Strikeforce have confirmed that a third fight between lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson will be going down at their Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand-Prix Final on May 19th.
Melendez and Thomson are 1-1 in their entertaining encounters so far in the Strikeforce cage so a rubber match was always going to happen, but the suggestions in recent weeks had been that it wouldn’t be happening quite this soon.
Interest in the fight had diminished after Thomson’s less-than-enthralling decision win over KJ Noons in March, and soon after Melendez confidently claimed that he had a big bout in the works next, and that it wouldn’t be against ‘The Punk.’
Melendez hinted that it could be a UFC fighter coming over to fight him, and mentioned names like BJ Penn and Anthony Pettis, but whether there was any truth to that or not it’s clear that somewhere along the lines Strikeforce’s plans have changed.
The lightweight title fight will form part of the fight card for an event that’ll revolve around the culmination of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand-Prix which sees Josh Barnett take on Daniel Cormier.
