The people’s main event bout between Melvin Guillard and Justin Gaethje has now elevated itself to the most anticipated fight of the entire weekend after an explosive verbal exchange during Thursday’s WSOF 15 media conference call.
Guillard…
The people’s main event bout between Melvin Guillard and Justin Gaethje has now elevated itself to the most anticipated fight of the entire weekend after an explosive verbal exchange during Thursday’s WSOF 15 media conference call.
Guillard, who was released by the UFC in March, told Bleacher Report on Tuesday that he felt like an “A-list fighter fighting in the B leagues.” When given an opportunity to respond to Guillard’s comments, Gaethje agreed that Guillard was in a different league.
But it isn’t the same league Guillard thinks.
“Melvin’s got the resume that I want,” Gaethje said during the conference call. “He’s at the top of my list of the best person that I’ve fought. I’m certainly looking to injure Melvin. I’m not trying to just beat Melvin, I’m going to knock him out. I’m not going to let him have this fight easy, no matter what, and he’s going to know that he’s in a different league. He’s definitely in a different league than me, and it’s nowhere near my level. He knows that.”
Guillard is without a doubt the most seasoned opponent Gaethje has ever faced in his undefeated career.
The Young Assassin has spent the last nine years competing against the best fighters in the world under the UFC banner. Despite never actually contending for a UFC title, Guillard’s name was always in the conversation as one of the promotion’s perennial contenders.
He was finally released from his contract in March after losing a lackluster decision to Michael Johnson. From purely an organizational perspective, Guillard sees the WSOF as a top-tier promotion. He just doesn’t share the same kind of optimism when it comes to the promotion’s fight roster.
Gaethje boasts an undefeated record, but Guillard’s confidence stems from the fact that the reigning lightweight champ hasn’t faced anywhere near the same level of opposition as him.
“I got well over 200 fights. Justin Gaethje is 15-0. I still remember when I was 22-0, and I was 18 at the time. Records don’t mean [expletive],” Guillard said.
“What means anything is when we get in that cage on Saturday night, who’s going to want it? He can sit there and say I ain’t on his level. He can sit there and say all of that bulls–t that he knows that ain’t true, and [WSOF Vice President] Ali [Abdel-Aziz] and them know that it ain’t true either. I’m a m———–g warrior, and I’m going to take what’s mine on Saturday, and they going to look up and say, ‘Who’s next?’”
Just as Guillard paused to take a breath, Gaethje quickly added, “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t know.”
This brief iteration propelled a landslide of back and forth comments between the former teammates at Denver’s Grudge Training Center.
“If you had something personal to say to me, you could have came to me and talked to me like a man, but now you want to do it like this,” said Guillard.
Gaethje snapped back, “Take your ego out the door, bring your heart and f——g let’s go. It’s easy.”
Never one to back down from a challenge, Guillard matched Gaethje in trash talk by assuring that things would be different in an actual fight as opposed to a training session.
“You’re a great fighter. Training and fighting are two different things, homie,” said Guillard.
Despite Guillard’s compliment, Gaethjecouldn’t shake being referred to as a B-level fighter. He said, “You already said I’m a B league fighter. Come see me. We’ll see on Saturday.”
The initial assumption would be that Gaethje has more to lose as a champion heading into a world title fight. This would be true in most cases. Gaethje is the man currently at the top of the WSOF lightweight heap, and Guillard is standing in line like every other contender looking to win a world title.
However, there is an issue of name recognition that trumps the usual instance of a champion being at the forefront of an event. Fighting in the UFC has turned Guillard into an MMA star, a familiar face to casual fans.
Gaethje has yet to achieve anywhere near that same level of notoriety.
What Guillard offers Gaethje far outweighs the gold strap wrapped around his waist. Gaethje is fighting for recognition in an MMA world obsessed with the UFC.
But Guillardisn’t just handing over the golden ticket to superstardom. Gaethje will have to come and take it.
