Is America Ready for Shinya Aoki? Aoki x Melendez in Strikeforce is Official

Of course, the underlying theme in the picture above depicting the frail, effeminate guy wearing the skirt is that he can engulf you in a tangled web of octopus-like limbs and sever you from consciousness in a matter of mere seconds with a submission that hasn't even been invented yet.

DREAM lightweight champion and submission-god Shinya Aoki has had his sights set on fighting in the states since last year, and now news has surfaced that Strikeforce will once again manipulate the controls of the DREAM co-promotional machine and import the world's #2 155-pounder to face their own lightweight champion, Gilbert Melendez.  The event will take place live on CBS from Nashville, Tennessee, on April 17.

God bless you, Scott Coker.  This is a thing of beauty.

 Melendez speaks of the arrival of his prophecy concerning Aoki immediately after his convincing win over Josh Thomson: 

The night I got home after fighting Josh, I promise, I had a dream of Aoki that same night.

When wishes like this come true, everyone wins.  This will be a mind-blowing encounter, for many reasons, as we get to witness Aoki fighting outside of the Japanese bubble and in the raucous faces of the rowdy American crowd, and do so against another extremely worthy top-ten lightweight in Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez.  Melendez is enjoying a three-fight stint after knocking Rodrigo Damm out, getting revenge in a rematch with Mitsuhiro Ishida, and taking ownership of the title outright after besting Josh Thomson.

More thoughts from Melendez on fighting Aoki:

All of a sudden this year, I avenged both my losses. I cleaned my slate. I beat Rodrigo Damm, a tough guy, I'm the champ again, and now they're talking about me fighting the No. 2 guy in the world.  One win away from being top five in the world again.

Aoki has also racked up a trifecta of wins, the most recent being his controversial limb-crushing submission over Sengoku champ Mizuto Hirota, which was accented by a spirited application of Aoki's middle finger.  Coincidentally, Aoki recently put a past blemish behind him as well after submitting Joachim Hansen in their rubber match, which isolated Aoki as the top of the food-chain in DREAM, and swapped his usual style against Vitor Ribeiro in a rare showcase of his striking skills.

Three belts will be on the line for Strikeforce's "Shields vs. Henderson" card, which will feature it's namesake as the headliner for the middleweight belt, Aoki-Melendez for the lightweight strap, and Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal vs. Gegard Mousasi for the light-heavyweight title.