Gilbert Melendez to Face Kato at Playboy Mansion

Strikeforce lightweight champion and Cesar Gracie protege Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez announced on today's Tagg Radio show that he will face Tetsuji Kato in the main event of the September 29th Strikeforce card at the Playboy Mansion.

Frank Trigg then assured Gilbert that he'll be disappointed with his first visit to the Playboy Mansion: "The Playboy Mansion is set up so that it's always a ratio of three guys to one girl, so it's always whack."

I guess Trigg's glass is always half empty.

Catching up with the Gracie Fighters

Here's the latest on some of the top Gracie Fighters from Cesar Gracie's Pleasant Hill, CA Gracie Academy. These happen to be some of my favorite mixed martial artists, as well.

Nick Diaz finished 5th in the Bear Valley Triathlon Sunday in California this past weekend after completing the 600-yard swim, a 10.5-mile bike ride and a 3.4-mile run in 1:00:57. Diaz, who has not fought since defeating Pride lightweight champ Takanori Gomi in stunning fashion at Pride 33 on February 24, will face Mike Aina, a pupil of BJ Penn, at 160 lbs. on September 15 at EliteXC's "Uprising" event.

EliteXC president Gary Shaw said that the organization is not in negotiations with Gomi, but that he'd love to see Gomi-Diaz II and believes that Diaz would defeat Gomi for a second time, proving once again that Diaz "is the superior fighter." As far as I'm concerned, Gomi vs. Diaz at Pride 33 has been the best fight of the year, hands down.

Jake Shields will be also be fighting a member of the BJ Penn camp on the September 15 Uprising card when he takes on Renato "Cheruto" Verissimo. Shields recently explained that this fight had been scheduled to take place twice before but ultimately to no avail. As for his training, Shields said that he occasionally visits the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, CA, where he spars with Jon Fitch and Mike Swick of the UFC.

Shields also said in a conference call recently that he has no real plans to fight Frank Trigg any time soon. An verbal agreement had been reached, but no contract ever materialized, and the Shields camp was never able to get a hold of Trigg. Shields did say that he would face Trigg, who's been fighting at middleweight, at 185 lbs. if the price is right.

Gilbert Melendez will defend his Strikeforce lightweight title on September 29 at a Strikeforce event held at the Playboy Mansion. Melendez is one of the best 155-pound fighters anywhere, and to see "El Nino" in action, click here to see his fight against UFC lightweight Clay Guida. Great fight.

Nate Diaz, who recently defeated Manny Gamburyan to become the TUF Season 5 winner, will be fighting at UFC Fight Night 11 on September 19 against Junior Assuncao.

CBS Sports Interview with Dana White

Sam Caplan recently interviewed Dana White as part of a CBS Sports interview. Here are my favorite parts:

Babalu Sobral being released from the UFC: "Babalu is showing a bad track record lately. I don't like the direction he's been going in, and he needs to straighten his life out if he wants to continue to be a professional athlete."

I agree. Babalu was arrested in Miami a few weeks back, and his UFC 74 post-fight commentary and overall attitude was Bush League, especially for a fighter of Babalu's status.

A UFC return for Babalu?: "Absolutely. I like Babalu. He's a good guy and a good fighter."

That's what I like to hear.

Georges St-Pierre’s next fight: "He'll fight the winner of Hughes/Serra. And yeah, we're trying to do a fight up in Canada, so that one would make a lot of sense."

This will make for a great headliner, but I feel bad for guys like Karo Parisyan, Jon Fitch, and Diego Sanchez who are still waiting in line for their shot. Oh well...

A title shot for Roger Huerta?: "I think he's probably a good year away."

Thank you. I've been saying for a while now that Huerta is not yet championship material. Plus, the more he fights (and wins), the brighter his star will shine. That was fruity...

Fedor Emelianenko’s management team: "I don't like to talk about contract negotiations with the public but it didn't go well. These guys are crazy."

Dana, watch your mouth.

Liddell vs. Wanderlei on December 29?: "It's possible. Liddell would have to win. Liddell would have to come out injury free. There's a lot of ifs."

Keith Jardine is quite possible my single least favorite UFC fighter.

Josh Barnett: "He's just a punk. You know what? The thing is I don't want to even talk about Josh Barnett. Nobody even cares about Josh Barnett. I got Mirko Cro Cop, the guy that just beat the s**t out of him (Barnett). I'm not interested in Josh Barnett at all as far as who he is as a person or as a fighter or how he represents the sport. I don't like anything about him."

And Cro Cop just got his head kicked in by the guy Couture just embarrassed. Barnett is worth signing.

Denis Kang: "Denis Kang was supposed to be on Season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter but he ended up getting a good deal over in Korea. This is a guy we were looking at to be on season one of The Ultimate Fighter, I wouldn't call him one of the major superstars in MMA or one of the major superstars from Pride."

Kang on TUF? I never knew that had been in the works. I'm a Kang fan, but I agree with Dana; Kang is not a major superstar. He's close, but there are certainly bigger names out there.

Gilbert Melendez: "I'm very interested in him. He's under contract with someone else right now. But yeah, I'm very interested in him."

I'm glad Capalan asked about the undefeated Melendez, who's one of the most under appreciated fighters out there.

For the rest of the interview, click here.