by Tyler Richardson
The look on Melvin Guillard’s face was pure astonishment. This was suppose to be easy. It wasn’t suppose to end like this. As reality set in, his head dropped and the lights turned off.
The long road to a title shot defines a fighter. It’s a grueling trial, full of hard work and sleepless nights. The slow rise to contender through foe after foe reveals the true heart and character one possesses. To complete this journey there are many things a fighter must have and one thing he can’t: a loss.
Guillard was on the verge of cresting the mountain. He had won his last five fights, three by brutal, bone-crushing knockouts. He was building a reputation as a unforgiving monster who would stop at nothing to get his title shot.
Then it happened.
Guillard let his guard down. He didn’t respect the game and the game bit him in his ass. A fight that was suppose to be a “filler,” a can-of-corn, a lesser-skilled crash test dummy of sorts, ended up being his demise.
Let’s face it, Guillard took the fight against Joe Lauzon because he was looking to knockout a middle-of-the-road fighter in front of his adopted hometown (he moved to Houston after Hurricane Katrina). He wanted to crush Lauzon in front of his friends and family. He was trying to become the brightest star on one of the biggest cards in UFC history. But all those hopes were dashed less than a minute into his bout on Saturday night.
Lauzon showed the world again that anything can take place in mixed martial arts and Guillard demonstrated what can happen when you think you’ve made it and you really haven’t. It took only 47 seconds for arguably the top contender in the lightweight division to get battered and submitted by his crash test dummy.
Guillard was right there, just on the verge of getting what he had worked his whole life for and he let it slip away. He hadn’t lost a fight since late 2009. People in mainstream MMA were beginning to talk about “The Young Assassin” and a potential fight with Frankie Edgar. His size, athletic ability and knockout power were going to be magic for pay per view and ticket sales.
Now Guillard is back at the bottom of the mountain looking up. Barring major injury he probably won’t get a shot at the belt in 2012, especially with talks of Edgar moving down a weight class for a mega-fight with Aldo. The “filler” fight is the scariest fight in MMA and he should have never taken it.
Guillard may have a big mountain to climb back up but he has nobody to blame but himself. UFC boss Dana White has justifiably questioned his focus despite his undeniable talent. At only 28 he is young enough to recover but without any more time to waste. The road back to the top is long and the chances Guillard will recover from another collapse like this one are slim to none.
