Melvin Guillard: "Diaz Doesn't Bring Anything Special to the Table"

During today’s teleconference call for UFC Fight Night 19, which airs live Wednesday night on Spike TV, headliner Nate Diaz was a no-show but opponent Melvin Guillard was around to answer questions from the media concerning his bout with Diaz.

The arrogant and brash Guillard that appeared on The Ultimate Fighter Season Two just a few years ago did not show up to this call. Instead we were graced upon the presence of a newly matured version of Guillard who is focused and determined at becoming one of the greatest lightweight fighters in the world.

Guillard is riding a three-fight winning streak and will look to make it four in a row against Diaz this Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.

When it was announced that these two lightweight warriors would be headlining the card most fans expected a war of words leading up to this fight, but that isn’t the case as Guillard explains there is no bad-blood between the two.

“It’s pretty much the new, mature Melvin. I have no bad blood with any fighter other than Rich Clementi,” Guillard said. “I’m already to the age now where I’m 26, I’ve aged overnight. I had to grow up overnight if I wanted to continue to be successful in this sport. I have no problems with Nate.”

Guillard and Diaz both competed on The Ultimate Fighter season nine finale in their last fight and actually ended up in the same sauna together while cutting weight before the weigh-ins. Guillard talks about having a friendly conversation with his soon-to-be opponent and how he isn’t as brash as he is made out to be.

"As a person [Diaz] is a great guy and it's kind of weird that we are fighting and headlining the show against each other because in the last show we did in June he fought Joe Stevenson and I fought Gleison [Tibau] and we were actually in the sauna cutting weight together just having friendly conversation,” Guillard said. “He's a nice guy; I don't think anything bad of him. A lot of people are like 'beat that little punk up' but in defense of Nate I always tell people that in actuality he and his brother [Nick] are nice guys."

Despite respecting his opponent on a personal level Guillard doesn’t think Diaz brings anything worthy to the lightweight division. He believes his opponent is just an average fighter with a lot of name recognition from winning season five of The Ultimate Fighter.

"As a fighter I think he's just average. You talk about guys like Clay Guida, Joe Stevenson, Myself, Diego Sanchez, Gray Maynard, you’re talking about guys that bring something special to the game,” Guillard said. “Diaz is just one of those guys that won The Ultimate Fighter so of course people are going to talk a lot about him but as far as him bringing something special to the game I don't see anything special about him."

Diaz is world renowned for his superior Jiu-Jitsu ability, once the fight hits the ground he’s like an electric eel squirming around in odd positions before latching on to a constricting submission. However he has recently announced a desire to stand and trade strikes with Guillard.

“The Young Assassin” would love nothing more than to trade strikes with Diaz as he does not think his opponent’s stand up game presents any sort of threat to him.

"I don't feel his stand-up is great at all," Guillard said. "He has mediocre to average stand-up but the one thing that concerns me is his ground game. After my last fight with Gleison Tibau I think my confidence and my patience on the ground really helped me through that fight."

Guillard is confident that his striking will be far superior to Diaz’s and a stand up battle would play to his favor. The New Orleans native has been spending a lot of time focusing on his boxing with world class boxing champions and claims he brings a boxing style to MMA that most MMA fighters neglect.

"I focus a lot on my boxing, I have a boxing coach that is very well known and I think I spend more time now in my boxing gym than I do in my MMA gym,” Guillard said. “I mean I'm sparring with boxing champions and I hold my own against them.

"The one thing I bring to the game that a lot of MMA fighters don't is a lot of fighters sit there and take peppering shots [from a guy like Diaz], just sitting there taking what they throw but I'm slipping jabs, I'm slipping right-hands and I'm counter punching as well so I think my superior boxing is going to make for a great fight for me if it does become a stand up battle."

If the fight hits the ground that is where Guillard feels his opponent is the most dangerous so he plans on being very relaxed and cautious in every position.

"The biggest threat with Diaz is his submission game is not like any ordinary submission game,” Guillard said. “He's one of those guys where you could think you're in a good position but then he'll throw a submission on out of nowhere so I just have to be very cautious.

"I have to be very methodical about my attack and I have to watch my aggressiveness. I'm going to aggressive but I can't be too over aggressive because Nate likes to wear his opponents down and try to get them to gas out and then finish them."

To prepare for this fight Guillard has been drilling some sick strength and conditioning routines with a new strength coach. In the past he has been known to come out explosive only to gas out later in the fight but Guillard explains that a lot has changed since those days.

"For this fight I've learned a lot more strength and conditioning that I wasn't doing in the past. Being that I have a new strength and conditioning coach I think my muscle endurance will be able to withstand Nate's game."

If able to secure a victory over Diaz, Guillard will have earned four straight wins in the UFC. A win would catapult Guillard very high up the ladder in a stacked lightweight division and he is hopeful he will earn bouts with the top five fighters of the division.

"I'm hoping that after this victory I can fight a top five contender,” Guillard said. “Maybe someone like Frankie Edgar, Tyson Griffin or somebody of that nature.”

Stringing together victories in a stacked weight class is very beneficial in determining title contenders but Guillard also feels he will have to defeat one of UFC Lightweight champion B.J Penn’s previous victims first in order to secure a shot at his title.

“In order to get a title shot in the UFC you have to be on a win streak but I'm also going to have to end up fighting somebody who fought B.J [Penn],” Guillard said. “I would have to beat the guys who have lost to B.J so even with me and Joe Stevenson, we are really good friends, we talk all the time but if I would have to fight Joe again in order to secure a title shot I would have to do that."

Heading into this fight with Diaz, Guillard talks about a new outlook on life and how he has finally put his personal demons behind him. His main focus and determination is on the sport and his drive is his goal on one day becoming the UFC Lightweight champion of the world.

“I feel reborn again. Me and my wife will be married for a year (on) Oct. 27. I’ve always learned growing up that you don’t how the good times are unless you endured the bad…I just don’t look at any of the bad things anymore. I just want to keep moving forward, keep progressing in the sport, and hopefully someday be a world champion.”

UFC Fight Night 19 airs this Wednesday night on Spike TV and will serve as a lead in for the season premier of The Ultimate Fighter season 10: The Heavyweights.