UFC on FX 1 Results: 3 Things Melvin Guillard Needs to Improve on

Melvin Guillard lost his second consecutive fight last night, when Jim Miller submitted him in the first round.

The loss completely removes Guillard from lightweight title contention, and now “The Young Assassin” is going to have to pull together an impressive win streak in order to get the lightweight title shot that’s he’s been working towards.

However, Guillard will never make it to the top of the sport if he does not evolve his game, and there are definitely some improvements he needs to make in order to stay competitive.

Takedown Defense and Getting Back to His Feet

This is a major problem in Guillard’s game right now, as he lacks the grappling skills to get back on his feet when he is taken down.

If he can get near the cage, Guillard is able to wall walk quite effectively, but if you put him on his back near the center of the cage, he quickly looks like a fish out of water.

If Guillard were even able to force opponents on holding him down instead of submitting him, he would have a much easier time on the mat.

Discipline

In Guillard’s last two fights, mental mistakes have cost him more than anything.

When he fought Joe Lauzon, Guillard looked so confident that he could go out and crush Lauzon early. He came in a bit too aggressively with strikes and got clipped on the feet then tapped on the mat.

Last night showed Guillard once again make a huge mental error that changed the fight, as he threw a flying knee at a phenomenal wrestler like Jim Miller and ended up on his back. Shortly after he was taken down, he lost position and was submitted.

If Guillard can just calm down and think before he acts inside the cage, he will become an even more frustrating opponent than he already is.

Submission Defense

And now we have found the elephant in the room.

Guillard has six UFC losses and all of them came by some sort of submission.

There really isn’t much more to say than that, as Guillard was usually winning those fights before he was submitted. If he had any sort of submission defense he would probably be one of the best fighters in the division.

Hopefully Guillard addresses the problem within the next few months in time for his next fight, but since he hasn’t figured it out yet, I’m guessing his opponent will know exactly where to go to defeat him.