Fresh off a win over Mac Danzig at UFC on Fox 8 in July, Melvin Guillard will get back in action when he travels to England to take on former Ultimate Fighter winner Ross Pearson in the co-main event for the upcoming UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 26.
The new fight was announced on UFC Tonight on Tuesday night.
Following back-to-back losses as well as losing four out of his last five fights, Guillard finally got back on track with his last fight in Seattle.
The former Blackzilian fighter exited the camp earlier this year to find a new home, and he found it at the Grudge Training Center in Colorado, where he worked under the watchful eye of head coach Trevor Wittman.
The results showed in his performance, as Guillard fought a controlled, tactical fight countering Danzig’s every move until finally unloading a huge punch in the second round that sent his opponent crashing to the floor. Guillard followed with a few more strikes, but the fight was already finished; he walked away victorious and picked up a Knockout of the Night award for his efforts.
Guillard will likely find another standup fight awaiting him when he travels to Manchester, England for his next bout. There he faces a lightweight banger in his home country.
Ross Pearson will return home to England for a fight for the first time in nearly four years when he faces Guillard in the co-main event of the evening. A native of Sunderland, England, Pearson spent his formative years in MMA fighting in his home country before making it to the UFC by way of winning The Ultimate Fighter.
Spending most of his career at lightweight, Pearson briefly dabbled in the featherweight division before returning to 155 pounds, and the results have been much better. Pearson knocked out former Ultimate Fighter coach George Sotiropoulos with strikes in 2012 before doing the same to Strikeforce transfer Ryan Couture in his lone fight thus far in 2013.
Pearson is a fearsome striker with heavy hands, which mimics the skill set of Guillard, so it’s likely these two fighters will look to put on quite a show for the crowd in England.
The upcoming UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 26 has not been named or given an event number yet, but it will be headlined by England’s own Michael Bisping facing Mark Munoz. The card is expected to air on the new Fox Sports 2 channel (previously Fuel TV).
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.
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