With almost 10 years spent competing in the world’s premier MMA organisation; lightweight contender Melvin Guillard (31-12-2, 2NC) has been released by the UFC.
According to manager Malki Kawa, the 30-year-old was released on Thursday evening following a unanimous decision loss to Michael Johnson at UFC Fight Night in London on March 8.
The unimpressive performance served as Guillard’s fifth loss in eight bouts. Prior to the fight with Johnson, Guillard seemingly had the better of British lightweight Ross Pearson at UFC FN in Manchester on Oct 26 last year, however the bout was ruled a ‘no-contest’ with Guillard having landed an illegal knee to the head of his opponent.
With an overall UFC record of 13-9 with 1 no-contest, ‘The Young Assassin’ made his UFC debut as a TUF veteran on The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 Finale with a TKO victory over Marcus Davis.
A three-time ‘Knockout of the Night’ winner and one-time Fight of the Night winner; Guillard has massed 20 KO victories in 31 wins across a 48-fight career so far. A fan favourite due to his KO prowess, Guillard was once on the verge of a UFC Lightweight Championship opportunity, however a series of unfortunate losses coupled with a number of bad performances mark a career with it’s fair amount of ups and downs including various camp switches and on one occasion a failed drug test due to cocaine.
According to MMAFighting.com, Kawa explained: “We’re working to get him signed somewhere else,” he said. “I’m going to do what’s best for Melvin.”
Open, honest, raw and uncut; Guillard recently spoke exclusively with MMA Plus in London prior to his release.
Photo: Mark Blundell
