It’s official, Strikeforce standouts Daniel Cormier and Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez will make the move to the UFC. Both men asked to fight certain opponents and their wishes were granted. Melendez will take on Benson Henderson for the UFC lightweight championship and Daniel Cormier will battle former Heavyweight Champ Frank Mir.
UFC Officials announced the two match-ups on Tuesday.
Henderson (18-2) has gone 6-0 inside the UFC octagon with two UFC title defenses. It is no surprise that he wants to fight the best in the world and following his latest victory over Melendez’s teammate Nate Diaz this match-up makes sense.
“I am beyond thrilled to be competing again on network TV for the UFC on FOX 7 card against Gilbert Melendez. It’s an honor to be put in this position by both the UFC and FOX executives, who are placing trust in me to be able to deliver another exciting fight on live TV. The fans can expect to see a lot of action from two fighters who have aggressive styles. It should be a fun night.
Gilbert Melendez is one of the toughest fighters on the planet. I’ve said over and over that I just want to fight the best in the world. I don’t care in what order I face them, but I want to fight the best in the biggest fights. He has been the Strikeforce Lightweight champion, and is going to be real hungry in his first UFC fight.”
Melendez (21-2) hasn’t lost since 2009 and is riding a seven fight win streak. He won the Strikeforce belt against Rodrigo Damm in 2009 and unified it against Josh Thomson at December of that same year. Since then has gone on to defend the strap an outstanding four times.
Cormier (11-0) is undefeated in his fairly young mixed martial arts career, however he has picked up key victories over some of the sports best. He won the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix by picking up victories over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Josh Barnett. Most recently the heavyweight defeated 20-1 underdog Dion Staring in the final Strikeforce event. Immediately following the win he called out Frank Mir.
Mir (16-6) was expected to take on Cormier at a Strikeforce event this past November, however was forced out of it with an injury. He hasn’t fought since he lost to Junior dos Santos this past May in a UFC heavyweight title fight.
UFC on FOX 7 is expected to go down April 20 at San Jose’s HP Pavilion.
(Photo by Esther Lin for MMAFighting.com)
