Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard is a true veteran of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. With over 30 professional fights under his belt, at just 28, Guillard has a bright future ahead.
Guillard recently left Greg Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico to train full time with the “Blackzilians” at Imperial Athletics in Boca Raton, Florida. Co-founded by former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Rashad Evans, the “Blackzilians” feature stellar kickboxer Tyrone Spong, Strikeforce lightweight, JZ Cavalcante, former UFC welterweight and middleweight Anthony Johnson and UFC middleweight Jorge Santiago.
The new move could provide a lot of things Guillard had been missing at Jackson’s MMA. Guillard seemed to be getting lost in the shuffle of a training center featuring dozens of stars, including UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones.
Guillard is coming off of a submission loss to Joe Lauzon back at UFC 136. Prior to that, he had strung together five wins in a row, dating back to 2009, where he lost to Nate Diaz by submission. In the five-fight streak, he dispatched Ronys Torres, Waylon Lowe, Jeremy Stephens, Evan Dunham, and Shane Roller. Three of the five wins in that streak were by knockout, all before the first round had come to an end.
Guillard has eight of his nine career losses by submission, so it stands to prove that the ground game is his weakness. Guillard has been choked out in some fashion, seven times, and frequently gives up his back in battles taking place on the mat.
In his clash with Lauzon at UFC 136, he came out aggressive, looking for the early knockout as he had done so many times in his career. Lauzon caught him coming in with a short left hook and Guillard, surprisingly welt sprawling to the floor. From there, Lauzon pounced on Guillard, and took his back in a matter of seconds, slapping on a rear-naked choke just 47 seconds into the bout.
After being the heavy favorite, and losing by yet another submission, Guillard’s title hopes were immediately derailed. Guillard had again shown that he couldn’t hang with a fighter with a good arsenal of submissions. Enter Jim Miller, a man who, before a loss to current title challenger Ben Henderson, was at the top of the title talks in the lightweight division. With 11 submission victories, this could prove another deadly matchup for Guillard.
Miller only has three losses on his record, all of which have come by decision. Another frightening fact for Guillard, Miller has only lost to the current UFC Lightweight Champion, the current lightweight number one contender, and the contender previous. Frank Edgar, Ben Henderson and Gray Maynard have been the only fighters to best him, and none of them have been able to finish him. It appears Guillard has a lot of work ahead of him.
Guillard has exceptional takedown defense at 65%, and has some decent takedowns of his own, but I’m sure Guillard will try and stay off the ground by any means necessary. His game plan will be similar to all of his fights, rush out and get the quick knockout and go home. Guillard has said in the past that he felt like Lauzon just got a lucky punch, and it doesn’t seem Guillard has taken much from the fight. Miller isn’t known as a guy who will immediately rely on his ground game, but it has been there countless times for him to pull off the win. If anyone has learned something from the Guillard-Lauzon fight it is Jim Miller. If he can use his decent striking to set up a takedown, or even score a knockdown as Lauzon did, he could submit Guillard with ease. In this one, Miller pulls off a submission in the second round to vault himself back into the title picture at 155.
Miller only has three losses on his record, all of which have come by decision. Another frightening fact for Guillard, Miller has only lost to the current UFC Lightweight Champion, the current lightweight number one contender, and the contender previous. Frank Edgar, Ben Henderson and Gray Maynard have been the only fighters to best him, and none of them have been able to finish him. It appears Guillard has a lot of work ahead of him.
Guillard has exceptional takedown defense at 65%, and has some decent takedowns of his own, but I’m sure Guillard will try and stay off the ground by any means necessary. His game plan will be similar to all of his fights, rush out and get the quick knockout and go home. Guillard has said in the past that he felt like Lauzon just got a lucky punch, and it doesn’t seem Guillard has taken much from the fight. Miller isn’t known as a guy who will immediately rely on his ground game, but it has been there countless times for him to pull off the win. If anyone has learned something from the Guillard-Lauzon fight it is Jim Miller. If he can use his decent striking to set up a takedown, or even score a knockdown as Lauzon did, he could submit Guillard with ease. In this one, Miller pulls off a submission in the second round to vault himself back into the title picture at 155.
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