Melvin Guillard has made quite an impression on UFC brass having won his last five fights, including a ferocious knockout of Shane Roller in the first round of their fight at UFC 132. All of this has led some to wonder whether he is in line to face the winner of the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard fight.
You can make a compelling argument for him, and on the list of best 155-pound fighters it doesn’t take long before you get to his name. In fact if you ask Guillard, he will tell you that he is the best 155-pound fighter in the world right now.
“I am the best 155-pounder,” Guillard said in an interview with MMAjunkie.com. “I’m a finisher. No disrespect to Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard, but they proved it in the last fight when they fought each other. Gray had him on his heels and didn’t finish. I’m a finisher. I go in for the kill. I smell blood.”
If you believe that finishing people is a prerequisite to determining who is the best fighter, you could make a legitimate case for Guillard as the best in the division.
Edgar and Maynard have no power to speak of and aren’t exactly killing it in the submission category, either. Jim Miller has a lot of submission wins in his career, but has only three in 10 UFC fights. He isn’t a knockout artist by any means. Ben Henderson, Anthony Pettis and Clay Guida are exciting to watch and could make a case as being right up there with Guillard in the finisher category.
But as far as guys with true knockout power, there is no one in the division that can touch him. He has seven knockouts in his UFC career, including three in his last four fights. He is as fast as anyone and can make good fighters, like a Shane Roller, look completely inept in the cage.
Edgar is still the class of the division until someone beats him, but Guillard is rapidly approaching in the rear-view mirror.