Strikeforce: Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez Ready for Jorge Masvidal

With only 10 days to wait until he returns to his hexagonal home, Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez has much on his mind. He’s got a title to defend, a tough challenger in front of him and a road to the UFC that he hopes isn’t much longer.

“[My management and I have] talked about [moving to the UFC] a little bit, even before Dana White started mentioning my name. My contract was already signed to fight Jorge, but you get excited when you start hearing things like that. I think it’s inevitable, the top fighters need to go to the UFC and I’m one of those top guys. The goal is to be number one at the end of the day, and the only way to do that is to become UFC champion.”

However "El Nino" isn’t looking past Jorge Masvidal, a former streetfighter who has come up through the ranks to become one of the better lightweights in the promotion. While his UFC aspirations are on hold, the champion insists there’s still plenty that pushes him to get to the gym every day.

“I was excited about this fight [when it was booked], Jorge’s a tough fighter. It’s a good challenge. He looked really good against KJ [Noons], he’s a complete MMA fighter. He’s looked good at this weightclass, he’s really adapted to it well. I’m pumped.”

For a young champion entering his prime, he also looks a little bit better every time out and hopes to show some evolution each time he fights.

In his last showing—a destruction of Tatsuya Kawajiri—he was aided by the implementation of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which allow elbows to a grounded opponent.

His new employers at Zuffa made the change, and Melendez says it's aided his approach in the cage and in training.

“All my teammates train with elbows, Jake [Shields] was kind of a pioneer in ground-and-pound with elbows. Just because Strikeforce didn’t do elbows for a while, I didn’t rule it out. It’s something I’ve had in my arsenal and I’m happy that it’s there. Sometimes they cut people and end fights when no one’s really hurt, but I like the elbows. I like those rules in there.”

And so it is that Gilbert Melendez will attempt to defend his gold once more under the Strikeforce banner. As the promotion appears to gain stability going into 2012, it becomes harder to say whether the rumours of an imminent departure for the Skrap Pack product is in the cards.

For now, he’ll worry about holding onto the title of Strikeforce champion, and of "best lightweight outside of the UFC." All the talk of jumping ship is on the back burner for Melendez, and he insists there’s only one goal in mind:

“I want to find out if I’m number one. I really do.”

Matthew Ryder is a Correspondent for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained first-hand via participation in a media conference call.