Since the very beginning of Melvin Guillard’s run in the world of mixed martial arts—which began nearly 15 years ago—the man they call “The Young Assassin” has had one constant goal in the sport.
“My intentions were to be a world champion—a UFC champion—from the very beginning,” Guillard, 28, recently told Bleacher Report. “Ever since I first saw the UFC, I’ve wanted to be a UFC champion.”
After a year of amateur wrestling, Guillard, who was born in Louisiana, first tried his hand at mixed martial arts at 14.
“I used to have all of the old UFCs on VHS, but I lost them in Katrina,” Guillard explained. “I was always into fighting. My mom couldn’t afford to put me in karate or tae kwon do and when I started wrestling, it was free. My wrestling coach in high school was fighting MMA at the time and he got me into it. I just fell in love with it, man.”
A professional in the sport since the tender age of 16—he routinely fought opponents twice his age in his early days; Guillard, who also competed in boxing and kickboxing, notched victories over Joe Jordan, Diego Saraiva and Kyle Bradley before appearing on The Ultimate Fighter in 2005.
Since leaving the TUF house, Guillard has won 11 of 16 matches in the Octagon—including victories over Marcus Davis, Dennis Siver, Gleison Tibau, Jeremy Stephens and Evan Dunham—and is regarded by most as one of the world’s top lightweight contenders.
In Guillard’s most recent match—likely the closest he has thus far gotten to a title-shot in the UFC—the explosive lightweight was submitted by Joe Lauzon at UFC 136.
Despite his most recent outing, Guillard is, perhaps not surprisingly, still on a mission to one day claim UFC gold.
“I know in my heart that I’m going to be the champion soon, I just have to put in the work,” Guillard said.
“I’m a person that cares about life, and right now, that belt determines where my life is going to go from this point on…Becoming a world champion is the ultimate goal—that’s why we do this.”
Although his aspirations in mixed martial arts have stayed the same, Guillard, who has been a mainstay in the UFC since 2005, is quick to insist that he has consistently been evolving outside the sport throughout the course of his career.
“I’ve matured over the years, of course,” Guillard, who is married with pair of canine companions, explained. “That comes with age. Of course you’re going to mature and start settling down and start thinking things through before you go out and always act crazy. That comes with maturity—that has nothing to do with fighting.”
“I was a kid when I first got in the UFC, now I’m a grown man. Of course, if you’re a kid, you’ve got to grow with the sport and you go through your ups and downs. As a man, you’re going to go through your ups and downs, too, but when I started, I was literally a 14-year-old kid—now I’m a 28-year-old man. That’s years of maturity, mistakes and ups and downs. I’ve really matured a lot.”
Although Guillard doesn’t attribute his maturation to mixed martial arts, he can’t help but reflect “every day” on how important the sport has been in his life.
“Without this sport, I don’t know where I would’ve ended up or what I would’ve been in to,” Guillard admitted.
“I could’ve possibly been selling drugs or something like that, because that’s the kind of stuff that was going on when I was a kid. As much as my parents kept me away from it, I was still around it. I had friends that did it—I never did—but I had friends that were into it. Had I not been a fighter and had my mind set on wanting something out of my life, I could’ve probably ended up like one of those guys that are in and out of jail or in prison for a long time.”
As for the nickname—much like his aspirations to one day hold a UFC championship—Guillard has no intentions of changing that any time soon, either.
“I’ll be 50 years old—like Herschel Walker—and I’ll still be ‘The Young Assassin,’” Guillard, who is to return to action against Jim Miller at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller on January 20th, said with a laugh.
“It’s not about your age, man; it’s how you feel. I know some guys that are younger than me right now and they get out of bed every morning and they’re hurting like they’ve been in a tragic car accident. It’s all about how you feel when you wake up in the morning and I feel great.”
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