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DENVER, CO - AUGUST 11: Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez and Tareq Azim attends UFC 150 inside Pepsi Center on August 11, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photos by Zuffa LLC)

길버트 멜렌데즈

TRAINING: A typical day of training is two training sessions a day involving wrestling, pads, sparring, weights, running, etc....

When and why did you start training for fighting? I started training for fighting, maybe unconsciously, since high school wrestling. I’ve always liked one on one competition, and it wasn’t until I was in college that I picked up MMA because my friend Jake Shields introduced me to it. It’s a great feeling to have no one to blame but yourself, and there’s no better high than being a dominant fighter. You can beat me in basketball, you can beat me at arm wrestling, but I can beat your ass.

What ranks and titles have you held? Two-time and current Strikeforce lightweight champion, former WEC lightweight champion. Brown belt in jiu-jitsu under Cesar Gracie

Do you have any heroes? My father and my teammates