{"id":86287,"date":"2014-02-14T16:07:42","date_gmt":"2014-02-15T00:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=86287"},"modified":"2022-02-06T12:03:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T20:03:00","slug":"bellator-gilbert-melendez-agree-on-multi-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-gilbert-melendez-agree-on-multi-year-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Bellator &#038; Gilbert Melendez Agree On Multi-Year Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/dana-white-confirms-melenndez-back-in-the-mix-with-victory-over-sanchez\/gil-melendez\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-71677\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/gil-melendez.png\" alt=\"\" title=\"gil melendez\" width=\"390\" height=\"270\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-71677\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/gil-melendez.png 390w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/gil-melendez-300x207.png 300w, https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/gil-melendez-361x250.png 361w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>At 22-3, Gilbert Melendez sits atop the UFC\u2019s lightweight division. With victories over Josh Thomson, Diego Sanchez, Shinya Aoki and Jorge Masvidal, \u201cEl Nino\u201d is ready for a new crop of challengers as the Santa Ana native has agreed to a multi-fight, multi-year deal structure with Bellator that can pit Melendez against some of MMA\u2019s best, including Eddie Alvarez, Michael Chandler, Will Brooks, Dave Jansen and a host of top lightweights from around the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe moment Gil was legally able to explore the free agent market, Gil\u2019s management team reached out to me and we began figuring out how to bring Gil to Bellator,\u201d said Bellator Chairman &#038; CEO Bjorn Rebney. \u201cIt\u2019s no secret that I\u2019ve been a big \u201cEl Nino\u201d fan for many years. Gil was one of the first fighters I tried to sign when I launched Bellator back in 2008, and he\u2019s grown and developed into one of the best and most exciting lightweights on earth.  Gil has a vision for what he wants to accomplish both inside and outside the cage and we can help make his vision a reality.  We are in the business of developing and showcasing the greatest fighters on earth. That\u2019s what we intend to do here with Gil and it\u2019s what we\u2019ll continue to do in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The UFC currently holds matching rights on Melendez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At 22-3, Gilbert Melendez sits atop the UFC\u2019s lightweight division. With victories over Josh Thomson, Diego Sanchez, Shinya Aoki and Jorge Masvidal, \u201cEl Nino\u201d is ready for a new crop of challengers as the Santa Ana native has agreed to a multi-fight, multi-year deal structure with Bellator that can pit Melendez against some of MMA\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2616,"featured_media":71677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[44,2681],"tags":[382,11,649,15,16],"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>Bellator &amp; Gilbert Melendez Agree On Multi-Year Deal | 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\/bellator\/bellator-gilbert-melendez-agree-on-multi-year-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bellator &amp; Gilbert Melendez Agree On Multi-Year Deal | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At 22-3, Gilbert Melendez sits atop the UFC\u2019s lightweight division. With victories over Josh Thomson, Diego Sanchez, Shinya Aoki and Jorge Masvidal, \u201cEl Nino\u201d is ready for a new crop of challengers as the Santa Ana native has agreed to a multi-fight, multi-year deal structure with Bellator that can pit Melendez against some of MMA\u2019s [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-gilbert-melendez-agree-on-multi-year-deal\/\" \/>\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=\"2014-02-15T00:07:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-06T20:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/gil-melendez.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"390\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BJPENN.COM News\" \/>\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=\"BJPENN.COM News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\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\/bellator\/bellator-gilbert-melendez-agree-on-multi-year-deal\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/bellator-gilbert-melendez-agree-on-multi-year-deal\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BJPENN.COM News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/c76eda1459929ee246658565d177d029\"},\"headline\":\"Bellator &#038; 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