melendez

handed his first loss by ishida who is a very dangerous and underrated fighter. that definately shakes up the lw top 10.

Even though I picked Melendez, This upset did not really suprize me. I agree Ishida is very underrated.
EDit: even before this fight.

i agree he was underrated before this fight too, people seemed to forget about him after his bad loss to gomi.

Yeah, but that's Kawajiri and Ishida, they have always been these underrated, dark horse fighters who come out and win the fights no one says they will. They are great game planners, they do everything they can to keep evolving with the game and stay well rounded. And no one works as hard as the guys at T-BLOOD, the work ethic and drive in that gym is amazing. Kawajiri's hands are getting very good standing, and he's still putting on these solid workhorse performances and seems to be in for the long haul, and possibly another belt. But Ishida just really impresses me, very strong, dominant grappler, working hard and improving quickly in the standup aspect of the game. I think he has the longer and more promising looking remaining career of the two, and I would like to see him try his hand at a few bouts in Cage Force and then head to the UFC.

Melendez had a rough night, and his first loss, juding by the heart and determination he's shown in the ring in the past, I don't think for a second he'll let this beat him, and I believe he'll come back looking focused and stronger than ever.

I would love to see both Ishida and Kawajiri come to the UFC, I bet they would quickly be on peoples top 10 LW lists.

Great win for Ishida, he's a small guy but he's super fast and has great wrestling. I really thought Melendez was possibly the best LW out there if not top 3. Lately all of the rankings have been so hard to pick where to put who. Misaki just KO'd Akiyama.. Chuck just won against Wand... Melendez just lost to Ishida... The LW and LHW rankings are the hardest ones IMO.

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Posted by Believe-in-judo81

Yeah, but that's Kawajiri and Ishida, they have always been these underrated, dark horse fighters who come out and win the fights no one says they will. They are great game planners, they do everything they can to keep evolving with the game and stay well rounded. And no one works as hard as the guys at T-BLOOD, the work ethic and drive in that gym is amazing. Kawajiri's hands are getting very good standing, and he's still putting on these solid workhorse performances and seems to be in for the long haul, and possibly another belt. But Ishida just really impresses me, very strong, dominant grappler, working hard and improving quickly in the standup aspect of the game. I think he has the longer and more promising looking remaining career of the two, and I would like to see him try his hand at a few bouts in Cage Force and then head to the UFC.

Melendez had a rough night, and his first loss, juding by the heart and determination he's shown in the ring in the past, I don't think for a second he'll let this beat him, and I believe he'll come back looking focused and stronger than ever.

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I agree and would add Misaki to a list of most underated fighters. He has been in my to 10 mw all along, and hopefully he will get some more love now.

I wish there were more rounds in this fight. I would have called it a draw, as I would have called Melendez/Crusher a draw. I was really surprised it wasn't at least a split decision. I see no reason for 2 round fights on this card. It wasn't a tournament, so I am kind of bummed that it went down this way. Great fight by both guys though. I wouldn't give Melendez much chance against Aoki after watching it. He got backpacked twice, and both times was able to slip Ishida to his side. One time he dropped him on his head, and the other he reversed him into a slam in guard. When Aoki backpacks somebody i doubt they are getting him off, as Kikuchi couldn't when they first fought. Personally i may move Ishida up some, but I am not dropping Melendez in my rankings at all.

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Posted by hippysmacker

I wish there were more rounds in this fight. I would have called it a draw, as I would have called Melendez/Crusher a draw. I was really surprised it wasn't at least a split decision. I see no reason for 2 round fights on this card. It wasn't a tournament, so I am kind of bummed that it went down this way. Great fight by both guys though. I wouldn't give Melendez much chance against Aoki after watching it. He got backpacked twice, and both times was able to slip Ishida to his side. One time he dropped him on his head, and the other he reversed him into a slam in guard. When Aoki backpacks somebody i doubt they are getting him off, as Kikuchi couldn't when they first fought. Personally i may move Ishida up some, but I am not dropping Melendez in my rankings at all.

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a draw would be the most satisfying

look, im not gonna lie. im a huge gil fan, but totally respect ishida and all fighters. i read a lot about this fight before i finally found a link and went in knowing my boy lost. but to be honest, gil won that fight. ishida had a lot of top, and standing back control in the first round but every take down he got, melendez got up quickly. imo getting up from a takedown with little to no damage done is more impressive than the takedown itself... just like a hyperactive guard is more effective than a takedown because the person with top control is on the defensive. ishida did very little with the amount of control that he had in the first round. they traded dumps and gil landed a heavy knee and had a nice front choke. this was the round that i read in which ishida dominated. he did very little in this round except get single leg takedowns that gil popped up from with relative ease.

in the second gil got a takedown and ishida could not get up. he did have a beautiful inverted arm bar that could have finished the fight but it didnt. and he still couldnt get up after that. gil threw 10 times the leather and got up everytime he was taken down. if im not mistaken that's what youre supposed to do. not let someone pepper you from your guard. ishida is a great fighter and i take nothing away from the decision that was given to him, but i believe that gil won that fight.