Unless you tuned into Showtime on Saturday night utterly convinced that Gilbert Melendez is the best lightweight in mixed martial arts, there's no reason to think, after another five hard rounds against Josh Thomson, that the Strikeforce champion is somehow now overrated.
Here's a news flash: Based on any cogent argument, Melendez wasn't No. 1 in the world coming into the fight. (There's a wide gulf between being the best and having the potential to be. Until further notice, Melendez operates in the latter realm, and some people need to realize that. They really do.)
Want another "hot off the presses" item? When Melendez and Thomson fight, they can't help but produce nail-biters. Fifteen rounds between the two totaling 75 minutes in the cage should prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Melendez and Thomson are made for one another. They are pieces of a fistic puzzle that fit perfectly together, which in turn doesn't have to mean Melendez is considerably worse than guys like me make him out to be.
Oh, and Thomson's not too shabby either.
Reaction to the five-round title fight, if you hadn't guessed, bothered me.
Melendez, apparently, isn't top-tier UFC material. He can't compete against the best of the best. He'd get swallowed alive in the Octagon.
Blah. What nonsense.
All the talk was driving me nuts, then I was reminded of what I wrote last week after Chan Sung Jung and Dustin Poirier combined for an awesome featherweight contest, the one that delivered a smell-the-roses moment. I suggested the next time someone or something in MMA makes you want to slam your head against a wall, envision Jung-Poirier and everything will be better.
Well, I needed to try after Saturday's reaction to Melendez -- that's how bad things got. Call it the Zombie Mantra, if you like. It helped.
After some deliberation, I came to this conclusion: All you people out there aiming to relegate Melendez to a lower class of fighter than he belongs, shoo. Go away. You hear me? Stop with the negativity about a guy who's 21-2. It's ridiculous.
Anyhow, enough of that. Here's how fighters from Strikeforce and Bellator fared over the weekend.