Guillard: Some Fighters Are Being Babied

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Melvin Guillard delivered an impressive victory Jan. 22 over Evan Dunham, and he doesn’t understand why he wasn’t favored to win in the first place.

“What gave Evan Dunham the right to be ranked above me? I’m still not figuring that out myself,” Guillard said recently on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “That was just like Kenny Florian keeps losing fights and they keep throwing him right back in the mix. Everybody keeps thinking Kenny Florian’s one of the top guys, one of the top, elite guys in the UFC. I don’t know what the critics or what the media see as why guys should be ranked the way they are. It doesn’t add up to me.”

Guillard is also confused by the career paths some fighters are on.

“There is no easy fight in the UFC,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, but some guys are just being babied and catered to as if our weight class isn’t stacked the way you guys always say it [is]. Everybody’s saying, ‘Oh, the 155 class is so stacked,’ but yet we’re seeing the same people fighting for the same stuff. That to me is what makes it so weird. I don’t understand that.”

Guillard is 4-0 in the UFC since joining Greg Jackson’s camp in New Mexico. He’s not asking for a title shot, though. He said he’ll fight anyone, even an unranked opponent, to keep busy.

“When I destroyed Dunham the other night, I think I sent a statement to the UFC lightweight champion and all the contenders in my weight class,” Guillard said. “I think everybody knows how serious I am right now.”

Guillard credited his camp for the victory over Dunham. In addition to strong takedown defense, he showed poise when he did hit the ground.

“I wasn’t afraid to hit the mat,” Guillard said. “If you guys saw the fight, if you looked at my face, I was calm. When I hit the mat, I was OK. I wasn’t worried about his submission game. Like I tell everybody, I work with world-class guys in my gym that have great jiu-jitsu, that’s better than Evan Dunham on the ground. … The old me probably would have panicked, but I just approached it as it came. I was able to get up [when] I was ready.”

Back on the feet, Guillard stuffed Dunham’s additional takedown attempts and punished him with strikes.

“It was just some combinations and angles me and coach [Mike Winkeljohn] were working that we figured coming into this fight we’d be able to pick up,” Guillard said. “I just stuck to my game plan. Just stuck to the combos that I work fighting a southpaw. I love fighting southpaws. It’s something I’ve always loved doing. I think southpaws are easier for me to get off on and just be able to counter. Other than that, it was a little bit of a case study too, a little bit of everything.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 49:35) with Guillard, who discussed his grandfather’s influence, Greg Jackson and hurting people.