The Day After Edgar vs. Maynard III: Gilbert Melendez or Jim Miller, but not Anthony Pettis
Posted on May 8, 2011, 09:03 AM by Anton GurevichOn May 28th, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard will square off at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for the UFC Lightweight title. But the winner of this fight will have no time to rest on laurels. Jim Miller, Anthony Pettis, Ben Henderson, Dennis Siver, Clay Guida, Melvin Guillard and of course the Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez will all be hot on newly crowned Champ's heels, with sights on getting their shot at glory.
From all mentioned above names, there are two fighters who stand out of the rest. That's Gilbert Melendez and Jim Miller. "El Nino" Melendez is the Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, with five consecutive victories over some of the toughest 155'ers on the planet, while Jim Miller is 7-0 inside the Octagon, losing only to the reigning Champion Frankie Edgar and the number one contender Gray Maynard.
UFC originally promised the former WEC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis a shot against the winner of UFC 125 encounter between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, but the fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada ended in a draw. The young gun will now find himself inside the cage against Clay Guida at TUF 13 Finale event.
With all due respect to Anthony Pettis, "Showtime" still has a lot to prove even if he leaves the Octagon victorious against Clay Guida on June 4th. Other than the encounter against Ben Henderson, Pettis' competition in WEC wasn't even remotely close to the one of Melendez in Strikeforce and Miller's in the UFC. "Showtime" had some rough moments against Shane Roller at WEC 50, and definitely has a hole or two in his game.
Showtime Kick was a moment of pure MMA magic, but at some point it distorted the perception of Anthony Pettis' real position in the Lightweight mix. The fact that Anthony Pettis is currently ranked #4 on LowKick.com Community Lightweight Rankings, above Eddie Alvarez and Jim Miller, says it all.
A perfect solution for the UFC would be to promote a #1 Contender bout between Melendez and Miller. "El Nino" has no fights left in Strikeforce (unless you're interested in a trilogy against Josh Thomson), and definitely needs not just a worthy challenge, but someone who will serve as an example. UFC would surely prefer a Unification Bout, but they can't ignore Jim Miller's presence any longer.
According to recent rumors, Jim Miller could challenge Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce Lightweight title. In the meantime, UFC could fulfill its promise to Anthony Pettis (if victorious against Guida) and give him a fight against the Edgar-Maynard winner. But again, it's a backwards spelling in terms of rankings and achievements. In my humble opinion, Anthony Pettis is still three fights away (including the one against Guida) from being at the current position of Gilbert Melendez and Jim Miller.
Photo: Gray Maynard, left, fights Jim Miller during UFC 96 at the Nationwide Arena on March 7, 2009 in Columbus, OH. Francis Specker
Comments
Good article, Gray Maynard made the same points about Pettis but judging from the comments i saw people took it the wrong way. Hopefully they'll read this and get some perspective. I also think Silver is seriously underrated and underestimated by his opponents and fans.
@MMAUK I was one of the people bashing Maynard's comments (even as a Maynard fan) it wasn't what he said it was how he said it. Anton posted an article with pure respectful thoughts. Maynard said the same things but in a personal attack on Pettis it seemed. I don't care who Pettis fights next as long as it's not as long a break as this 1 with Guida and his WEc fight.
sivers a great fighter, but hes definitely behind guillard right now
who is Silver?
Ridiculous article. Gil has been fighting lesser to equal competition as Pettis. His top wins are Kawajiri/Thomson. Pettis top wins would be Bendo/Guida(If he beats Guida). And Clay Guida would beat both Kawajiri/Thomson soundly. (He would also beat Gil Melendez) .....When Gil Melendez comes to the UFC he should have to fight at least one high ranked fighter before his title shot like Pettis did.
Melendez MMA record: 09/06/06 Decision victory over Clay Guida.
Not to mention Aoki, Kawajiri, Thomson, Ishida...
did you read the article its rumored that miller will fight melendez for the strikeforce title. that is the high ranked fight you say he needs before he gets a shot at the ufc belt and melendez is strikeforce champion which automatically catapults him ahead of guillard, siver, and henderson for the shot. now that the fight between edgar and maynard is off i can see the winners of pettis vs. guida and miller vs. melendez fighting for the interim belt.
