Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis Appear on the Fight Fix

Gilbert Melendez is entering yet another fight as the best lightweight outside of the UFC. Not only that but this will be the second fight he has had against Tatsuya Kawajiri. Their first meeting came at Pride Shockwave 2006 where Melendez won by unanimous decision.

"The guy is actually the strongest guy I’ve ever fought, so knowing the kind of strength I’m going to deal with is actually good to know," Melendez told The Fight Fix about fighting Kawajiri again.

"I don’t feel like he’s evolved as much as me as a fighter, so I can go back and look at his tape and see how I matched up against him.  It’s been three and a half, four and a half years so I can’t say that for sure, but I been following his career for a long time, so it definitely does help."

Melendez feels he has improved drastically since their first fight as well.

“I think I’m 10 times better.  I always fight with heart and guts out there, but nowadays I’m a lot more intelligent.  I bring out different styles for different opponents.  I’m looking forward to showing him I’ve evolved 10 times more than he has.”

The Fight Fix also brought in the last WEC lightweight champion ever, Anthony Pettis. Pettis was suppose to be facing off against either Gray Maynard or Frankie Edgar to unify the UFC and WEC lightweight titles, but due to a draw between the two, Pettis was shelved until further notice. Pettis though had decided to risk his No. 1 contender status for a fight with Clay Guida.

“The UFC gave me the option to wait until their next fight, then fight the winner of that.  I didn’t wanna wait, it could be a year, it could be next year, I don’t wanna wait.  I got a  lot of momentum coming off my last couple of fights. 

"I told them I wanted to fight Clay Guida.  If I’m gonna take a fight, I wanted to fight Guida cuz he was there [at UFC 125] fighting.  Fought a great fight.  He’s just one of those competitors that would show where I’m at in the lightweight division.  I told Joe Silva ‘if I’m gonna fight, I wanna fight Clay Guida’ and he said ‘I’ll make it happen,’” Pettis said to The Fight Fix.

According to Pettis, Guida was one of a few names that crossed his mind after he decided to risk his contender status.

“There was a couple guys, but timing-wise, his made sense.  He’s just coming off a fight, I’m just coming off a fight.  Timing-wise it made sense.  Like you said, he’s coming off 3 big wins.  He’s bringing his name back and he has a huge name.  Everybody knows who Clay Guida is.  Me fighting a Clay Guida would definitely put my stock up.”

Pettis will have his first UFC fight against Guida on June 4.

The whole interview with Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis can be seen here.