{"id":331812,"date":"2019-11-12T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T15:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=331812"},"modified":"2019-11-12T07:00:14","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T15:00:14","slug":"gilbert-melendez-issues-statement-on-ufc-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/gilbert-melendez-issues-statement-on-ufc-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Gilbert Melendez issues statement on UFC release"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>MMA veteran and fan favorite Gilbert Melendez has issued a statement following his release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Melendez, 37, <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/gilbert-melendez-released-by-ufc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"was reportedly let go from the UFC (opens in a new tab)\">was reportedly let go from the UFC<\/a> last night in the midst of a five-fight losing streak, with his last victory coming in an absolute classic against Diego Sanchez back at UFC 166 in October 2013. &#8220;El Ni\u00f1o&#8221; has slowly but surely been transitioning over into the punditry world, working for ESPN on a number of big UFC events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the news was broken regarding his release, Melendez was quick to issue his own statement on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gilbert Melendez (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GilbertMelendez?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GilbertMelendez<\/a>) on his release from the UFC. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9zojgrRtFe\">pic.twitter.com\/9zojgrRtFe<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bokamotoESPN\/status\/1194089606251188225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 12, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was a fun ride with the UFC that I really enjoyed,&#8221; Melendez told <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bokamotoespn\/status\/1194089606251188225?s=21\" target=\"_blank\">ESPN<\/a>. &#8220;I feel I gave them one of the most entertaining fights in their history [against Diego Sanchez], and I appreciate all they\u2019ve done. They have done a bunch of cool stuff for all of their fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat said, I do feel this release is mutual. I was ready to move on. I feel like, if I were to fight again, I would like to do it on my terms and steer my own ship. The UFC is a fantastic organization, but they have their agenda, and unless you\u2019re a champion or a super strong needle mover, you don\u2019t have as much say in your career. If I do get back in the cage, I want it to be with a company that agrees with the path that I want to be on. But I\u2019m leaving the UFC on great terms\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on these comments alone it certainly seems as if fighting for another promotion is on the cards, with Bellator being a leading contender in the eyes of many fans. For now, though, the praise continues to roll in for one of the UFC&#8217;s most popular lightweights ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you think is next for Gilbert Melendez? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article first appeared on&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><em>BJPENN.COM<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;on 11\/12\/2019. &nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MMA veteran and fan favorite Gilbert Melendez has issued a statement following his release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Melendez, 37, was reportedly let go from the UFC last night in the midst of a five-fight losing streak, with his last victory coming in an absolute classic against Diego Sanchez back at UFC 166 in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54478,"featured_media":284876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10324,39610],"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 issues statement on UFC release | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MMA veteran Gilbert Melendez has issued a statement after he was released by the Ultimate Fighting Championship last night.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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