Keri Anne Taylor-Melendez has never competed on a big stage, but later tonight she will fight Hadley Griffith at Bellator 142: "Dynamite 1" on the main card on Spike TV.
"It feels awesome," Taylor-Melendez told MMAMania. "It’s exciting to represent the ladies and I feel well prepared and I’m ready to put on a show."
The wife of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight Gilbert Melendez, Taylor-Melendez once fought for the Oklahoma Destroyers in the Chuck Norris World Combat League and posted a 2-1 record. Even though she hasn't been fighting much in recent years, she has never stopped training, and when she got the call for Saturday's fight, she was more than prepared to take it.
"I feel like I’ve been staying ready," she said. "That is the motto that my husband lives by, so it’s a good example for me to follow. I’ve never stopped training. "As long as Gilbert has been training I’ve been training. It was the just the right time and a perfect opportunity. Also, Scott Coker reached out to us and it fit well with us."
Taylor-Melendez, 31, began training more than 10 years ago. In fact, when she met Gilbert she was training with another team with a couple of amateur fights under her belt. She would soon start training with his main striking coach, Jongsanan "The Wooden Man" Fairtex and not long after took her first professional fight in 2006, losing to a more experienced Jeri Sitzes.
The fight against Griffith will be a kickboxing contest set at 120 pounds, but Taylor-Melendez signed a multi-fight contract in July of this year and will also compete in MMA. She is expected to make her in-cage debut before the end of 2015, which is something she was planning doing a few years ago before a knee injury put a halt to those plans.
Soon after that she had a child with Gilbert, their daughter, Laylakay, who is now four years old.
She did have a Muay Thai fight last March at "Battle of the Bay" against Maia Kahaunaele Stevenson, winning a unanimous decision, but a bout in Bellator will be her toughest test to date.
"Yes, it is definitely the highest level I have competed at," she said. "It’s a bit of a challenge for me. Like I said, I feel well prepared and I’m ready to showcase my skills in front of a bigger audience."
Her opponent, Griffith, has a 1-4 record in MMA and is making her kickboxing debut. Taylor-Melendez has done her homework on "Relentless" and is confident she will be victorious later tonight.
"I think she is a very tough opponent," she said. "My coaches have watched a lot of video. I've watched a lot of video, my husband, my training partners. I feel like we have the right game plan that I can come up with the win."
From competing and being around combat sports over the past decade, Taylor-Melendez has seen the rise in popularity of women fighters. "Woman have done some amazing things in the sport," she said, before listing Gina Carano, and Angie Par as fighters she has looked up to. "And my daughter loves Ronda Rousey," she added. "I give every woman who steps into the ring or cage all the credit in the world because it is a little more of a man’s sport, but we’ve come to show -- especially now -- that we’re game."
Coming off a long layoff to a big fight on Spike TV, and the significance of it being the lone women's match up on an historic card, and it puts a bit of pressure on her shoulders.
"I feel a little pressure to represent the ladies, but in a good way. I think the nerves are good for me. I prepared well and I made sure I prepared well so I could put on a good show."