Gilbert Melendez and 10 Fighters Who Need Better Competition

Gilbert Melendez is a man who has run out of options. The Strikeforce lightweight champion has cleared out his division of challengers, avenged both of his career losses and dominated world-ranked lightweight Shinya Aoki in embarrassing fashion.

All that Gil wants now is some better competition. Sources close to the situation say that UFC president Dana White was preparing to send over a UFC lightweight to challenge “El Nino,” but plans fell through before they could come to fruition.

Melendez has been granted a fight, but it’s clear to fans that he deserves much better than allowing his talents to be wasted in a barren wasteland like the Strikeforce lightweight division.

This is a look at Melendez and 10 fighters who deserve more than the competition they’ve been receiving.

Rory MacDonald

I have absolutely no problem with the level of competition that Rory MacDonald has been facing. The young welterweight has defeated Nate Diaz, Mike Pyle and was only seconds away from securing victory over Carlos Condit.

My problem lies with Rory’s next opponent. At UFC 145, this promising youngster returns to square off against Che Mills. In case you don’t remember Che Mills, he is that guy who lost in the elimination round of The Ultimate Fighter 9 to James Wilks. Don’t worry. I had to look him up, too.

Mills has a nice record, and he quickly dispatched of Chris Cope in his last bout, earning Knockout of the Night honors, but it’s clear that this is a major step back for Rory, who sits on the cusp of title contention.

Gegard Mousasi

The woes of Strikeforce continue as their talent pool in the light-heavyweight division has the depth of a slip and slide. With the one-year suspension of King Mo and the departure of Dan Henderson, there are very few notables left for Scott Coker to pit against the reigning DREAM and former Strikeforce champion Gegard Mousasi.

Mousasi has only fought for Strikeforce twice in his last five fights. In those bouts, he derailed the hype train behind Ovince St. Preux and pulverized Keith Jardine in a fight that was erroneously scored a draw.

Yet another example of being a big fish in a little pond, it is time for Coker to either bring in some major prospects or send Gegard over the UFC where he can show off his true skill.

Evan Dunham

In September of 2010, Evan Dunham pulled off the victory that would change his career forever when he soundly defeated Sean Sherk at UFC 119. If the judges on duty that night had done their job and scored the fight properly, that sentence you just read would be true.

Dunham convinced the UFC brass that he needed a step down in competition after falling victim to the striking prowess of Melvin Guillard at Fight For The Troops 2.

His next two contests would come against unheralded fighters Shamar Bailey and Nik Lentz, both of whom Dunham thoroughly dominated en route to accumulating a 6-2 UFC record.

It is my opinion that Dunham is an elite lightweight, and that his one true mistake was thinking that he could trade with Melvin Guillard and come out on top. Dunham’s recent success is giving him another chance against a highly regarded opponent when he meets undefeated Edson Barboza at UFC 146.

Hector Lombard

The best fighters in the world are in the UFC. Or are they? Bellator has claimed in the past that their longtime champion, Hector Lombard, is the very best in the world at 185 pounds. While we may not be able to picture Lombard being the one to dethrone reigning kingpin Anderson Silva, Hector's record of 31-2(1) does speak volumes about his talent.

Lombard has not lost any of his last 25 fights, and his record is not full of cans like many fighters who possess long win streaks. The Cuban fighter holds wins over nine UFC veterans, including Brian Ebersole, Trevor Prangley, Jesse Taylor and James Te Huna.

With Lombard entering free agency, Zuffa has the opportunity to give him the level of competition that he needs. At this point, Bellator cannot produce the caliber of opponent that “Shango” should be facing.

Jason Mayhem Miller

Mayhem Miller returns to the Octagon this summer and has been paired up with C.B. Dollaway. While I like Dollaway, he is a mediocre 5-4 inside the UFC and has been stopped in his last two contests.

Although Miller did not look good in the later rounds of his coaches fight with Michael Bisping at The Ultimate Fighter finale, he is still a top-level middleweight who shares cage time with some of the sport's finest. In case you needed a reminder of how good he truly is, I included a photo of Miller choking out Jake Shields.