“I’m the one who has everything to lose,” Guillard stated. “When you walk around town and everybody ask me what organization you’re fighting on the 15, I say, ‘World Series.’ People are still mistaking me for a UFC fighter, and I say, ‘No I’m not in the UFC. I’m fighting for the World Series lightweight title.’ The next question out their mouth is, ‘Well, who you fighting?’ I’m fighting Justin Gaethje. The next question is, ‘Who the f–k is that?’
“He’s the lightweight champion of a f—–g league, and nobody knows who he is. The problem is they using me like I’m going to be a stepping stone for his fame to give him record so people can know who he is. I got to say he’s sadly mistaken if he thinks he’s going to build his reputation off of beating Melvin Guillard on Saturday night.”
A win on Saturday night might be all Gaethje needs to break into the mainstream spotlight, which is why he’s gunning for a violent finish.
“I’ll be getting paid to put you to sleep, Melvin,” said Gaethje.
Guillard responded, “You’re a champ with no m———–g existence, nobody knows who you are. They’ll know who you are on Saturday. You’ll fall, then I’m going to be the champ, then everybody is going to know Melvin Guillard is the World Series of Fighting lightweight champ.”
WSOF 15 will air live on Saturday night on NBC Sports. The fight card is headlined by a middleweight title fight between David Branch and former UFC title contender YushinOkami.
Top women’s strawweight Jessica Aguilar will also be in action defending her 115-pound throne against KalindraFaria.
All quotes were obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise. JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
It could be wrong place, wrong time for World Series of Fighting lightweight champ Justin Gaethje, who finds himself in the cross hairs of a motivated Melvin Guillard.
The former UFC contender will vie for his first-ever major MMA title on Saturday nig…
It could be wrong place, wrong time for World Series of Fighting lightweight champ Justin Gaethje, who finds himself in the cross hairs of a motivated Melvin Guillard.
The former UFC contender will vie for his first-ever major MMA title on Saturday night in the co-main event of WSOF 15. Standing across the cage from him will be Gaethje, an undefeated lightweight eager to add a major feather to his cap.
The WSOF lightweight champ understands the stakes, and he isn’t pulling any punches in the pre-fight buildup. When speaking with Mick Hammond of MMAWeekly.com, Gaethje boldly claimed that he was “more athletic” and a harder puncher than Guillard. His sole intention on Saturday night is to make the UFC vet “look really bad.”
Guillard, who is coming off a second-round TKO win over GesiasCavalcante, seemed on edge when asked to respond to Gaethje‘s boisterous claims:
“He’s more athletic than me? Man, Gaethje is crazy,” Guillard told Bleacher Report. “He better quit smoking all that weed up there in Denver. He’s out of his damn mind if he thinks that. He’s a better athlete, and he hits harder than me? OK, we’ll see. We’ll see.
“Everybody’s got something to say, but at the same time, he’s got to say something to psych himself up, to get himself that motivation to step in there because he’s got no choice. He’s gotta fight me. He’s the champ, he’s gotta fight the best. They bring in the best guy in the organization right now to fight him, and he will not walk out of there with that belt that night.”
The spotlight is at its brightest for Gaethje, but for Guillard, it’s just another day at the office.
The hardened veteran spent nine years competing against the best in world in the UFC before being released from his contract in March. Consistency has been the biggest issue for Guillard in recent years.
He hasn’t won consecutive fights in over three years, but an entertaining personality and exciting fighting style kept him afloat in the UFC. The promotion finally decided to cut ties with The Ultimate Fighter 2 alum after seeing him turn in a lackluster performance against Michael Johnson at UFC Fight Night 37.
Guillard admits that he was surprised by the UFC’s decision to release him, especially after all of the years of exciting fights he put on for the promotion. He likens the MMA mecca as a once-sanctified fraternity turned into a money-making machine.
