Friday, Dec. 5, 2014 | 2 a.m.
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If a single judge had seen a single round differently, more in line with the way most people saw it, then Gilbert Melendez could have found his situation swapped with opponent Anthony Pettis’ this week.
Melendez could have been the one fielding questions about the start of his UFC championship legacy Thursday afternoon. He could have been the one with the shiny belt draped around his shoulder.
Melendez could have even been the one pulling a curtain off an enlarged display box of Wheaties to reveal his likeness.
“I’ve thought about it a lot,” Melendez admitted. “I feel like I won the title.”
Alas, Melendez is not the UFC lightweight champion. No matter how certain he is that he defeated Benson Henderson in a title fight at UFC on Fox 8, the nod went the other way.
Henderson won a split decision (48-47, 48-47, 47-48) that, 20 months later, Melendez still can’t accept. The only thing keeping the former Strikeforce champion sane is a chance to course correct Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 181 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center against Pettis.
Pettis became the one to dethrone Henderson when he submitted him four months after Melendez had his shot. It’s a fight that never would have happened if one of two judges had agreed with what Melendez estimated were “seven out of every eight” people watching the fight.
“He took the champion five rounds,” Pettis said. “Definitely, he’s one of the best fighters in the world. There’s a reason this is the guy I’m fighting.”
Notice that Pettis stopped short of saying that Melendez defeated, or even outfought, Henderson. He's not so sure.
Looking back, Pettis only concedes that the bout was closely contested.
“I think if you fight the champ, you’ve got to take the belt from the champ,” Pettis said. “You can’t sneak by a decision and consider yourself a champ. I think you’ve got to convincingly win.”
That may sound like a slight, but Melendez doesn’t take it that way. He offers a virtually identical critique of his own performance.
Melendez eased up late, thinking he was comfortably ahead of Henderson, an error he promised to never make again.
“I had a game plan to be a little more conservative, to try to not make mistakes that could cost me a round,” Melendez said. “I thought I stayed ahead, but at this point, I’m ready to roll the dice and take the necessary risks to be the champion.”
Pettis believes that philosophy could play right into his hands. Caution is a virtue against the champion, who has finished each of his last three opponents in the first round.
Melendez and Pettis were destined to meet far before their back-to-back UFC title shots last year. Almost exactly four years ago, Pettis knocked off Henderson with the famous Showtime Kick to win the WEC lightweight title before the sister promotion merged into the UFC.
Melendez was in the middle of a seven-fight win streak through Strikeforce, leaving many to dream of a day when all of the best fighters from separate promotions could square off.
“When I was trying to work my way up, they were saying Gilbert might be the best 155-pounder on the planet,” Pettis reflected. “But when I made this my profession, I just looked at everyone in the division as someone I could possibly fight.”
It used to frustrate Melendez when people would question his achievements because they came outside of the UFC. He always thought of validating his career with a UFC championship.
In the moments after the Henderson fight, he never thought he'd need a second opportunity at UFC 181.
“I thought I won everything that night,” he said. “The whole crowd in there thought I won except two judges.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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