Thomson vs Melendez On June 27th

by Robert Sargent

Strikeforce announced earlier today that the main event of their upcoming show on June 27th will feature an incredible title bout between Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert "El Niņo" Melendez and Josh "The Punk" Thomson.

Melendez (14-1) has held the title since June of 2006, when he defeated Clay Guida. Thomson (14-2) lost a title fight to Guida in March of 2006, but has won six in a row.

Although Melendez suffered his first career defeat at "Yarennoka!" against Mitsuhiro Ishida, he rebounded late last month with a dominating TKO victory over Gabe Lemley and looked to be on the top of his game.

Both fighters have solid striking skills when standing, but the fight is likely to go to the ground, where both shine. Melendez's superior wrestling will likely enable him to take Thomson down at will, but Thomson is very skilled in fighting off of his back. Melendez will need to avoid submissions while doing enough damage to keep Thomson off-track.

Thomson likely won't need to fear any submission attempts from Melendez, but Melendez's relentless ground and pound is among the best in the entire lightweight division. Thomson will have to avoid as many strikes from the top as possible as he works for a fight-ending submission.

This fight was originally scheduled to take place at the March 29th EliteXC/Strikeforce show, but Thomson was forced to pull out with a left shoulder injury, which required surgery.

"This is a very big fight for the fans, for the promotion and for Josh and me," said Melendez. "Josh is a great fighter, but I am the champ and I plan on remaining the champ for a long time."

"This fight with Gilbert has been a long time coming, and we're ready to do it," Thomson stated. "It's not as if we need a feeling-out period. We both know each other very well. We've trained together, we've sparred together. We're gonna come out ready for five rounds, but we're gonna bang it out."


The lightweight battle is still two months away, but has all of the makings of a frenzied war, with the fans tuning in to the fight as the real winners.