Gilbert Melendez Looking For a Historic Fight at UFC 215

Gilbert Melendez said in a new interview that he is hoping to have a “historic” fight against Jeremy Stephens at UFC 215. Melendez spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of the show, which takes place this Saturday. Highlights are below:

On his hopes for the fight: “I want a historic fight. I want to go down in this sport as a warrior, as a legend. I want people to look back at my fights. I was looking down my Facebook feed the other day, and there’s this highlight video of (my fight with) Diego (Sanchez at UFC 166), and it has like 48 million views. It doesn’t matter about records, Diego’s record, there’s 48 million views on that frickin’ video, because we’re warriors and we put it out there. I’m looking to do that. In my opinion and to my community and all the people I roll with, I think that’s more respectable than any sort of championship, is going down in history as a warrior. It’s an opportunity for me to have another epic fight with another warrior out there.”

On dropping to featherweight: “I’m looking to reinvent myself and start fresh. I’m feeling OK. It’s manageable. It’s been tough. I’ve been trying to sustain it. One big heavy meal and boom, I can shoot my weight up. But I can sustain it the last few days. I like what I woke up this morning at, and I think I’m going to get there no problem. I can’t wait to rehydrate up and get a lot of food in me and feel fully charged.”

On his UFC record: “I feel like the 1-4 doesn’t really represent it, what I’ve really done. It’s a bummer, and I could go off on how I feel like I beat Benson (Henderson) and how I beat Eddie (Alvarez) and all that, and I could easily be 3-2 in the UFC. It is what it is. … I’m satisfied with what I’ve done, and I’m still doing what I love. I’m challenging myself, I’m cashing in a paycheck making money for my family. And though I’ve lost, I haven’t gotten dominated, I believe. I don’t feel like I’ve been knocked out. I don’t feel like I’ve taken a lot of damage. And I feel like I can still do this, and that’s why I’m here.”

On his goals: “If I want to keep fighting I can keep fighting just because I did some stuff on paper that allows me to do whatever the hell I want. I don’t enjoy losing. It’s been close, and I feel like I’ve had some bad things. I don’t enjoy losing. I’m looking to go out here and win. I’m not really thinking about the future, but definitely if things don’t go my way I’m going to assess things a little bit more.”