Midnight Mania! Retirement? What Retirement?!?!?

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Let’s set the scene: two all-time great Lightweights have faced each other three times. One man holds an edge on the official with an additional win, but that sole deciding victory was a split-decision. All three bouts were excellent fights, so why not run it back a fourth time and perhaps have some closure?

As it turns out, there are a bunch of reasons! First though, let’s first read why Josh Thomson is interested in facing Gilbert Melendez a fourth time (transcription via MMA Junkie): “I won the first fight hands down, convincing. He won the second fight, hands down, convincingly. The third fight was a split decision loss. It was very controversial. As he was leaving the cage, people were booing. People were throwing things. As we walked down the tunnel (backstage) – I felt this was extremely inappropriate – people started spitting at them as they were leaving the arena. If you go back and watch that fight, I obviously felt like I won; he obviously felt like he won.”

Thomson continued, “We spent 75 minutes in the cage. Every time it was for the title. This time it’s not for the title. This time is a three-round fight. Bellator doesn’t do five-round main event fights. This is a good opportunity for the two of us. We know that we’re not what we used to be. There’s no doubt about that. There’s no denying that. But we both feel like there’s unsettled business.”

Thomson’s logic of unsettled business makes sense, and he’s certainly realistic in acknowledging that the two are no longer in their primes. However, Thomson seemingly retired after a knockout loss to Patricky Freire back in February of 2017, and he’s 41 years old. Melendez, meanwhile, has lost his last five bouts, a streak which saw him released from UFC just last week.

The two were once titans of the Lightweight division, and their Strikeforce battles are all incredible. Is a fourth fight really necessary though?

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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.