Melvin Guillard

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 The Ultimate Fighter
4 UFC Career
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External links

Profile

Melvin "The Young Assassin" Guillard (born March 30, 1983) is an American professional mixed martial artist training out of Team Punishment.

He stands 5 ft. 9 in. (175 cm) tall and fights in the lightweight division (155 lbs.).

Guillard was a welterweight contestant on The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 and currently fights as a lightweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Melvin Guillard made his professional mixed martial arts debut on November 16, 2002 at Battle of New Orleans 1, winning via unanimous decision over Calvin Martin.

By April 26, 2003, he had fought five more times for BONO and once for the Freestyle Fighting Championships (FFC), winning all, including a decision win over future UFC competitor, Joe Jordan.

Guillard improved his record to 10-0 by August with three more victories, all via TKO or submission. Included in these three wins was a submission win over another future UFC competitor, Kyle Bradley.

At FFC 7 in December of 2003, Guillard suffered his first professional defeat as he was submitted by Carlo Prater in the first round.

He dropped his next bout as well, losing via unanimous decision to Jake Short at another FFC event.

Guillard rebounded from the losses with a TKO win in a rematch with Kyle Bradley in May of 2004. He went on to fight six more times in 2004, going 2-2-2 which included a draw with UFC veteran, LaVerne Clark.

Melvin kicked off 2005 with a split decision win over future TUF 5 contestant, Rob Emerson. Just two weeks later, Guillard entered a one night, 8-man tournament held by the FFC promotion. Guillard flew through the opening two rounds, winning via TKO in each fight. In the final he faced future UFC competitor, Roger Huerta. In a close bout, Guillard prevailed via unanimous decision to originally take the tournament. However, after the bout Huerta accused Guillard of greasing in between rounds. The athletic commission upheld the accusation and changed the bout to a "No Contest".

The Ultimate Fighter

Shortly after the no decision with Huerta, Guillard was picked up as a welterweight contestant for The Ultimate Fighter Season 2.

Guillard was selected as a member of Rich Franklin's team and was picked to fight first against Team Matt Hughes' Josh Burkman on episode 2. The fight went the full three rounds with Burkman winning via unanimous decision to eliminate Guillard from the competition.

At The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale, Guillard was called up to face fellow Team Franklin member on the show, Marcus Davis. Guillard stopped Davis on cuts midway through the second round.

UFC Career

Guillard had his first post-TUF fight just over two months later when he faced Josh Neer at UFC Fight Night 3. He was battering Neer early and managed to open a nasty gash on Neer's head, but as the round wore on he got sloppy and was caught in a triangle choke and was forced to submit with 40 seconds left in the round.

Four months later, Guillard dropped down to the lightweight division and got back in the win column when he viciously knocked out Rick Davis at UFC 60.

He followed that victory up with a second round knockout via body punch of former WEC lightweight champion, Gabe Ruediger at UFC 63.

In early 2007 it was announced that Guillard would headline UFC Fight Night 9 against TUF 2 welterweight winner, Joe Stevenson. Prior to the bout, Guillard accused Stevenson of being on Human Growth Hormone, a claim he had no evidence to back up. The fight was an embarrassing affair as Guillard was dropped with a Stevenson jab before being submitted with a guillotine choke at just 27 seconds of round 1. To add to the embarrassment, Guillard tested positive for cocaine after the bout and was suspended for eight months and fined $2,100.

In his first fight back after the suspension, Guillard faced Rich Clementi in a grudge match many years in the making at UFC 79. The two shared heated words before the fight and the fight inside the cage was no different. Guillard swung wildly while Clementi used a much smarter attack in trying to take Guillard to the mat. Just over four minutes in, Clementi seized Guillard's back and made him tap with a rear naked choke. As Clementi got up he mocked Guillard by, as Guillard put it, "put his nuts on my head". Guillard tried to retaliate but was motioned away by in-ring staff.

Guillard returned to the smaller shows for a fight in order to get his confidence back after the loss. He defeated Eric Regan via unanimous decision at a Rage in the Cage event to earn a call back to the UFC.

At UFC 86, Guillard returned to action against German, Dennis Siver on the show's undercard. He earned "Knockout of the Night" honors as he demolished Siver with punches at just 36 seconds of round 1.

Guillard's next fight was set to be against Spencer Fisher at UFC 90 but he had to pull out of the fight for reasons unclear. He will instead have his next fight at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale when he faces tough Brazilian, Thiago Tavares.