Mayhem should have been paired up with someone higher ranked and holding some momentum. Fighters like Costas Philloppou or Brian Stann would have been a much better fit instead of someone who isn’t on the same level as Jared Hamman.

Jim Hettes

Featherweight Jim Hettes officially arrived at UFC 141 when he dominated Nam Phan for 15 minutes en route to a 30-25 victory. The division was put on notice that there was new blood in the UFC and that he was ready to take on all comers.

Contenders and former champions like Mike Brown, Dustin Poirier, Hatsu Hioki, Korean Zombie or Mark Hominick would have made fantastic choices as the next opponent for the impressive 24-year-old.

Instead, Jim will compete with Ultimate Fighter quarterfinalist Steven Siler, who was eliminated from the tournament in only 30 seconds by eventual winner Diego Brandao.  While Siler has rattled off back-to-back victories over Josh Clopton and Cole Miller, it isn’t enough to warrant him getting in the way of Hettes' ascension to the top.

Fedor Emelianenko

No matter how you feel about Fedor, if the man is going to continue fighting, he needs to step up the level of his competition. I believe that there are two statements about Fedor that are true and important for both fans and detractors to agree on.

1) Fedor has been fighting cans for years. He’s over the hill. But his legacy is something that isn't unsalvageable. A pair of wins over good opponents will redeem the tremendous skid that he's been on recently.

2) Fedor can still be competitive against the best. He nearly became the first man to ever knock out Dan Henderson, but people tend to forget that. 

In any case, if Fedor wants to keep fighting, it doesn’t do any good to him or the legacy he leaves behind if he keeps signing on to fight guys like Satoshi Ishii. “The Last Emperor” needs to be facing experienced fighters, not someone who has a record of 4-1-1 and hasn’t been in the sport for a full two years yet.

Somebody call Kharitonov, Rizzo or Yvel. At least they have a reputation of putting up a fight and they have credentials that make a contest worthwhile.

Fabricio Werdum

Mike Russow does not belong in a cage with Fabricio Werdum. While he has a win streak that is impressive in length, there is not a single name ranked fighter to be found. However, Russow and Werdum have been paired together for a bout at UFC 147.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to Justin McCully, Jon Olav Einemo or Jon Madsen, but those sort of wins aren’t the ones that bring you into the top of your division.

Fabricio Werdum just manhandled Big Country and has additional victories over Bigfoot Silva, Alistair Overeem and Fedor Emelianenko.  At this stage in his career, he should be fighting Frank Mir, Cain Velasquez or another top five heavyweight.

With the current Alistair Overeem crisis going on, don't be surprised if Werdum gets moved onto UFC 146 to fill a hole somewhere.

Gilbert Melendez

Melendez will square off for a third time with lightweight Josh Thomson. Thomson was victorious in the pair’s original contest and Melendez won the rematch. That would normally lead to a rubber match to determine the better fighter. Thomson’s last three contests, however, haven’t exactly been the kind of performances that scream, “No. 1 Contender!”

In his last trio of MMA bouts, Thomson won a very suspicious decision over JZ Cavalcante, lost to Tatsuya Kawajiri and ground out an eye-gougingly boring win over K.J. Noons.

As a man who holds wins over ranked lightweights like Shinya Aoki and Clay Guida, Melendez is clearly in a different league than any lightweight on Strikeforce’s roster. Do this young star a favor and let him compete with the best while he is still in his physical prime.

Michael Bisping

Michael Bisping had the option of facing either Tim Boetsch or Cung Le at UFC 148 in July. To be honest, neither of those fights are on the level of competition that The Count deserves at this stage of his career.

After a career-defining performance, Bisping lost a nail-biter against heavy favorite Chael Sonnen at UFC on Fox 2. With as close as the contest was, it’s hard to rank the British Ultimate Fighter any lower than No. 5 in his division.

With Anderson Silva meeting Chael Sonnen, Mark Munoz on the injured list and Vitor Belfort busy with The Ultimate Fighter Brazil, Bisping was going to have to take a step down in some form or another. But why wasn’t he offered former middleweight champion Rich Franklin? A win over Franklin would be monumental for his career and would throw him right back into the title picture.