Some people were hoping to see it again, other wanted something new. It’s hard to deny that the first two fights were very exciting, so Strikeforce decided to set up round three. Gilbert Melendez will be defending his Strikeforce lightweight title against Josh Thomson on May 19th at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Cormier. My Canadian brethren Mauro Ranallo tweeted the info a little while ago:
Melendez (20-2) and Thomson (19-4, 1 NC) first met back in 2008 in a title unification bout, which Thomson won by unanimous decision. Melendez avenged the loss in late 2009 at Strikeforce: Evolution, again by decision. Melendez has won all three of his bouts since then, while Thomson has gone 3-1 in that time period.
As I stated above, their first two bouts were awesome and while some fans are going to complain about Melendez not getting new challengers, I doubt they’ll be complaining on May 19th. The bout is expected to be the co-main event of the night.