Everyone loves a title unification bout. For UFC and Strikeforce fans, however, that’s never happened, at least until now.
The recently-defunct promotion has had a number of champions
cross over into the UFC following the purchase of Strikeforce by Zuffa, but
only Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez is going to get the
chance to go down in history as the only man to unify a Strikeforce and UFC
belt. He battles UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson in the five-round
main event of UFC on FOX 7, which takes place April 20 at HP Pavilion in San
Jose, Calif.
It’s not the first time the UFC attempted to have a Strikeforce
champion fight for the title, but the promotion has had some bad luck in the
past in making these fights happen.
When former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem
came into the UFC, he was offered an immediate title shot against the winner of the first Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos fight. The Dutchman, however chose to fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 and earn his title shot (as well as collect another
payday) instead, but after failing a random drug test, the UFC never got to
book him against dos Santos.
Nick Diaz, meanwhile, was the Strikeforce welterweight champion
and was set to fight Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137. But Diaz didn’t show up to
the pre-fight press conference and Carlos Condit got the title shot instead.
Then, St-Pierre got hurt, Condit was taken off the card, and BJ Penn fought
Diaz. Diaz won, then fought Condit at UFC 143 for the interim UFC welterweight
title, but lost a close decision. He’s getting his chance against St-Pierre at
UFC 158, but it’s not a title unification bout anymore, since St-Pierre is
already the lineal Strikeforce champion based on him beating Condit.
In addition, former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson never got the chance to unify the titles with Jon Jones due to an
injury. He can still defeat Lyoto Machida at UFC 157 next month and possibly
get his crack at Jones later in the year, but it’s possible the UFC will have
Jones fight someone else after he gets through Chael Sonnen at UFC 159, and
Henderson might never get another title shot opportunity.
As far as current Strikeforce champions coming over to the UFC
go, Luke Rockhold is very unlikely to get a chance to unify his belt with UFC
middleweight champion Anderson Silva anytime soon, while Tarec Saffiedine has
no shot at facing St-Pierre. Daniel Cormier, meanwhile, was just booked to
fight Frank Mir at UFC on FOX 7, so he won’t get a chance to unify his
Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix belt, either.
Let’s see if Melendez can take advantage
of this wonderful, unique opportunity he has to have his name etched in the
annals of MMA history forever. Henderson will be a stern test for the Cesar
Gracie product, but if anyone can defeat “Smooth,” it’s “El Nino,” and fighting
on home field in California, he definitely has a chance at pulling off the
upset.
