Gilbert Melendez says he hopes to beat Shinya Aoki without going to the mat
Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert ‘El Nino’ Melendez has spoken out on his upcoming title defence on the weekend against Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki, saying he is hoping to not have to go to ground against the lethal submission artist.
Speaking to MMAfighting.com, ‘El Nino’ said that his dream fight would be fought solely in the stand-up department:
“Best case scenario, I never hit the ground with this guy. A perfect fight would be we never hit the ground and I sprawl and brawl this guy. But, you got to be prepared for every scenario in this fight and I believe I am. I have to be able to defend all his submissions, I have to be able to be confident on the ground, and, like I said, best case scenario I never touch the ground and I knock him out.”
Melendez also stated that he is more than aware of Aoki’s apparent habit of using somewhat underhanded tactics during a fight, and also gave his opinions on ‘The Tobikan Judan’s controversial antics following breaking the arm of his last opponent Mizuo Hirota:
“I’ve studied a lot of tapes on him and one thing I’ve noticed is he’ll look for the way out. I can’t give him that opportunity. If I accidentally hit him in the nuts or I elbow him wrong I have to realize that he might try to take advantage of that and find a way out. I just have to be very careful and not give him that opportunity. It’s just something that I’m aware of and I almost would blame myself if I gave him that opportunity to get out of there. It’s definitely something that’s on my mind.”
The champion went on to credit his training with Jake Shields and the Diaz brothers to help prepare him for facing a barrage of submissions from Aoki, and to emphasise the high respect he has for the danger his opponent will pose this weekend:
“The thing with Aoki is he’s a very intelligent fighter and it’s obvious you want to stay on your feet with him. Basically, you just want to keep it on your feet. Once he gets to the ground he has a great back attack, he has a great rubber guard, and you have to be prepared for all of those. As I study his tapes, I get scared of all those positions, but the closer I get to the fight I feel more confident about it. But, yeah man, just being prepared for all those positions on the ground.”
Melendez has only days until he faces the fearsome prospect of being drawn into a ground war with the Japanese star, as ‘Strikeforce: Nashville’ goes down this Saturday night.
By Steve Davies
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