Miller vs Melendez is just a rumor at this point....But thats why I said he needs one really good win before he fights for the title. But Jim Miller is going to outclass Melendez if they fight. If somehow Melendez actually beats Miller, then I will give him the nod for that title shot (after Pettis' title shot if he gets by Guida) I really hope they do make that fight.
and guida over thomspn also
Wow really reaching for that '06 victory over Guida huh...... No point in bringing up fights that happened over 3 years ago. Because then I can just say Ishida beat Melendez in '07.....And Aoki/Kawajiri/Ishida are all overrated, anyone with decent takedown defense and above average striking would slap them around like it was nothing..just like Melendez did. When SF is no more and Melendez is in the UFC we will see what becomes of this hype.
i'm not expecting him to beat guida anyway, my question is what happens to guida after he beats the supposed #1 contender
I am.. Guida has his head movement and a high motor but i believe pettis is the more skilled fighter.
good article i had never considered it that way. still seems pretty harsh to take the title shot away for the second time from pettis! would love to see alverez fight in the ufc too. would be a great addition to a stacked roster
Totally agree with this article but I can't see Dana letting Jim go to Strikeforce right now
pettis wont beat guida so it a moot point any way
If you guys saw the mtv documentary on Pettis's life and story, you have to like the guy and believe that he's got a real destiny coupled with the right ingredients: personal motivation, talent and creativity.
However, i agree that he may not be ready yet. I think that the little angel that helped Jon jones fullfill his destiny a lil sooner has also helped Pettis by postponing his fight with Maynard or Edgar. He would not have been ready. Now that he's got time to improve his skills, face Guida, work some more after the win, i hope, he will be ready to be crown champion.
The guy has everything in his hands to be a champ but he's got to be on time.
No need to rush Pettis. A fight with Guida is perfect for him right now IMO, it will tell a lot. His talent and potential is boundless, but with all the great wrestlers in the division, he needs to be fighting guys that try and put him on his back and lay on him or submit him.
As long as he beats Clay he will get all that support back and everyone will be clamoring for him to fight the champ again.
If Pettis wins the Guida fight, i still think he deserves to be the no.1 contender. Period! If he fails then we can talk about miller, guillard and siver.
Everybody seems to forget Pettis VS UFC champ is the UNIFICATION FIGHT of the WEC and UFC lightweight belt !!! So ranking, past fights etc etc etc etc etc all that shit is out the window.. This whole match was set up to UNIFY the belts... period! All that other chatter is nonsense... unifying the belts makes sense. Thats what the UFC always did and that's what they're doing now, get over it already. When Pettis takes on Edgar or Gray we'll see if he's worthy of that shot. The belt aint goin nowhere... after Pettis gets his shot both Melendez and Miller will get theirs in due time...
While there are certainly arguments to be made against Pettis getting a title shot, I still say he deserves it. Reason being, as was mentioned above, its a title unification bout. When Dana/UFC promised the Bendo-Pettis winner a shot at the UFC LW Champ, they likely only did so to drum up a nice storyline to make that last WEC title fight relevant. Still tho, that was the word given and they should keep it. By giving all of the other WEC division title holders a nice new shiny UFC belt and then not giving Pettis his shot, they would basically be saying that all of the blood, sweat, and tears left inside the blue cage by the WEC 155'ers was for absolutely nothing. That's not right in my opinion.
Right after Pettis did that ninja kick to Bendo and claiming the WEC belt, many (i assume including the writer of this article) if not all MMA fans were blown away and thought what else this young gun could do. Many (if not all,again) also thought that the unification bout with the UFC belt is appropriate. And an unfortunate event later (Edgar-Maynard II being a draw) which made Pettis to wait a little longer for his turn for the championship, many people forget things. They are now doubting Pettis. such hipocrisy.
I think this is a great problem for MMA not a bad one. There are so many fantastically talented LWs right now and it is impossible for them all to get a shot immediately. I agree with Joey that UFC should honour an agreement, but Pettis has agreed to fight guida so must win to keep himself as a valid contender. if he wins he should get the shot no doubt even though there are many worthy contenders with strong arguements for their own shot.
Good points made in the article. I'd like to see all the contenders involved in a Bellator style tourney.
hey man, miller is not 7-0 inside the octagon. 7-0 in his last 7 fights. 9-1 in the octagon.