The UFC’s worldwide expansion module calls for more shows and more fights. Instead of putting on the best fights possible, Guillard sees the UFC and other promotions adopting a quantity-over-quality approach.
“A lot of guys are getting put in the organization with 2-1 records, 5-1 records,” Guillard said. “I remember back in 2005, when I first stepped into the UFC, you had to have at least 10 wins and maybe one or two losses, if that. Now, it’s like they’re just letting any and everybody become MMA fighters. …
“Hell, yeah, I was shocked (about being cut from the UFC). I was shocked, I was surprised. After the performance with Michael Johnson, what everybody doesn’t understand is that I had two dislocated ribs. I got them in the first round, and I fought through it. He didn’t finish me. Yeah, it was a boring fight, but I didn’t think I was going to get cut because of it.
“Technically speaking, I wasn’t even supposed to be fighting Michael Johnson. I was supposed to be rematching with Ross Pearson, so I feel like Ross Pearson even got away on it. Now, he’s fighting those scrubs with the UFC, and he just got knocked out I heard. You cut one good guy to keep three guys that are alright?”
While being snubbed by the UFC certainly stings, Guillard isn’t crying over spilled milk. He even admitted that things were starting to get a bit “stale.” The silver lining in his WSOF venture is an opportunity to start fresh.
Of course, this fresh start will come among several hungry, young lions looking for a chance to legitimize their resumes with wins over UFC-caliber opposition.
Deep down, Guillard sees himself as an “A-list fighter competing in the B leagues.” Any WSOF lightweights looking for a stepping stone to the big show should probably look elsewhere, according to Guillard.
“Things got a little stale, I was ready for something new, and World Series came in and gave me an offer that I couldn’t resist. … I was with the UFC for nine-and-a-half years,” Guillard said. “Everybody that’s in World Series is trying to go where I’ve been. I’ve already been there. I’ve already done that. I’m already a famous fighter that’s known as a UFC fighter.
“These guys are trying to do what I’ve already done, so if they think they’re going to use me as a stepping stone to get to the UFC, they’re going to be sadly mistaken. I am an A-list fighter fighting in the B leagues.”
WSOF 15 takes place live on Saturday at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. The card also features a middleweight title fight between David Branch and YushinOkami as well as a women’s strawweight title bout between Jessica Aguilar and KalindraFaria.
All quotes were obtained fisthand unless noted otherwise. JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
Forget Ortiz vs. Bonnar. Forget Werdum vs. Hunt (lol jk). Justin Gaethje vs. Melvin Guillard is going down at WSOF 15 this weekend with the lightweight championship on the line and promises to be the most knock-down, drag-out, didyouseethatbro barnburner of them all. Both fighters have become well known for their relentless aggression and knockout power, and both have promised to put a serious hurtin’ on the other, so what else do you need to get excited for this fight, you buncha nerds?
“How about a few of their recent fight videos accompanied by some base-level insight and a noncommittal prediction, Danga?”
Well, YOU FUCKIN’ GOT IT. Here…we…GO!
The Challenger
(Sorry for the quality, but the original got pulled. GEE I WONDER WHY.)
Look, you already know who Melvin Guillard is, how he fights, which one-hit wonder he fashioned his look after, etc. Gaethje vs. Guillard is one of those rare matchups where the challenger is actually more of a household name than the champion — like Weidman vs. Belfort or Martinez vs. Zimmer. This fact has not been lost on Guillard, who recently told MMAMania that he is “an A-list fighter, fighting in the B-league” and that Gaethje is “nowhere near his level.”
While it’s evident that humility (and submission defense) cannot be found among Guillard’s many great qualities, a few things that *can* be found among them are a lightning fast jab, a murderous left hook, and at the risk of sounding racist, explosive athleticism. Simply put, when Guillard is having an on night, it’s his ability to get off first that usually leads him to victory. He may be in perpetual search of the highlight reel KO, but Guillard is also a tactician when it comes to how he mixes up his combinations with body shots and leg kicks. Guillard also has great head movement and takedown defense, and it’s his confidence in said takedown defense that allows him to throw from the clinch with reckless abandon, where he has overwhelmed many a fighter with the pure volume of strikes he is willing to throw.
