Gilbert Melendez and Benson Henderson (This story appears in today’s edition of USA TODAY .) After losing his first bid for the UFC lightweight title by the slimmest possible margin – literally, one point on one judge’s scorecard made the difference between victory and defeat – Gilbert Melendez decided to let himself be bitter for “about an hour.” Then he let it go and moved on, or so he would have us believe. “I really thought I won,” Melendez tells USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie about his split-decision loss to then-champion Benson Henderson in April 2013. “I think the majority of people who watched it thought I won. That helped, honestly.” What it didn’t do was put the UFC lightweight title around his waist, a fact of which Melendez (22-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is all too aware as he heads into his second shot at the belt against champ Anthony Pettis (17-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) on Saturday at UFC 181 in Las Vegas (10 p.m. ET, pay-per-view). At 32, Melendez isn’t kidding himself about what his future might hold if he comes up short once again
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In second title shot, Gilbert Melendez willing to take big risks for UFC belt – MMA Junkie