{"id":7365,"date":"2011-02-07T14:13:14","date_gmt":"2011-02-07T19:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=7365"},"modified":"2011-02-07T14:13:14","modified_gmt":"2011-02-07T19:13:14","slug":"gilbert-melendez-shocks-mma-world-strikeforce-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=7365","title":{"rendered":"Gilbert Melendez Shocks MMA World: Strikeforce News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=7365\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6831\" style=\"margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;\" title=\"GMelendezheader\" src=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/GMelendezheader.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"169\" \/><\/a>NEW YORK (Feb. 7, 2011) \u2013 Two-time STRIKEFORCE World Lightweight Champion (155 pounds), Gilbert \u201cEl Nino\u201d Melendez (18-2), has signed a new, multi-year agreement with the San Jose, Calif. based world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSTRIKEFORCE is my home, they\u2019ve always been like family to me and I\u2019m looking forward to continuing my career with them,\u201d said the talented, exciting, 5-foot-9, 27-year-old prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master Cesar Gracie and Muay Thai legend Jongsanan Fairtex.  \u201cThere are a lot of great fights out there for me \u2013 lots of challenges. I can\u2019t wait to get back into the cage, do my thing and show the world that I\u2019m still at the top of my game.\u2019\u2019<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Universally recognized as one of the top 155-pounders in the world, Melendez has won four in a row and five of six.<\/p>\n<p>Melendez of San Francisco, by way of Santa Ana, Calif., last fought on April 17, 2010, retaining the STRIKEFORCE belt with a dominant, lopsided five-round decision over Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki in Nashville, Tenn., live on The CBS Television Network.<\/p>\n<p>The impressive, one-sided triumph over the highly regarded Aoki came in Melendez\u2019 first title defense since he regained the  STRIKEFORCE crown with a hard-earned, hard-fought unanimous five- round decision over the fighter that had dethroned him, Josh Thomson, on Dec. 19, 2009, at HP Pavilion San Jose, Calif.<\/p>\n<p>Melendez, who turned pro on Oct. 18, 2002, and won his initial 13 starts, owns other notable victories over MMA standouts Aoki, Clay Guida andTatsuya Kawajiri. Melendez captured the STRIKEFORCE interim lightweight belt with a second-round knockout (punches) over Rodrigo Damm on April 11, 2009, in San Jose.<br \/>\n\u201cI\u2019m healthy again and excited about fighting again real soon,\u2019\u2019 the personable, charismatic Melendez said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who I fight. I just want to get back in there and rip.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEW YORK (Feb. 7, 2011) \u2013 Two-time STRIKEFORCE World Lightweight Champion (155 pounds), Gilbert \u201cEl Nino\u201d Melendez (18-2), has signed a new, multi-year agreement with the San Jose, Calif. based world championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion. \u201cSTRIKEFORCE is my home, they\u2019ve always been like family to me and I\u2019m looking forward to continuing my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[510,1051,736],"class_list":["post-7365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-mma","tag-strikeforce","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}