Gilbert Melendez will return to the Octagon to fight Arnold Allen at UFC 239 in Las Vegas on July 6th during International Fight Week.
It’s been a year-and-a-half since the 37-year-old Melendez last fought, suffering a unanimous decision loss to Jeremy Stephens on that occasion.
The bitter taste of defeat has come all to often for the former Strikeforce lightweight champion in recent years, having lost his last four fights in a row, with Anthony Pettis, Eddie Alvarez and Edson Barboza having also bested him in the Octagon.
In total that means Melendez’s overall UFC record stands at just 1-5, a far cry from earlier in his career when Melendez held a 21-2 record fighting for the likes of Strikeforce, PRIDE, WEC and Shooto.
As for Allen, the 25-year-old wields a 14-1 record and has won all five of his UFC bouts to date, including recent wins over the likes of Makwan Amirkhani, Mads Burnell and Jordan Rinaldi, though he hasn’t yet claimed a big name scalp.
Melendez Vs Allen joins a UFC 239 card that will be headlined by light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones Vs Thiago Santos, while Amanda Nunes defends her bantamweight title against Holly Holm in the co-main event, alongside the likes of Junior dos Santos Vs Francis Ngannou, Jorge Masvidal Vs Ben Askren, Luke Rockhold Vs Jan Blachowicz and Diego Sanchez Vs Michael Chiesa.
