UFC 166 Adds Lightweight Battle

Diego Sanchez vs. Gilbert Melendez Added to UFC 166 Fight Card

by John Haigh @JohnBJayHaigh

UFC officials on Thursday added a lightweight bout between the inaugural The Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez and former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez to the 19th October UFC 166 fight card set for the Toyota Center in Houston Texas.

Since his split decision victory over Takanori Gomi in March, Sanchez (24-5) has been lobbying for a fight with Nate Diaz, Josh Thomson, or Melendez.

His win over Gomi was Sanchez' first fight back at lightweight since going (2-2) in his stint at welterweight, with a victory over Melendez and his win over Gomi they would go a long way towards moving Sanchez back towards title contention in the lightweight division. Sanchez previously failed in his only UFC title shot against then lightweight champion BJ Penn at UFC 107 in late 2009.

Melendez (21-3) made his UFC debut against lightweight champion Benson Henderson at UFC on Fox 7 in April, but fell short, losing a split decision. Now, like Sanchez, he is looking for the quickest route back to No 1 contender spot.

Melendez said in May that he was willing to fight anybody on the roster, as long as he wasn’t going back to ground zero. He wants to fight someone that will propel him back to a fight against whomever holds the belt.

“There’s a lot of good guys. Whoever is hot right now,” said Melendez. “Whoever is the hot dude who is closest to getting that title shot, I’ll take it.”

Announcing Sanchez vs. Melendez, UFC officials also confirmed the previously reported welterweight bout between Nate Marquardt and Hector Lombard for UFC 166.
The event is to be headlined by the rematch between UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.