Scott Coker hints at crossover opponents for the #1-ranked Gilbert Melendez
Posted on December 19, 2011, 08:23 AM by Anton GurevichStrikeforce CEO Scott Coker shared his thoughts about last weekend's fight card in San Diego, California, and the future of the promotion's Lightweight champion Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez. Coker promised "big fights" for Gilbert Melendez, hinting at crossover opponents from what is now a parent promotion - the UFC. Coker currently finds himself with a limited choice of potential challengers for Gilbert Melendez's title, with Caros Fodor (7-1 in MMA, five-fight win streak) currently being the most likely #1 contender to come out of the Strikeforce 155lbs division.
Here's what Scott Coker had to say about Gilbert Melendez's future (FightingFamous):
"Gilbert to me is still #1, and we'll go from here. Here's the thing, this fight just happened, so we need to see what happened in this fight before moving to the next step. When you think about the fights we provided for Gilbert in the last two years, we've delivered always big fights to him, and we'll continue doing that. Strikeforce is going to keep building and keep building, and you know what, sometimes it's a trade or a free agent purchase or whatever it is. But we are going out there to build it, bring the best fighters and let Gilbert to fight them."
Further Reading: Phil Davis: I can beat Rashad Evans
Comments
Scott Coker is full of crap......
Gilbert has fought nothing but no name people....
His assessment on Gilbert is the reason Strikeforce is a 2nd rate organization, and probably why he barely has a job. Why couldn't he just say that was a good fight and we'll see whats next for Gilbert. Everybody talked a big hype about Shields and you see how he did against Kampman. Then he lost against the real best middlweight GSP.
What do you expect him to say, Scott is a promoter and backing his guy, If I was Gil hearing that my boss said that about me would prob make me feel pretty good.
gm1 is full of crap.
Isn't the best middleweight Anderson Silva? or have I been sleeping under a rock somewhere for years and it's now 2013 where GSP destroys Silva for the middleweight title.
A fight with Florian would be good, after all Kenny fought in almost every weight class, maybe going over is the last chance to wear a belt.
I agree Kenny or maybe Bj are like the only 2 fighters I can see crossing over to fight Gil for the title...I was really hoping to see Gil in the UFC after this win cause he has like no opponents left at SF only thing he can do is go up in weight
I generally don't mind seeing a guy go too 3 different weight classes because hes clearing them out, but Kenny did it because he cant win in any division. I think he would have been further ahead if he had stayed in one class and evolved more.
WTF! BJ to strikeforce! The guy is a legend. At the end of the day the UFC is still the big show and Strikeforce isn't. You don't send a legend over to another organization to build up their champ.
That's what it is! The want to bring someone over and let Melendez beat him, so Strikeforce can say that they have the best LW in world. And that Strikeforce is not B-Level.
I'm thinking about guys like Sherk, Guida. Guys who will never be champ in the UFC again.
I'd say the winner of Miller-Guillard makes the most sense. Pettis-Lauzon winner will probably get the next shot at UFC gold.
I doubt they'd send Gray to dethrone Melendez though. Him as SF champ would make a lot of sense business wise right now though.
I would be happy just to see any top 10 ufc lightweight go over and fight gil as it would make it much easier to evaluate how good he really is but ken flo may head over after his loss to aldo i think he is most likely
Bring in Eddie Alvarez!
KenFlo would be cool but I doubt hes even thought about this scenario. I think Gray would be a good match but good luck telling ufc fighters in the top ten to even make the switch. Its like you made it to the nfl but since the arena league is short on players we need you to switch!! Good luck on that. Alverez or Chandler sounds like the most reasonable opponent even though they are not under Zuffa contract at the moment.
Nobody is crossing over to StrikeForce.
Dana White will make StrikeForce the Farm League for the UFC.
They sent Jardine over to fight Gegard. Now he's fighting for a title in his next fight. Why not send Gray over to see how he fares against Gil? Send some guys over for a one fight deal.... it makes for some good matches. Gil needs to show that he's better than the majority of the guys at his weight in the UFC.
They didnt send him...Jardine got cut n was signed as a last min replacement for Gegard after fighting a few times in different organizations...but I agree Maynard would be a good choice but I dont really see UFC sending away there top 10 guys