{"id":199414,"date":"2016-07-22T22:58:26","date_gmt":"2016-07-23T05:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=199414"},"modified":"2016-07-22T22:58:26","modified_gmt":"2016-07-23T05:58:26","slug":"gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/","title":{"rendered":"Gilbert Melendez eyeing future fight with fellow veteran Eddie Alvarez"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Back at <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/watch-ufc-188-highlights-in-super-slow-motion\/\">UFC 188<\/a>, Gilbert Melendez and Eddie Alvarez squared off in the co-main event of the highly anticipated card.  <\/p>\n<p>Alvarez was looking to bounce back from a <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/replay-full-fight-highlights-cerrone-batters-alvarez-picks-up-decision\/\">lopsided loss to Donald Cerrone<\/a>, and capture his first UFC win. Melendez on the other hand was looking to return to the win column after a submission loss to Anthony Pettis in a failed bid for the lightweight championship.<\/p>\n<p>A failed drug test landed Melendez on the sidelines for a year, during which time <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/videos\/video-new-ufc-lightweight-champion-eddie-alvarez-destroys-rafael-dos-anjos-ufc-fight-night-90\/\">Alvarez captured the UFC lightweight championship from Rafael dos Anjos.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ahead of Melendez&#8217; return to the Octagon on Saturday against Edson Barboza, the former Strikeforce champ gave his thoughts on a potential rematch with Alvarez. He spoke to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ufc.com\/news\/gilbert-melendez-ready-to-prove-himself-all-over-again-july-2016?id=\" target=\"_blank\">UFC.com:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cAbsolutely, we\u2019ve got a very compelling storyline when I win this fight. Eddie and I had a very close fight, but if you looked at our faces after the fight, we know who took more damage and who landed the more devastating strikes. So it makes things interesting, and the whole division is very interesting, to be honest. The belt is changing hands constantly, and it\u2019s hard to defend the throne.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In terms of his return to the Octagon, Melendez said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cI needed something to wake up to and look at myself in the mirror and get somewhat emotional about, something to drive me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a normal person, but I\u2019m driven, and you need that adversity. You need something to bring the best out of you, and you have to find it. You\u2019ve got to find the \u2018Why am I doing this?\u2019 And I have my \u2018why\u2019 right now and that\u2019s to prove I\u2019m relevant, to redeem myself and that\u2019s to show that I\u2019m all heart. I have something to prove.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back at UFC 188, Gilbert Melendez and Eddie Alvarez squared off in the co-main event of the highly anticipated card. Alvarez was looking to bounce back from a lopsided loss to Donald Cerrone, and capture his first UFC win. Melendez on the other hand was looking to return to the win column after a submission [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":149386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10324],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gilbert Melendez eyeing future fight with fellow veteran Eddie Alvarez | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gilbert Melendez eyeing future fight with fellow veteran Eddie Alvarez | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Back at UFC 188, Gilbert Melendez and Eddie Alvarez squared off in the co-main event of the highly anticipated card. 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Melendez on the other hand was looking to return to the win column after a submission [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-23T05:58:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Melendez-wins.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"bjpenndotcom\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/7c8b8d1602cb47040b7a5cd250d5b90a\"},\"headline\":\"Gilbert Melendez eyeing future fight with fellow veteran Eddie Alvarez\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-23T05:58:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-23T05:58:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/\"},\"wordCount\":313,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Gilbert Melendez\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/\",\"name\":\"Gilbert Melendez eyeing future fight with fellow veteran Eddie Alvarez | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-23T05:58:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-23T05:58:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/gilbert-melendez-eyeing-future-fight-with-fellow-veteran-eddie-alvarez\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Gilbert Melendez\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/gilbert-melendez\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Gilbert Melendez eyeing future fight with fellow veteran Eddie Alvarez\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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