Gilbert Melendez came up short in his second bid to capture Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) gold after lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, submitted "El Nino" in the second round of UFC 181 in Dec. 2014.
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A few months removed from the tough loss, Melendez is looking ahead to his next challenge inside the Octagon. And as he recently revealed during his guest spot on "The MMA Hour," the former Strikeforce champion already has someone in mind:
And if he has his way, Melendez would love to settle his feud with Alvarez in Mexico City this summer.
"I look down at the Top 10, I look at the line up and I see a lot of guys matched up and I see a lot of names that I'd like to fight. The one name that stands out big time to me, this is a person, who probably doesn't like me much and sometimes it's mutual. But, I want to fight him, not because of that, it's not personal, but because I respect him much and I think he's a great fighter and we've been wanting to fight each other for a long time and it's a great matchup. So, if Eddie Alvarez is out there and he's open to fight me, and there would be no better place than to do it in Mexico City. If UFC can make that happen and Eddie wants it, that's the next fight for me."
The two talented lightweights have had somewhat of a rivalry for a few years now after a few back-and-forth call outs never resulted in a fight. That's because both men were ruling different promotions at the time, as "El Nino" was the reigning 155-pound champion under the Strikeforce banner, while Alvarez was knocking heads as Bellator's lightweight king.
But, now that both men compete under the UFC banner, there is no reason a bout between the two shouldn't be made. Both are coming off a loss and they each currently have empty dance cards.
And given their Latino heritage, a co-main event slot to the much-anticipated heavyweight unification title fight between Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum in Mexico (details), seems like a perfect fit.
Anyone disagree?