Gilbert Melendez

fightingfrom=San Francisco, CA
hometown=Santa Ana, CA
fightteam= Fairtex GYM/Graciefighter
fightstyle=Wrestling, Submission Wrestling
wins=14
losses=2
ko=7
submissions=1
draws=0

Gilbert "El Niño" Melendez (born April 12, 1982) is a Mexican-American professional mixed martial arts fighter from Santa Ana, CA. Currently fighting out of San Francisco, CA he fomerly competed in the lightweight division of Pride Fighting Championships and now competes in Strikeforce. He has trained extensively with Jake Shields, Cesar Gracie, Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz and Dave Terrell.

MMA career

He has a record of 14-2. He defeated Clay Guida to become the Strikeforce Lightweight Champion. Melendez holds victories over legendary Japanese fighters Rumina Sato and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Melendez suffered his first professional loss at Yarennoka!, losing to Mitsuhiro Ishida via unanimous decision.

On June 27, 2008, he lost his Strikeforce Lightweight title against by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to Josh Thomson at .

MMA Record

MMArecordbox
wins=14
losses=2
draws=0
ko-wins=7
ko-losses=0
dec-losses=2
sub-wins=1
sub-losses=0
dec-wins=5
nc=0

External links

*sherdog|id=5545
* [http://www.pridefc.com/ Official Pride Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/gilmelendez Gilbert Melendez' Myspace]
* [http://www.nokaut.com/?id=12&solo_news=596&lang=e&cur=eur December, 2006 Interview]

References

ee also

*List of male mixed martial artists