Bump in the Road

Keri Anne Taylor-Melendez on Friday will compete in her second mixed martial arts bout, this after an 18-month absence from the sport. When the strawweight enters the cage in Temecula, California, she will do so excited for the opportunity to empower women once again.

Melendez has not competed since she made her professional debut at Bellator 165 in November 2016. She was booked to fight at the company’s tentpole event in New York last year but was forced to withdraw after tearing her ACL. Melendez had suffered the same injury eight years earlier in the opposite leg.

“I was still training and going through it because I didn’t believe I tore it,” she told Sherdog.com.

However, the injury continued to destabilize her knee, and she underwent surgery on June 14, 2017. Melendez yearned to return to training during the long recovery process.

“It was a little bit depressing, or an up-and-down rollercoaster for a while,” she said.

Getting reacquainted with the aches and pains of the daily grind and getting back in shape has reinvigorated Melendez: “It’s making me excited and really hungry to be back in [the cage].” Melendez flirted with returning much soon. Believing her recovery was ahead of schedule, her manager and husband Gilbert Melendez contacted Bellator MMA CEO Scott Coker about being included on the Bellator 199 card in May. However, she quickly realized her knee needed more time.

“When I started grappling and kicking, just other things in my body … I was pushing it too much,” Melendez said, “and I started having other little minor injuries.”

The setback was minor, but it delayed her return by more than a month.

“I know I am ready now, and I feel 100 percent,” Melendez said.

With the injury behind her, Melendez has her sights set on Tiani Valle at Bellator 201. Will the long layoff affect her? “I don’t even want to go there and talk about ring rust,” she said with a laugh. The matchup with Valle gets her blood pumping. “Although I’m ready for a full MMA fight, I feel like she’s going to be a little bit of a striking battle,” Melendez said, “and that really excites me.”

While Melendez does not anticipate many grappling exchanges with the Hawaiian, she has prepared to go to the mat if the situation calls for it.

“If it goes to the ground right now,” she said, “I’m 100 percent ready to go in there and test my skills and mix it up.”

Beyond Bellator 201, Melendez, 34, hopes to remain as active as possible in the years ahead. She would prefer to fight twice more in 2018 and would also entertain the idea of a short-notice kickboxing bout.

“I wanted to be in a different place right now and have at least four more fights,” Melendez said. “This injury really set me back.”

As for future opponents, she has her eyes on fellow Bellator 201 combatants Valerie Letourneau and Kristina Williams. They will face one another on the main card.

“Both of those girls excite me. Definitely, Valerie -- I respect her as a veteran,” Melendez said. “Seeing Kristina coming in [and] taking out Heather Hardy, I saw her game and I was like, ‘wow, I would like to fight her, too,’ because she’s a strong striker.”

Bellator has accommodated Melendez by allowing her to fight at 115 pounds, but she remains open to the idea of moving to flyweight for fights with Letourneau, Williams and others. Although she turned 34 in May, she does not have as many miles on her odometer as many of her contemporaries. As a result, Melendez plans to continue fighting for the foreseeable future.

“I want to see where this takes me,” she said, “but definitely, three years from now I can see [still fighting].”

While Melendez enjoys competition, she also relishes being an example of female empowerment for her young daughter.

“I get to show my daughter [empowerment] and how strong that is,” she said, “and that I can be a gym owner and that I can be a wife and that I can be a mother and I can also pursue what I love to do.”

Melendez respects what Valle brings to the table and has prepared to go three grueling rounds. However, she believes she will emerge victorious.

“I feel that my hand’s going to be raised,” Melendez said, “and I’ll have a big smile and I’ll have a big glass of wine after.”