Back on His Feet

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Melvin Guillard is familiar with the feeling of invincibility that can accompany extended success inside the cage. He is also well aware of what it is like to come crashing back to earth.

In 2003, a 20-year-old Guillard carried a lengthy winning streak -- just how lengthy depends on the source -- into Biloxi, Miss., for a Freestyle Fighting Championships bout against Carlo Prater. There was no reason for “The Young Assassin” to believe that particular December night would turn out any different for him, until he looked at the corner of his Brazilian opponent.

“Prater had Yves Edwards in his corner. That was the first time in my life I was beat before the fight started,” Guillard said in an interview with the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Rewind” program. “[I thought], ‘This kid is trained by Yves Edwards; I don't stand a chance.’ I counted myself out before the bell even rung, and it showed.”

While Edwards is someone that Guillard considers a friend and mentor to this day, he learned a valuable lesson from his first-round defeat to Prater more than eight years ago.

“That loss taught me so much,” he said. “I learned I wasn’t invincible. I learned I wasn’t indestructible. Yes, I still approach everything like that, but I know I can be beat.”

That is why when Guillard fell to Joe Lauzon in 47 surprising seconds in arguably the biggest upset at UFC 136, he did not let it affect his demeanor. The former Louisiana state wrestling champion from Bonnabel High School still has the same goals he had before that fight. Guillard wants to be a world champion someday, and he remains perpetually upbeat about his chances of achieving that dream. Losing to Lauzon was but a bump in the road.

“I respect every guy in my weight class because I know the hard work it takes to be great at something. A lot of normal people don’t really understand that,” Guillard said. “Look at my last fight against Lauzon: something happened that shouldn’t have, but people take it and they run with it. They’re, like, 'Oh, Lauzon beat you up.’ No, he just was the better guy that day.”

Prior to UFC 136, Guillard had been fighting like a man reborn. A five-fight winning streak in the Octagon, including back-to-back first round finishes of Evan Dunham and Shane Roller, had earned Guillard recognition as one of the top title contenders at 155 pounds. Little was expected from Lauzon, who entered the bout a pedestrian 2-2 in his last four outings. To some, it appeared Guillard did not expect much either, and, in his recklessness, he was caught by a punch and submitted by the Massachusetts native. “Same old Melvin” seemed to be a popular sentiment in the aftermath, one that was even expressed by Lauzon.

“I think it was the same Melvin as before. He was known before for being really cocky, not training a ton, all this other stuff ... I just looked at him as a kid that had success in the past that just didn’t train that hard for this fight, that was just completely overlooking me,” Lauzon told Sherdog.com in October.

It was hard for Guillard to avoid the backlash, especially in an age in which social media has become so prevalent. When he found negative comments on his Twitter account -- “Would it not make more sense for Joe Lauzon to get a shot at a #1 contender since he just BEAT YOUR ASS?” was what one person wrote on his page recently -- Guillard simply retweeted them. He used the comments partly as a source of motivation but also because he knew there were plenty of loyal fans willing to come to his defense.

“When you grow up and you have so much anger and so many setbacks and you have so many doubters, it drives you. That’s my drive, when people tell me I won’t be a champion or I can’t win or I can’t beat this guy. People are so inconsiderate; they don’t realize everyone’s human,” Guillard said.

“There are times when certain things are said and it cuts deep, but I just move on. When people are being ignorant, I’ll retweet what they say, and I’ll let my fans go to work and do their part.”

Guillard rejects the “cocky” label that seems to be so readily assigned to him. Since his days as a prep wrestling and football star in Louisiana, he has been a prototype alpha male athlete, and self-assuredness goes a long way in that arena.

“I never thought of myself as ever being a cocky person at any point in my life,” Guillard said. “I just walk around with confidence.”

Maturity has allowed him to realize that setbacks, like the one against Lauzon, do happen. As he prepares to face Jim Miller in the UFC on FX 1 main event on Friday in Nashville, Tenn., Guillard is following a theme he hopes can set the tone for his 2012.

“I have a quote that I started this year. I put it over my bed: ‘Success is measured by a man’s actions,’” he said. “I read it when I wake up, and I read it before I go to bed. You can’t be successful if you don’t try. Nothing comes easy; you’re gonna get some bumps and bruises along the way. That’s just part of life. If you give up on yourself, why should you expect other people to not give up on you?”

Miller finds himself in a similar position to Guillard after seeing a seven-fight unbeaten string come to an end at the hands of Ben Henderson at UFC Live 5. In the loaded lightweight division, consecutive losses could severely hinder the title aspirations of either man. Guillard claims he is approaching the fight from Miller’s perspective, focusing on what the New Jersey native would have to do to defeat him.

“How would I beat Melvin if I had to fight Melvin? I play that scenario in my head, and those are the things I work on and try to stay away from,” Guillard said. “I think that new train of thought is going to make me a champion and a good ambassador for this sport.”

While Guillard says he treats every fight like a title fight, it is no longer belt or bust for “The Ultimate Fighter 2” alumnus.

“I had a life lesson; it came from a friend,” he said. “He was, like, ‘That belt don’t mean anything. People around you, fighting to feed your family, that’s what matters.’ I would love to be the champion, and it may happen, but if it don’t ever happen, at least I'm gonna leave this sport making a lot of money ... I have something to give to my kids when I do have kids. That’s what’s important. It’s not the belt that’s important. This sport’s gonna be long done with me before I’m done with it.”