Melvin Guillard Is Ready for Anyone

Surging lightweight discusses latest win and future opportunities

Five days after running through Shane Roller at UFC 132, Melvin Guillard is already back in the gym.

With back-to-back emphatic first round finishes and a five-fight winning streak, you couldn’t fault the 28-year-old if he decided to take a little down time to enjoy his victory. Though he’s certainly happy with his performance and pleased to put another tick in the win column, Guillard isn’t taking any real breaks.

“I’m back in Albuquerque for training, but today I’m going to go play some golf with Dr. Roberts, our chiropractor,” explained Guillard, speaking with HeavyMMA on Thursday afternoon. ” Other than that, I’m just hanging out. Sunday, I’m going to head down to Florida to see my agent, but after that, I’m going to get back up here and get back to work.”

His commitment to staying in the gym is further proof of Guillard’s maturation. Long viewed as a fighter with championship potential but lacking the focus to see it come to fruition, the once brash brawler is now being crafted into a complete fighter, one that is steadily making his way towards the top of the UFC lightweight division. It’s a journey that still catches Guillard off guard at times, but one that he’s very thankful to be on.

“Its great and its kind of surreal,” conceded Guillard of his climb up the ranks. “I know my potential, and I know what I can do in the cage. That’s being presented now because I have great coaches and a great team, and they push me. I have several different coaches and trainers for everything, and everybody comes together as one; I’m the finished product. It’s a humbling experience.”

Guillard is also spurred on by the chance to prove his past detractors and doubters wrong.

“I’m happy to shut a lot of critics up that didn’t believe in me; that’s my motivation. That’s my drive. People telling me I can’t make it or expecting me to fail, that’s my drive, and I think that’s another reason why I’m doing so well now. I want to prove everybody wrong, and I want to prove to everybody that I can be a champion at 155.”

The Louisiana native who now calls Oklahoma home continued presenting evidence in support of his case for a title shot last Saturday night when he made quick work of Roller. Guillard was never in any kind of trouble, controlling the fight throughout, and when the opportunity presented itself, Guillard left his opponent starring up at the lights.

A week earlier, Guillard said he was going to walk into the cage and knock Roller out, and that’s just what he did. It was the outcome he anticipated all along.

“As a fighter and being confident, you have to speak things into existence. I had no doubts in my mind that I could beat him. He was overmatched. He shouldn’t have even been in the ring with me, but I had to go in there and make a statement. My intentions with everybody is to go in there and knock them out. I don’t want to play around with anybody, and risk getting knocked out myself.”

If Guillard had his druthers, a meeting with Jim Miller would be next on the docket. He sees a victory over the man ear-marked as the next title challenger as his own opportunity to enter the championship fray, though Miller already has a dance partner lined up for the middle of August.

With Miller slated to face Ben Henderson at UFC on Versus 5 in Milwaukee, Guillard is — at least in part — taking the advice of Miller’s coach Mike Constantino, keeping himself prepared in case a replacement was needed for Miller’s opponent, Ben Henderson.

“I should be ready; it’s up to me to make sure I’m ready,” Guillard answered when asked if he would be prepared to fill in for Henderson if necessary. “That’s why I’m staying in camp, making sure that I keep on going, but don’t over-train. I don’t want to be burnt out; I want to just train consistently, but not too much.

“Whatever happens happens. I know that if the opportunity is presented to me, it’s going to be a blessing and I’m going to take it. It is what it is right now, man. It doesn’t matter who they put in front of me next. I want to fight the best guys, and I want to fight who they think will give me the best match-up.”

As Guillard continues to leave opponents asking officials, “What happened?” and adding wins to his resume, he inches closer and closer to his ultimate goal — the UFC lightweight title. Though he craves the chance to fight for the championship, Guillard plans on getting there on his own terms.

“I feel I deserve to be in [the title discussion], but I’m not one of those guys that’s going to press it, aggravate them and bother them. I’m going to sit back and let nature take its course.

“That’s one thing Dr. Ryan Tripp, my judo coach, is teaching me right now: being mentally patient and physically fierce. I take that and I run with it even outside of the cage. There’s no point in me sitting here and [continuing] to hound (the UFC) over a title shot. It will come.

“The reason I’d rather fight for it and earn is that some guys get title shots just because, then a lot of the fans and critics don’t think they deserve it. Some of them fall short. I want to fight my way to it so I can say I earned it, and all the people out there can say, `That kid earned it. He’s a true champion.'”

While he holds out hope for a meeting with Miller, Guillard isn’t opposed to facing anyone at this point. Whoever the UFC offers him, that’s who he’ll fight, even if it happens to be Dennis Siver.

The two previously met at UFC 88 in July 2008 where Guillard bombarded the German kickboxer, knocking him out in 36 seconds. Siver has amassed a 7-1 record in the Octagon since then, running neck-and-neck with Guillard in the rankings thanks to wins over George Sotiropoulos and Matt Wiman.

Though he sees the potential pitfalls of a second meeting with Siver, Guillard is all for it if that’s what the UFC or his fellow lightweight want for him next.

“If he wants to do it again, I’ll do it; it doesn’t matter to me. Where I’m sitting at and how I feel about me being the #1 fighter in the UFC at 155, I’ll fight anybody. If anybody wants a rematch, I’ll take the rematch; it doesn’t matter.

“The only problem with that is if I go out and I knock him out again, people are going to say, `Well damn, he did it the first time too,’ so then it doesn’t really mean anything. You know what I’m saying? A lot of the fans probably don’t want to see it because they feel like, `Well you already ran through this guy in like a minute or something. There’s no point.’

“If it happens again, back-to-back – which I’m confident it will – then people will be like, ‘It didn’t make sense to take that fight.’ That might cause a little confusion with the fans. Right now, I want to give the fans what they want.”

Guillard has been giving fans everything they want and more as of late, delivering highlight reel knockouts and working his way up the food chain amongst the most dangerous pack of animals in the UFC.

Whether it’s a rematch with Siver, his “golden ticket” fight with Miller or something completely different, Guillard’s keeping a very casual outlook on what the future holds.

“We just have to sit back and see what they’ve got in store for me next.”