In the moment Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez was a heck of a fight. Let’s be honest though: it had an epic third round but the first two were Diego swinging wildly (and missing) while getting tagged by Melendez at will. It was an exciting fight but not a great one.
In the immediate aftermath it was being labeled as the Gatti/Ward of MMA by many. Hell I wanted two more rounds as it was happening, especially after the third round where Diego nearly made a comeback. But let’s be honest: the first two rounds were Diego missing so badly, and so profoundly, that it was fairly one sided.
It was the most exciting first two rounds of a fight in recent memory that were so profoundly one sided. Gilbert Melendez was taking apart Diego in such spectacular fashion that it was reminiscent of Sanchez/Guida once upon a time. It wasn’t a fight of the century, as Dana White discussed shortly after the card ended. It was the best fight on the card, which was perhaps one of the best of the year as well, but let’s not get caught up in the moment right now. It’s not even the best fight of this year.
It didn’t have the necessary drama of Jones/Gustafsson, which was a five round title affair that has been debated, dissected and scored in 100 different ways by anyone who watched it. You could score it in one of a dozen ways and there are valid arguments as to why it could be. It was a champion making a furious comeback and a challenger trying to hold on, of the mettle it takes to bring out that extra 10% that only the very best have.
You could make a good case for Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson. That fight had more drama than Sanchez/Melendez because it was a title fight. That was a razor thin fight that was even after four and had a champion pulling out a gear only he had to pull off the win. Johnson had that extra gear that Dodson didn’t, pushing the pace even harder and snatching that win in the final five minutes.
Stann/Silva in Japan was one for those of us who remembered when Wanderlei embodied his nickname of “The Axe Murderer” and retired the war hero in spectacular fashion. On pure nostalgia that fight was just exciting as Melendez/Sanchez, with plenty of sloppy brawling and big time shots until the moment Silva put Stann’s lights out.
Melendez/Sanchez was exciting and a genuinely good fight but it’s a candidate for round of the year, with its epic third round, and nothing more. The first two rounds were Sanchez taking shot after shot from Melendez and flailing wildly. It looked exciting, don’t get me wrong, but it was one sided as Melendez made him pay every time he got close. It was a masterful performance from Melendez, nothing more, as Sanchez took a beating and then some.
The third round was absolutely exciting but one round doesn’t make an epic fight. We should commend both guys for leaving everything they had out there, and hope one of them wins a UFC title so we can get a five round rematch, but Saturday’s fight wasn’t a brilliant fight. It was one close round after two exciting (but very distant) rounds. It wasn’t Gatti/Ward or anything resembling a classic fight.
In a couple of years we’ll be pointing to it as one of the fights that probably gave Diego Sanchez pugilistic dementia in the same way boxing aficionados point to any number of fights that damaged Muhammad Ali for good.
