Thomson/Melendez Rematch Re-Re-Re-Scheduled for 'Strikeforce: Evolution'
(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)
In the 17 months that Josh Thomson has been Strikeforce's lightweight champion, he has defended his title exactly zero times. His only fight since grabbing the belt from Gilbert Melendez in June 2008 was a non-title squash match against Ashe Bowman last September, and he hasn't been able to compete at all this year due to a series of leg injuries. And even though a planned rematch with now-interim-champ Melendez has been canceled three times already, Strikeforce is rolling the dice again. According to GracieFighter, Thomson vs. Melendez II will go down at "Evolution," Strikeforce's December 19th show at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
Despite being constantly jerked around by Thomson's withdrawals, Melendez has been able to fight twice since last June, scoring stoppage victories over Rodrigo Damm and Mitsuhiro Ishida. The Ishida fight at Carano vs. Cyborg avenged Melendez's first career loss; beating Thomson would clean his slate completely. With Thomson coming off a year-and-a-half of injuries and inactivity, you have to like El Niño's chances. The current lineup for Strikeforce: Evolution looks like this...
- Josh Thomson vs Gilbert Melendez (for Unified Lightweight Championship)
- Cung Le vs Scott Smith (MW)
- Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal vs Mike Whitehead (LHW)
- Matt Lindland vs. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza (MW)
- Robbie Lawler vs TBA (MW)
- Evangelista Santos vs. TBA (WW)
- Scott Lighty vs. Antwain Britt (LHW)
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Comments
Payday Says:
Liking the looks of this card!
clutchy hopkins Says:
this card looks delicous
Old_Bald_and_Irish Says:
This is shaping up to be a pretty decent card.
Le vs Smith sounds like fun. Smith is one tough SOB, so I'm looking forward to Scott hanging in there until Cung breaks a bone a-la-Shammy.
Looking forward to King Mo's fight too.
...and of course, I'll alwqays watch Gilbert. That guys a terrific fighter and his fights are always exciting.
BM2 Says:
Let's hope that Josh can keep away from enthusiastic kids with kneebars in training
skeletor Says:
I bet Kung gets sloppy and takes a big looping ko punch. he's probably gotten soft since he fought last.
Old_Bald_and_Irish Says:
@ skeletor
Ya know, I was thinking the same thing. Taking a year off from the cage and then going up against someone as seasoned as Smith could spell trouble for Cung.
On the other hand, I don't think Le would even bother returning to the cage if he wasn't intent on winning. As much as I'm disappointed in Le's whole winning-the-belt-and-then-not-defending-it-while-I-make-movies thingy, he is a terrific fighter and quite the bad-ass in the cage.
BTW, skeletor, leave that poor He-Man fellow alone, okay?
skeletor Says:
@OBI
yeah Le will probably win, I'm rooting for him anyway. After seeing Diaz pick Smith apart I don't think he has much of answer for the more non traditional strikers. If he can't make the guy brawl with him he probably doesn't have much chance of winning.
And while I think you are a good contributor to the comments section of CP, and usually respect your insight and opinions. Please don't tell me my business. I have personal reasons for wanting He-Mandead that I don't expect you to understand.
cwr Says:
Maybe I'm missing something but I thought I was supposed to get a shirt or something a while back for a comment and it never came. You're letting me down Bens. Jk. But seriously.
That being said I'm looking forword to this card and hoping to see an article sometime today about Kos' dive on Saturday. Honestly, this is mma, not soccer.
skeletor Says:
@CWR
He did fake that pretty badly. After seeing the replay I can't believe Dana would give him 1 let alone 2 bonuses. Fuck a Kos, nothing in this fight proved that he would fair any differently against GSP. If they want a real #1 contender match then these fags from AKA need to stop calling out Hughes and start fighting each other. It's not a team sport.
KidDinomite Says:
Yeah if I were Anthony Johnson I would be going straight to the NSAC to have the fight changed into a No-Contest. That whole fake eye poke injury was faked so bad that you could see it in the replay clear as day. The knee didn't even touch the head or the face.
Bill C. Says:
This card looks fantastic. So is it on Showtime or another channel?
Bill C. Says:
Re: Koscheck
I'm sick of this guy. He's completely delusional if he thinks that he can actually put up any sort of fight against GSP.
He is right, though, regarding Hardy's position as number one contender.However, NOBODY in the WW division deserves to be a number one contender. GSP already proved that against Koscheck once before, and the second fight would be more of the same. And the same goes for Alves and Fitch or whoever else the UFC wants to throw in GSP's path.