After the jump: Watch Justin Gaethje KTFO some dudes.
(Photo via World Series of Fighting.)
Forget Ortiz vs. Bonnar. Forget Werdum vs. Hunt (lol jk). Justin Gaethje vs. Melvin Guillard is going down at WSOF 15 this weekend with the lightweight championship on the line and promises to be the most knock-down, drag-out, didyouseethatbro barnburner of them all. Both fighters have become well known for their relentless aggression and knockout power, and both have promised to put a serious hurtin’ on the other, so what else do you need to get excited for this fight, you buncha nerds?
“How about a few of their recent fight videos accompanied by some base-level insight and a noncommittal prediction, Danga?”
Well, YOU FUCKIN’ GOT IT. Here…we…GO!
The Challenger
(Sorry for the quality, but the original got pulled. GEE I WONDER WHY.)
Look, you already know who Melvin Guillard is, how he fights, which one-hit wonder he fashioned his look after, etc. Gaethje vs. Guillard is one of those rare matchups where the challenger is actually more of a household name than the champion — like Weidman vs. Belfort or Martinez vs. Zimmer. This fact has not been lost on Guillard, who recently told MMAMania that he is “an A-list fighter, fighting in the B-league” and that Gaethje is “nowhere near his level.”
While it’s evident that humility (and submission defense) cannot be found among Guillard’s many great qualities, a few things that *can* be found among them are a lightning fast jab, a murderous left hook, and at the risk of sounding racist, explosive athleticism. Simply put, when Guillard is having an on night, it’s his ability to get off first that usually leads him to victory. He may be in perpetual search of the highlight reel KO, but Guillard is also a tactician when it comes to how he mixes up his combinations with body shots and leg kicks. Guillard also has great head movement and takedown defense, and it’s his confidence in said takedown defense that allows him to throw from the clinch with reckless abandon, where he has overwhelmed many a fighter with the pure volume of strikes he is willing to throw.
Finally, let’s talk about Melvin’s ground-n-pound for a second. Melvin Guillard packs some of the most furious, ill-intentioned hammerfists in the game — see his absolutely brutal KO of Mac Danzig at UFC on FOX 8 above. Remember those punches Ryan Shultz finished Chris Horodecki with in the 2007 IFL World Grand Prix finals? Guillard throws *everything* like that. Simply put, there’s a few reasons why Guillard holds a UFC record 8 finishes by KO/TKO, and chief among them is his aggression when he has you hurt.
His most recent win over Gesias Cavalcante in his WSOF debut was a classic example of this. The evidence of his move to America Top Team was heard in every thudding kick to the body he landed that night, and while the final sequence of the fight resulted in what many would call an early stoppage, there was no denying that Guillard was eating Cavalcante alive that night.
Still, it’s inconsistency that has plagued “The Young Assassin’s” career, and the reason he finds himself fighting in the so-called “B-League” today. There is perhaps no fighter in MMA that looks greater in victory and worse in defeat than Guillard, who went 2-5 1 NC in his last 8 UFC appearances. When it’s not simple overconfidence has led to his undoing (see his fight with Joe Lauzon), it’s usually some other mental deficiency that has. His final UFC fight against Michael Johnson saw Guillard uncharacteristically tentative and unwilling to engage as the fight progressed, resulting in perhaps one of the most underwhelming performances of his career. Likewise, his losses to Cowboy Cerrone and Jim Miller came following split-second mental errors.
With nearly 50 professional bouts to his credit at just 31 years of age, Guillard brings an almost unprecedented amount of experience into his title fight at WSOF 11. But then, it’s never really been Guillard’s lack of know-how that’s cost him a fight, but rather his inability to apply what he’s learned to the fight itself. Let’s hope his time with ATT has curbed some, but not all, of his brawlerish tendencies.
