Well, ping matters much less for melee in 1.1, apparently your ki pool determines if you win a head on. So if that 56ker can track your movement well enough, the moment you try to swerve in to melee, he can start swooping, and because he was just chilling while you were buzzing around he will win because his ki pool will be more full. Kind of a cheap way to do it, especially since it encourages just sitting there and waiting(blockcounters anyone?), it's a needed fix until 1.2 melee (I guess).
I probably won't be into 1.1 as much, but I will stick with it just for 2.0...I heard from sources how 1.2 melee will work and it sounds FABULOUS.