Gilbert Melendez showed improvement in his third round stoppage of T-Blood member Mitsuhiro Ishida.

While Ishida recently suffered a loss in Shooto and took this fight on short notice, Melendez demonstrated a more patient gameplan with refined technical skills. Melendez not only was able to stuff 6 of every 7 shots from Ishida, but was very successful in takedown attempts of his own.

Melendez's performance makes the rematch with current Strikeforce lightweight champ Josh Thomson an immediate priority.

Gilbert Melendez defeats Mitsuhiro Ishida by TKO ref stoppage at 3:56 of the third round.