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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief The camp for Mitsuhiro Ishida has made a verbal complaint to the California State Athletic Commission alleging that Gilbert Melendez "greased" in their bout on August 15th for the Strikeforce Interim Lightweight Title on Showtime.
They as of yet have not submitted a complaint in writing, which they have up to five days from the verbal complaint to submit a written one, and according to multiple published reports the CSAC's Assistant Executive Officer Bill Douglas has stated he hasn't heard from the camp since Saturday.
Melendez, meanwhile, has not been informed of any allegation by the Commission, as it has not been made official, but he has heard what's being said. He told Sherdog.com "I did not grease in the fight. The athletic commission was with me the whole time. I didn't bring any grease with me. I didn't think there was much grappling in the fight anyway... It's kind of funny, but kind of weak. I beat him good and there's no way I greased."
Melendez, of course, defeated Ishida by TKO in the third round on Saturday to avenge one of the two losses on his record and hold onto his Interim Lightweight Title belt as he continues to await a healthy Josh Thomson. It was a one sided fight that saw Melendez in control for the duration of the bout.
Penick's Analysis: Here we go again. Perhaps. It's contingent on Ishida's camp putting something in writing or this will simply go away, but it could be a small rift in the early "talent swapping" partnership that Strikeforce has with DREAM if Ishida and his camp honestly believe the allegation and simply choose not to go through the CSAC's channels. This type of thing is always going to be difficult to prove unless it's witnessed or suspected by an official on site before, during or just after a fight has taken place.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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