The “Young Assassin” Melvin Guillard is back in action tonight, taking on Ross Pearson in Manchester, England at UFC on Fox Sports 2: Machida vs Munoz. The scheduled Lightweight bout is the Co-Main event of the card, which is headlined by Lyoto Machida’s Middleweight debut against Mark Munoz.
MMALockup had the opportunity to speak with Melvin Guillard earlier this week as he prepared for this high profile fight. “I feel good man. I’m just relaxed, enjoying a paid vacation over here in England. I’ve been doing this for 17 years so I’m just used to it.”
Guillard has been in and out of the win column sporadically over the last two years. In October of 2011 he was riding the best win streak of his career before suffering back to back submission losses, to Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller, respectively. Since then, Guillard has adamantly vowed to become a more patient fighter. The results of his commitment are noticeable, as evidenced in his most recent fight, a TKO stoppage of Ultimate Fighter winner Mac Danzig.
“You always want to evolve and get better. Being patient has opened my eyes to catching a lot more knockouts, rather than getting in there and going wild, catching a luck shot here and there”.
Guillard’s biggest setback has undoubtedly always been his submission defense, as 9 of his 12 career losses have all come by way of submission. When asked by MMALockup if his submission game has improved, he said “I think all of my game has improved. I get better each time I step in there.”
Fighting Ross Pearson in his home country is a tall order, especially considering his last two victories came via TKO. But Melvin is not at all concerned. “I’m not an easy fight for him. If anything, I think there’s more pressure on him, trying to figure out how he’s going to beat me.”
The two fighters match up extremely well on paper, and they are both no stranger knockout victories. Melvin has the edge in that department, but of course Ross has quite a wave of momentum and a frenzied British crowd behind him. This is without a doubt one the best stylistic matchups to look forward to on tonight’s card.
For full audio of the Melvin Guillard interview with MMALockup, click here.
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Source:
http://www.mmalockup.com/2013/10/26/melvin-guillard-feels-better-than-ever/