UFC officials have announced the co-main event for the upcoming UFC 188 PPV event that’s set for June 13 in Mexico. A lightweight scrap between former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez and former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez will finally come to fruition.
The UFC 188 event will be headlined by the UFC heavyweight title fight between champion Cain Velasquez and interim champion Fabricio Werdum.
The Melendez/Alvarez fight was once talked about as a cross promotion between Bellator and Strikeforce years ago that obviously never came to fruition. At the time, both fighters were thought to be top five lightweights at the very least. The two are still very good fighters, but not rated as highly as they were back then. Melendez is (1-2) in his last three fights with both losses coming as he was vying to become the UFC lightweight champion. He lost a close split decision to then champion Ben Henderson in 2013. He defeated Diego Sanchez and then got another shot at the title against current champion Anthony Pettis, but was submitted in the second round via guillotine choke.
Alvarez has fallen a bit farther since he was at his highest point. He lost the Bellator lightweight title then recaptured it before leaving the promotion to join the UFC. He promptly lost his UFC debut against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 178. He was scheduled to take on Ben Henderson in January but withdrew from the bout. It should be a very exciting fight stylistically as both fighters will look to engage on the feet, and it’s a very important fight as the loser of this fight is likely relegated to gatekeeper status.
Stay tuned to ProMMAnow.com for more UFC 188 fight announcements and more.