- MELVIN GUILLARD BREAKS DOWN NATE DIAZ
by Jeff Cain - MMAWeekly.com
Melvin Guillard, 5-3 in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, headlines UFC Fight Night 19 on Sept. 16 against The Ultimate Fighter 5 winner Nate Diaz, and Guillard believes he has the style and game plan to come away with victory.
The New Orleans native would like to keep the fight standing where he feels he could score a knockout.
"As far as Nate, there's been rumors that he's been begging Dana White and Joe Silva to get him somebody that he can stand up and bang with. I'm going to see if he's a man of his word," Guillard told MMAWeekly.com. "If he really wants to get in there, we can get us the Fight of the Night, or hopefully I get a Knockout of the Night if he really wants to get in there and stand up and bang."
"I'll stand up with anybody in the UFC. I honestly feel I am one of the best 155ers. I'm the strongest. Even looking back at a lot of the 55ers that fight, a lot of them land punches but they're not knocking anybody out. If you look back at the majority of my fights, I knock out 90% of anybody I hit if it stays on the feet," he added. "I'm not worried. I think more than anything he's coming into this fight worried about my punching power."
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While Guillard would like for the fight to play out on it's feet, he isn't worried about going to the ground with Cesar Gracie trained Diaz.
"I studied the tape of him and Clay Guida and him and Joe (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 and bang 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."
"At the end of 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 stand up battle I'm going to give him a good stand up battle, but like I said, if he tries to take me to the ground it'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 stand up fighter. I started out as a wrestler. That was my background."
"I have nothing against Nate," He continued. "He's a good guy, but I honestly, hands down, I am a way better athlete. I'm more of an athlete than he ever will be. I'm not taking anything away from his skills. He's a great BJJ guy, but BJJ and MMA are two different sports."
"I hate to predict fights, but I guarantee I'm walking out of there a winner. That's how confident I am with my skills."
