To check out audio interviews with Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thomson, click here. 

Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez trains with one of the most intense and skilled teams in mixed martial arts.

Melendez and his fellow Cesar Gracie disciples, Jake Shields and Nick and Nate Diaz, are making a name for themselves from Strikeforce to EliteXC to the UFC.

Melendez takes center stage this weekend when he defends his Strikeforce lightweight title against Josh Thomson on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on HDNet at HP Pavilion in San Jose.

Melendez will need to call on all the skills and toughness he has learned from training sessions with the Diaz brothers and Shields to take out Thomson.

I got a chance to interview the former Santa Ana High wrestling standout.

Here is what Melendez had to say:

On his highly anticipated fight against Thomson:

“My thoughts are war, man. You know, just one word, it’s war. He’s ready for war. I’m ready for war. We both know we’re tough fighters. We both know what to expect. We’ve both felt each other out. It’s going to be a war, at least I’m ready for one. I’m pretty sure he is too.”

On being training partners with Thomson in the past:

“Yeah, it is a little weird, but it’s only business. You know, when I get in there I’m a professional whether I’m angry at someone, whether I like someone or whatever I feel about them, that all goes out the door and I try to remain as professional as possible in the cage for myself. I gotta get focused in. It sucks that we have to do this, but I’m the champ and I don’t plan on losing my belt. It has to be done.

“But the only weird thing is there is no feeling out. We’ve already felt each other out. I know what he is capable of. I know how he feels in the Thai (clinch). I know he is strong. I know he hits hard. I know everything already, so there is no mystery.”

On the disadvantages to having sparred with Thomson so many times in the past:

“I guess you either have to call ‘em advantages for both of us or disadvantages for both of us. But I feel having prepared with each other before a strength. Even then we are such complete fighters already. We just know what we are in for. Being able to train with each other, now we both know what we are in for. I guess that’s it. I don’t feel there is no disadvantage to anything.”

On the styles between himself and Thomson:

“If it stays standing, he has been on his feet a lot more and he likes to strike. But I’m very confident in my standup. If I have to stand with this guy, I’ll be more than confident to do that. I can lay it on him just as much as he could on me.

“If it goes to the ground, I plan on putting him on his back. Of course, whoever is on top on the ground has the advantage.

“I think we are both tough well-rounded MMA fighters. That’s what makes it such a good matchup. We’re mixed martial artists. We’re true mixed martial artists. A lot of guys out there are tough on their feet with an OK sprawl and OK Jiu-Jitsu or a really good wrestler that sucks on his feet and has OK Jiu-Jitsu. I think we’re strong everywhere. We put it together well, so it makes for a agood matchup.

“I feel I’m top 10 in the world and I, honestly, think Josh Thomson is top 10 in the world. They don’t have him in the rankings, but in my opinion and from who I have fought and trained with I defeinitely think he is top 10 in the world as well.”

On what this kind of fight can do for Strikeforce:

“I think this is a big fight for the organization and Josh and I and Scott Coker and the Bay Area. I’m pumped up on it. I’m glad that they are taking a risk on us to come through and put on a great show to really represent the organization. They can definitely count on us.”

On the popularity of the Strikeforce events in San Jose and the Bay Area:

“You know, this has been a fight town for a while. The Diaz boys started here. Dave Terrell is from Santa Rosa. Jake and I moved up here. And Frank Shamrock is from up here. The Bay Area is awesome, man, you know, awesome fighters.

“I don’t think it is quite as mainstream as Southern California. You don’t see as many … well, there are a lot of TapouT shirts here. But there are a lot of … I don’t want to say posers, but there are a lot of posers around lately. There are hardcore fans, but there are serious fighters up in the Bay Area that are really holding it down.”

On the reaction he gets when he comes back home to visit his family in Santa Ana:

“When I go to Southern California, I go there to visit my family and stay home. I got a lot more company, a lot of family to come visit me. But I go to Santa Ana and hang out with my mom and dad. I guess, I get some love here and there, but I’m no celebrity at all. I get a little love here and there but that’s it.”

On his training partners Nate and Nick Diaz and Jake Shields and on Nick’s recent post-fight melee with K.J. Noons:

“You know, those boys (Nate and Nick) are just some straight cholos. They are not messing around. They are my boys. You know, I don’t make the same decisions as them all the time, but I back up my boys. I back them up for whatever they gotta do.

“Jake has a big fight coming up on CBS. He is going to be on that Showtime show (on July 26 in Stockton) and so is Nick. I love my team. They are great workout partners. They push me to be strong. I’m glad to be a part of them. I love it.”

On the intensity of the training sessions with the Diaz brothers and Shields:

“It’s nuts, man. The beauty of us is we are a real team. We’re a team that started together from scratch. These other teams that are made up of people from here that already established themselves as fighters and here and there and all came together and became a team. You know, we all started off as just regular people who like to scrap. We got four guys without any ego. We got four guys that love to bang, and love to push hard, and love to test each other. That’s why we’re here today. It’s really intense. We really get in here and fight.

“I guess, I don’t realize how crazy it is until people come and watch us and go, ‘Man, you guys are crazy. You guys train hard.’ I just think it is the necessity, what you are supposed to do and how it is supposed to be. People tell me, ‘Man, you guys are crazy and this and that.’ I don’t even realize it. I just think it is a necessity. It’s what you have to do, what you are supposed to do. It’s just a normal day at the office.

“Some people try to come train with us from other fight teams and try to hang with us and they are like, ‘Aah, I’m a little sick today. I kind of hurt me knee.’ I’m like, ‘What’s this guy’s problem.’ We just laugh at them. I don’t know, but forgive me for saying this. If I said something like that (to Nick or Nate or Jake), they would say, ‘Stop being such an (expletive).’ They would tell me that. I don’t have the (expletive) to say something like that. We don’t have the (expletive) to be sissies and quit like that. And when we do need the time to take off like that, it’s obviously true. ‘I’m sore today, I’m hurt today,’ it’s obviously true. It’s not a habit like some guys are always hurt like, ‘I got chapped lips today’ or something is always going on. I don’t know? we don’t have the (expletive) to say that, too much pride.”

On Thomson coming off a nine-month layoff and shoulder surgery and whether it will give him and advantage since he has been fighting regularly:

“Yeah, I guess so. I’ve been training pretty hard. It’s just like another day at the office for me. I know when I had a long layoff for that nine months, when I came back I had a little extra nerves in me. It didn’t feel competely good, so I think I have the advantage there.

“Also, he has a strong advantage because he is rested up. He’s feeling good. He’s hungry. He hasn’t fought in a while, so whether Josh says he is a little hurt or not, I know he is training really, really hard. I know to expect to see a tough Josh, as beefed up as anyone has ever seen. I expect that out of him. I really feel he is going to be the best Josh he has ever been. So I’m not buying it.”

Posted in: HDNet Fights • MMA • Strikeforce |

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