When the gym first started gaining attention it was for heavier fighters like Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt and Georges St. Pierre. Over the past year and a half a strong stable of smaller fighters have come to together to form a strong stable. When asked about having other high caliber fighters to train with Guillard replied…
“Clay Guida, Joe Stevenson, Cub Swanson…we got Leonard (Garcia), Carlos Condit and just a stable of smaller fighters. What’s cool about down here in Albuquerque is that it’s all connected. There is a branch of Jackson’s in Denver which is Grudge and then up in Montreal at Tri-Star with GSP and Firas. No matter which gym you train at we are all under the same umbrella. For instance my last fight, all of us came together in the locker room and it was one family. I hadn’t had a chance to train with Coach Chambers but when it was time to step into the cage everybody was there. That’s one of the big advantages this team has and right now I’d say for lightweights and welterweights many of the fighters are here in Albuquerque. Except for guys like Keith Jardine and some of the light heavies everybody is in camp. It’s way more than what was here before from what I was told and we are still growing.”
Guillard was originally scheduled to face Thiago Tavares at UFC 114 but an injury close to the fight forced Tavares to withdraw. The UFC scrambled to find a replacement to face Guillard and Waylon Lowe accepted the challenge on short notice. It didn’t take Guillard more than two minutes to finish Lowe and when asked how it felt to finish in such devastating fashion he stated…
“For me every fight feels good especially when you are getting your hand raised. That’s what it is about. It’s about getting in there and winning fights and it was a great day for me. I take my hat off to Waylon Lowe because I have a great deal of respect for the guy because he stepped up in three weeks to fight me. It didn’t go his way and wasn’t going to allow it to because I’m in there to win. Thiago Tavares he has ducked me like three or four times and ironically at the weigh-ins to the Lowe fight his manager approached me and said, “I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but Thiago just doesn’t want to fight you because he thinks it’s a bad matchup for him”. This was like the second time this guy pulled out of the fight and now because of what his manager said I think he’s faking injuries because he’s afraid to fight me? Guys like that I lose all my respect for because I feel like if you are a fighter then you should be prepared for fight. Win or lose…you go in there and give it your all and you come a little short…so be it. I can’t respect a guy who doesn’t want to fight because he’s scared or intimidated. I guess that’s because my entire career I’ve never turned down a fight. People have criticized me since I’ve been in the UFC because I haven’t fought guys like Kenny Florian or Frankie Edgar yet and I want them to know that I fight the people who the UFC tell me to fight. When Joe Silva calls me and says, “Hey Melvin we want you to take this fight,” I’m going to take it no matter who it is. It just so happens that I was able to make my own fight for this card because it was a fight that was brewing because Jeremy Stephens and I were talking about it and we knew it would be on the main card and knew it would be a great fight. At the end of the day it’s about putting myself in position to make good money but also move myself closer to the title.”
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