champions or fighters. This would be the second time SF risked their champion against the champion of another organization in this weight class this year alone.

It's not their champs that they give chumps to, it's their up and comers who get the gimme's.

Wes Sims is a cagey vet who they signed on short notice. Besides the debatable Lashley fight, who else have they given gimmies too?

What is giving Neal Wain to Shane Carwin or Veach to Frankie Edgar sound like?

SF is no different than the UFC. I have a problem with neither.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Wes Sims is a cagey vet who they signed on short notice. Besides the debatable Lashley fight, who else have they given gimmies too?

What is giving Neal Wain to Shane Carwin or Veach to Frankie Edgar sound like?

SF is no different than the UFC. I have a problem with neither.

was sims a fat and out of shape late fill in? yes, but who is Lashley scheduled to fight less then a month from now? It's still not announced but you can be sure it will be a chump. hopefully one not nearly as out of shape as sims was. And this is not even looking at the unknown fighters who were pulled from the card and which made sims a necessity.

And debut fight or not, up and comer or not, but the chump that Walker fought should never have been on TV.

I hope it happens, this would be great for MMA.

It is announced and it is no chump. You may or may not know who Ron Sparks is, but he is a massive(literally) prospect, undefeated at 5-0 in the HW club circut that has produced Brett Rogers, Shane Carwin and other recent HW stars.

Quote :

As soon as Brock Lesnar defeated Frank Mir for the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship, fans and insiders began racking their brains for a suitable challenger. Lesnar had just capped his five fight MMA championship run with a victory over the only man to defeat him and revealed an athleticism and combination of quickness and power that that belies a man of his enormous size and strength. At 6'3" and a legitimate 290 pounds. There aren't many men in the world that can match Lesnar's athletic and genetic credentials.

Enter Ron Sparks. "The Monster" as he is known, stands 6'5" and checks in at a muscular 330-pounds. Over the past few years he's "cut" down to 290 and after fighting his first five MMA fights at super heavyweight, he's ready to take on the best in the world under 265 pounds.
Size? Check.
Sparks has studied martial arts since he was a youngster. His father was an avid fan of kickboxing and boxing and raised Sparks as a fighter. His striking prowess and power is unquestioned among 6 of his 7 first-round knockout victims.
Power? Check.
At a now svelte 290-pounds, Sparks moves like a man 100-pounds lighter. He deftly utilizes striking combination that men his size can only dream of. Imagine a bigger version of Shane Carwin with muay thai skills.
Athleticism? Check.
If his name sounds familiar, it's probably because Sparks signed a contract back in May of 2008 to fight for the now defunct AFL promotion along with another big heavyweight you might have heard of by the name of Bobby Lashley. The big time former WWE star and Sparks began training together and have formed a friendship and training relationship that has pushed both men to new heights in the sport.
Tie to pro wrestling? Check...
Okay, the last point was a bit of a stretch, but it not easy finding athletic fighters over 6'3" with a muscular 280-pound plus frame who can match Lesnar point by point.
One thing the two do have in common is lack of experience. Sparks, like Lesnar doesn't have ton of cage time. In fact, he's never fought for a big time promotion, but fighters with his freak combination of size, athleticism and power don't come around all that often. Just ask fans looking for "the next big thing".

There is a bunch more at ;
http://www.fiveknuckles.com/mma-news/MMA-Elite-Prospect-Profile-Ron-Sparks.html

there was also mayhem vs stout which was rediculous. the guy they just gave abongo was less then awe nspiring. and Woodley is taking the superslow track also.

GDPofDRC wrote:

What do you guys think? Is Kenny Florian better than both, one, or neither of these guys? I have them 3, 4, 5 Alvarez, Melendez, Florian respectively.

Kenny def gets beat by both Eddie and Gil imo

I hope this fight happens. Eddie by TKO.

Kenny could certainly beat either guy. I think a LW tourney would be fucking awesome if you could get the top guys from each org to participate. Obviously that's never gonna happen but it would be impossible to predict.

Ninja\Rua/Fan wrote:

I favor Eddie in this fight. Much better boxing. The only thing that scares me about Eddie is his very iffy chin.

That's my concern, if he's hit will he be able to recover before Melendez takes him out.

Interesting tidbit on sparks, fought in K1 vs Ignashov. was ko'd by head kick, but looked fairly decent up till that point.



hard to track down his MMA bouts, sherdog only lists 5 fights, 4 of those guys have career records of 0-1, the other being 29-41. They also show a 2.5 year hiatus between 2006 an 2009. His k1 bout above was october 2009, but I don't see an MMA fight in nearly a year.

Looks like a fairly interesting prospect because he is huge, and looks to have some level of striking, but hardly a fight that Lashley, who figures to be in the contendor mix in sf, should be involved in.

If you like compelling match making and competitive match making you'd like this fight. Lashley has not proven himself any better of a fighter than Ron Sparks. If Lashley is going to be a contender, he needs wins more than anything. I applaud Strikeforce for making this fight when they could easily have given Lashley an easier match up in the more known Lavar "Big" Johnson, who recently won a headlining bout at a ShoXC event earlier this year. Johnson is half the size Sparks is, and for my money Sparks is the better striker.


Sparks made a big push at middle to the end of last year and garnered attention for possible bouts with Antonio Silva in Sengoku and as a headliner against Ray Mercer at KOTC that fell through last minute. There were some very favorable articles about him in different publications. This guy is huge, experienced and powerful. If he wins this fight, at HW, he immediately is in the contender mix. Just like the careers of Brett Rogers and Shane Carwin. Todd Duffee is already groomed as a 2011 challenger one fight into his UFC career.

I'd argue this is great match making. Even if Lashley loses Strikeforce still has an undefeated Lesnaresque mountain of a man future contender.

Eddie isn't as consistant standing up as Gil is. Sometimes he takes a little bit to get going. I think he got hurt bady during the Bellator tournament by punches last year. That makes me concerned for Eddies chances, but over all, at the top of their games, Alvarez is my pick every time.