Melvin Guillard KO's Evan Dunham
 

what's up with that?!?

dude is sickening fast

Yeah, seems he may have turned a corner... also Dunham is a very slow starter, and you can't be a slow starter with Guillard, because if he tags you, it's lights out.

are you acknowledging the impressiveness of it or questioning the stoppage?

i never gave Guillard a chance in this fight. i just didnt see any possible victory - not against Evan f-ing Dunham. even when Melvin appeared to be doing well (stopping takedowns) i was thinking "it's only a matter of time before Melvin beats himself somehow." to me, biggest upset since Matt Serra beat GSP.

i actually agree with Dunham's assessment of Guillards style as one dimensional / sprawl and brawl - but it's a nasty sprawl and brawl with powerful and impossibly quick hands. sucks for Dunham, who was probably a win away from a title shot.

Dunham's assessment may have been correct but sprawl and brawl can be effective I mean Chuck Liddell's whole style could be described as sprawl and brawl and he was one of, if not the most, successful light-heavyweight of all time.

I've been a fan of Guillard for a while, always seemed to be a very promising prospect but up until recently I just assumed, like most, that he would never get over the hump. It seems as though he has turned the corner.

Now I want to see Guillard vs. Gomi.

Guillard/Gomi is a step back. Gomi's standup while powerful lacks any sort of finesse or strategy and apart from a nice knockout of Tyson Griffin who's becoming increasingly irellevant in the division, he's been TERRIBLE the past few years.. Guillard needs to fight a legitimate contender to see if this "turned corner" is for real. Preferably an explosive wrestler.

He seems to possibly have found a true home with the Greg Jackson camp... I heard that they spent hours and hours and hours watching his standup and they realize he never used angles, he just charged in and threw punches like a wild man. Needless to say, the 155 pound division may have found itself a new, extremely dangerous contender.

I'm also most impressed with his patience in the Dunham fight.

Thats whats crazy when it comes to fighting. Theres always this crazy X-factor when you have to fight a guy who is insanely athletic. Guys like Guillard are capable of pulling out incredible feats of while guys like dunham need to work a plan and use the technique they practice. Its not very fair.

Yeah, but Randy Couture has made a career of doing that very thing. With guys like Guillard you have to take their space away, close the distance and make him work at your pace, trying to neutralize his athletism. You can't allow his to close range at will and move in and out, you have to at the least try and keep him in the pocket, or he's going to pick you apart with darting jabs and quick 1-2s. Dunham should have kept working takedowns, either trying to tire Guillard out, or putting him on his back, where his lightning fast hands and footwork won't be much help to him.

I'd love to see Gulliard against a more technical striker like Frankie Edgar, I think Edgar would just put him on his back thought, but if it stayed standing it would be interesting. I'd be interested to see how much Gulliards ground game has actually improved against an accomplished wrestler.

Do you think a fight with Sean Sherk would be a step back?

I do, Sherk offers nothing in the stand up department, if he couldn't secure a takedown, and keep Guillard down he would get used as target practice.

yea thats what you have to do if your not an athlete like that yourself, but all it takes is one mistake or one explosion on their part, and the fight can end.

He's learning. The fight with Jeremy Stephens proved he could follow a game plan and not go out there trying to just be a brawler.

In my humble opinion, if he wants to be viewed as a contender, fighting Gomi doesn't make sense considering Gomi's loss to Guida.

I hate to say it because I hate this particular fighter but... I think the next likely matchup for Guillard is Kenny Florian. Florian was supposed to be the initial test for Dunham before he got hurt and he holds wins over Guida and Gomi. That fight makes the most sense even though I can't stand Florian.

agreed.

yes.

i'll go along with that. i also think that Guida would make a viable opponent.

on a related topic, Matt Mitrione actully looked like a legit heavyweight fighter. i'd like to see hime fight somebody of, say, Cheik Congo calibre next.

He did look good, but he was fighting the human punching bag, tim hague

Mitrione vs Reavant.

It's about time they started feeding guys other than Brock Lesnar to the wolves. Chances are Mitrione doesn't have much a shelf life, but he's clearly a high level athlete in that he moves very well on his feet and has that "retard" strength.

A fight with Cheik Kongo would test what he's all about to be honest. If he can find a way to be a guy like Cheik, it means he could be a pretty solid gatekeeper, if he can't beat him, back to the bottom because if he wants to be anyone, he needs to beat guys like Kongo, even early in his development.

ive had the opportunity to train with him on multiple occasions, but things never worked out.

And now Guillard has the best game planner in the business on his side, that's just scary.

So, who was saying or at least thinking that Greg Jackson's camp only puts out the boring, blanket styled fighters? And according to house rules, Guida, D. Sanchez, and all other LW's with jackson's is off limits to Guillard.

Whoever says that doesn't know what they're talking about... including Dana White.