The Champ
At 12-0, Justin Gaethje is already being heralded by some as “the best lightweight in the world.” Despite this, he is apparently not significant enough a fighter to warrant a Wikipedia page (one in English, anyway).
But it’s styles that make fights, not Wikipedia pages, and Justin Gaethje possesses a style that can be best described as “Melvin Guillard-esque.”
With 10 KO/TKO finishes in those 12 contests including 5 in the first round, Gaethje is a straight up assassin, whose wrestling background allows him to not only dictate where the fight goes, but when and how it goes there. (Spoiler: It usually stays in the feet and ends with a fury of uppercuts). He’s been rightfully compared to an early Chuck Liddell in his ability to stop the takedown and punish anyone who dares attempt one on the way out, and like Guillard, Gaethje is perhaps most dangerous from the clinch.
Just check out the manner in which he dispatched Richard Patishnock at WSOF 8 to win the lightweight title, if you don’t believe me. Gaethje only fights at one speed, and although his aggressiveness often leaves him open for the counter (sound familiar?), it is his solid chin and dynamic striking arsenal that leaves him the last man standing.
That, and his speed.
At 25 years old, Gaethje may very well be the first guy Guillard has faced that might actually be faster than him. Notice how Gaethje is able to bait Patishnock with the threat of the knee (3:15 in the video above ), then land both that knee and a follow-up right hook before Patishnock can even scramble to his feet. From there, Gaethje keeps Patinshock perpetually off-balance with a beautiful series of uppercuts followed by standing elbows until the ref is forced to step in.
Gaethje’s previous fight against Dan Lauzon was no different. The Arizona native rocked Lauzon early and often with body shots, knees, and even a spinning elbow in tight quarters while bringing Lauzon’s momentum to a complete stop with leg kicks from distance. But perhaps most impressive was the final sequence of the fight, wherein Gaethje was able to both drop Lauzon with a right hook and finish him off with a right uppercut while Lauzon was falling to the mat. If it’s Gaethje’s speed isn’t impressive enough, his accuracy sure as Hell is.
Noncommittal prediction: Believe it or not, my stance on how this fight goes is eerily similar to Gaethje’s prediction, which was that ”[Guillard’s] either going to get really lucky and knock me out or I’m going to beat the (expletive) out of him and make him look really bad.” If Gaethje overcommits on a punch early and leaves his chin exposed, Guillard will put him away. Guillard can put anyone away. That said, I don’t see it happening against someone of Gaethje’s caliber. The WSOF champ will retain his title by outworking Guillard on the feet, mixing up the occasional takedown, and cutting the UFC vets legs out from beneath him with leg kicks en route to a second round TKO. Thoughts?
Is it too dramatic to say that on Saturday Melvin Guillard and Justin Gaethje will battle over World Series of Fighting’s very soul?
Yeah, OK, that’s probably a little bit over the top.
Still, when Gaethje defends his lightweight title aga…
Is it too dramatic to say that on Saturday Melvin Guillard and Justin Gaethje will battle over World Series of Fighting’s very soul?
Yeah, OK, that’s probably a little bit over the top.
Still, when Gaethje defends his lightweight title against the longtime UFC veteran this weekend—on a night when America’s three largest MMA promotions all simultaneously vie for our affections—the stakes will seem fairly high.
If Gaethje wins, it’ll constitute a nice feather in the cap of WSOF’s highest-profile champion. As arguably the mid-major company’s only real homegrown star, it’ll advance his undefeated professional record to 13-0 and provide further justification of the flattering things people are already writing about him.
Easy to see how WSOF benefits from that outcome. One of the best things the organization and Gaethje have going for them is that right now he’s a completely unknown product. Just like Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler in Bellator a few years ago, we have no reliable way to suss out how good he might really be, and so as long as he keeps winning we’re all content to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Who knows, maybe the 27-year-old phenom from Grudge Training Center really is one of the best 155-pounders in the world.
