Growing up Guillard

via www.mmafrenzy.com

 
For the upcoming Ultimate Fight Night I wanted to focus on Melvien Guillard. Throughout his young carrer he has been outspoken and arrogant. Some fans have gone so far to say Guilard is "mental", Guillard has taken a beating from hardcore MMA fans over the years. MMAfans have a tendency to jump all over a fighters back when they have done something wrong, or disrespectful. But the fans don't have the same passion to applaud or give a "pat on the back" when fighters turn things around. He has experienced so much in and out of the ring/cage at 26 years old I wanted to sharesome of the experiences he has had and show what his attitude was then and what it is now. We will start back in 2004, Katrina hit New Orleans and Guillard's house is completely submerged. Guillard was forced to move his family to Houston. In 2005 Guillard was 16-3-2 a very hyped fighter training in Houston, was set to fight Roger Huerta who was 8-1-1. You can watch the fight here. The controversy comes between the 2nd and3rd round when Guillard's corner was putting water and another substance on Guillard's leg's. The fight was ruled a no contest. A year later Guillard's father passed away.

In March 2007 Guillarddid an interview with OTM the main quotes I want to take away from the interview were these

"Yes, I am considered the underdog in this fight. After I beat Joe I want a shot at the title. I am not going to fight no name fighters anymore. I want a title shot and to fight only top contenders." 

"I will be training only in Houston until the fight. Right now I am going over to Kentucky to make a guest appearance at a local cage fight but then it is back to Houston to train." 

Also before the fight with Stevenson, Guillard was a guest on the Sherdog Radio Network, and Guillard accused Stevenson of being an "HGH user" who uses "anabolic sh**" to get an unfair advantage, which were allegations Stevenson vehemently denied. (Guillard was later forced to retract the statements and admit he had no shred of evidence to support his claims.) After the fight Guillard tested positive for cocaine. Many MMA fans continued their assault on Guillard.

Much More after the jump.

On Dec 21 2007 Thomas Gerbasi wrote an article on Guillard talking about the downs Guillard experienced in 2007. Guillard says in the article.

"I was in a bigger depression and I was mad at myself, but I was even more upset because I felt like I had embarrassed my family. I didn’t care what people thought about me, and I’m still like that – I don’t care about the negative talk. I get on the internet and I see all the slander – they made a little video clip and I laughed it off, but on the inside it hurt because I hurt my fans, I embarrassed my family, and I embarrassed the UFC."

Guillard states in the next quote he is done playing games and his only focus is MMA.

"The sport has enough negativity towards it, and we’ve got to be good role models for the sport. So I took all that negativity and turned it around." "Ever since Katrina it’s just been rocky for me, and I don’t make excuses – I just deal with the problems at hand. I got rid of a lot of the old friends that I had, and the only people I really hang out with now are my teammates. I’m in the gym with them all the time, and other than that I’m here with my girl, so I don’t spend that extra time with negative people going club hopping and staying out late at night – that’s how you get into trouble, so I had to X that out."

On January 9th 2008 Guillarddoes an interview with Mark Chalifoux of the Baltimore Sun. Guillard shows in the interview that Rich Clementi is not his favorite person.

 "I just got tired of hearing the [talk] and I confronted him about it last February at some fights at home (New Orleans). When I saw him [and had a] fistfight or whatever and I beat his ass then, I told him after that, "Every time I see you, we’re going to fight." And, that’s how it’s been ever since then."

Guillard also insinuates Clementi did not win the fight.

"He really didn’t. He didn’t take my heart. I took his heart before he got in the ring. He was scared to fight me before he got in the ring. And, it’s like I tell everybody – and I’m going to keep saying it – when I see him again, I’m going to fight him again."

Guillard also did not appreciate Clementi's extra circular activity's after the fight.

"He disrespected me after the fight. He put his nuts on the back of my head. When I catch him, I’m going to kick him in his [expletive deleted] nuts. My dad always told me if a man spit on you or slapped you, [expletive deleted] kill him. And if he put his nuts on my head on national TV, I’m going to [expletive deleted] kill him, period. So, there’s no way I’m ever going to overlook that and be like, "Naw, it’s cool because we were having problems." Hell no. I ain’t ever gonna let another man do that to me andget away with it."

Guillard goes on to say he does not have to respect any fighter. Andhe seems to be fine with loosing a fight by submission.

"The only people I have to respect and obey are my fans and my friends andfamily. As far as fighters go, I don’t have to respect or be friends withany of them. As far as I’m concerned, I might stand in front of them and face them one day. I pick andchoose who I want to be cool with andthat’s who I’m cool with.  I don’t go befriend everybody but when it’s time to fight, yeah of course, I’m going to talk [expletive deleted]. When you really look at my record and all the losses that I have, I’ve lost to jiu-jitsuguys. Nobody is ever going to stand in front of me andbeat my ass. My mom did that all my life so those days are over with. If I’m going to lose a fight because of somebody submitting me, I’ll take that any day over somebody beating my ass."

Just 6 months later Guillard is singing a different tune, Guillarddid an interview with Rhett Butler on June 29th2008 before his fight with Dennis Siver.

"I just want to be a legend in the sport, I want to be a champion, and I want to be a hall of famer," he said. "It ain’t about the money to me anymore. Fighting to live, fighting to survive, it ain’t about that anymore. Now it’s about just having fun, and right now I just need to get back to having fun and winning fights."

Now to the present MMAWeekly did an interview with Guillard and here is something we have not heard Guillard say.

"I studied the tape of him and Clay Guida and him andJoe (Stevenson). I studied those two matches a lot. I noticed he has a lot of trouble with wrestlers, so my game plan really is to go in there andbang with him, but anytime he tries to take it down, I'm just going to turn it into a wrestling match, and I'm just going to out-wrestle him the whole three rounds," said the 26-year old fighter. "It can be the fight that he wants, or it can be the fight that he's going to hate."

Something else that has changed over the years is that Guillard now respects his opponents.

 "At the endof the day, Nate's a cool guy. I actually got to cut weight with him for the last fight against Gleison (Tibau). When he fought Joe, we actually cut weight together. He's not a total prick, but at the same time I'm going in there to do what I do best," commented Guillard. "If he wants a good standup battle I'm going to give him a good standup battle, but like I said, if he tries to take me to the groundit's going to be a long night for him because my wrestling is a whole lot better than people think. People don't talk too much about my wrestling because I'm such a good standup fighter. I started out as a wrestler. That was my background."

I want to give Guillard a pat on the back for changing his ways and to fight past the adversity throughout his life and become a role model. At 26 years old he has a long career ahead of him and if he continues to take training seriously and keeps up his positive attitude, I am sure he will garner great achievements. Guillard is still confident in his skills, but is knowledgeable enough to know that his skills still need refining and is willing to go back in the gym and put in the hard work.