That ambiguity keeps Gaethje’s career interesting and alive with possibility. We want to see what happens next with him, and that gives WSOF a foothold in MMA’s most compelling weight class. If he defeats The Young Assassin, promoters can hold up Gaethje as an elite talent who would likely hold his own, even in the shark tank of UFC competition.
Meanwhile, a victory by Guillardwouldn’t be a disaster but would come with clear drawbacks.
On the positive end, it would give WSOF a champion at 155 pounds who is recognizable to most MMA fans. In that regard, Guillard would fit in nicely alongside current welterweight champ RousimarPalhares and whoever emerges from David Branch’s fight against YushinOkami with the middleweight strap on Saturday.
Yet a Guillard win would also further the perception that WSOF is merely surviving on the UFC’s scraps. He made his home almost exclusively in the Octagon from 2005-14, appearing in some 22 fights there before a 2-5-1 slump doomed him to the chopping block. He’d join other UFC washouts like Jon Fitch and Jake Shields in making WSOF look less like viable alternative programming and more like a slightly more generic version of the UFC.
In addition, it’s not like Guillard appears particularly dedicated to making WSOF his home. In fact, he hasn’t had many nice things to say about anyone of late.
The former contestant from season two of The Ultimate Fighter has decried the UFC’s overstuffed live event schedule and expanding roster, which he—correctly—notes have both undermined what it means to be a UFC fighter. In conversation with MMAMania’s Alex Schlinsky this month, Guillard even lumped members of his own fight team in alongside those he appears to believe don’t really deserve to be in the big show.
Every time you turn around there is a different guy in the UFC,” Guillard said. “I train at American Top Team in Coconut Creek and there are a bunch of guys right now that are on my team, and some of them I know and some I don’t, but every time I ask them when is your next fight, they say ‘Oh, the next UFC card’ and I say ‘Really? Okay.’ But you look at these guys and you’ve never even heard of them before making it to the UFC. It is getting a little weird man.
That would be a pretty good talking point for Guillard and for WSOF, too, were he not also occasionally saying less-than-complementary things about his new workplace.
“I’m an A list fighter, fighting in the B league,” he told Schlinsky of his impending bout against Gaethje.
So at least we know his confidence hasn’t been affected.
Still, that doesn’t exactly make Guillard sound like the guy you want as your champion.
Better to stick with Gaethje, who has the potential to take you farther and—hopefully—more he’s willing to give.
With some of the promotion’s most crowd-pleasing stars returning to action in the near future, the UFC has released a bunch of classic fights to hype up their appearances.
First up: Donald Cerrone‘s comeback knockout of Melvin Guillard at UFC 150 in August 2012, in which Cowboy gets battered around the cage for a minute before stunning Guillard with a head-kick and finishing the job with a right cross. The 76-second performance earned Cerrone an extra $120,000 in Fight of the Night/Knockout of the Night bonuses. He returns to the cage this Wednesday against Jim Miller at UFC Fight Night 45 in Atlantic City. Set your DVRs, folks.
With some of the promotion’s most crowd-pleasing stars returning to action in the near future, the UFC has released a bunch of classic fights to hype up their appearances.
First up: Donald Cerrone‘s comeback knockout of Melvin Guillard at UFC 150 in August 2012, in which Cowboy gets battered around the cage for a minute before stunning Guillard with a head-kick and finishing the job with a right cross. The 76-second performance earned Cerrone an extra $120,000 in Fight of the Night/Knockout of the Night bonuses. He returns to the cage this Wednesday against Jim Miller at UFC Fight Night 45 in Atlantic City. Set your DVRs, folks.
In honor of Conor McGregor‘s long-awaited return to the Octagon this Saturday in Dublin against Diego Brandao, here’s his UFC debut last April, in which he smoked Marcus Brimage in just over a minute.
The people’s main event bout between 