Dana White Says Melvin Guillard Is in Title Contention with a Win at UFC 136

Melvin Guillard has turned his career around in a short amount of time. 

"The Young Assassin" has impressed many fans and critics during his five-fight winning streak and has a durable challenger ahead of him this weekend in Joe Lauzon at UFC 136. Should he earn a victory over Lauzon, UFC president Dana White said he might consider throwing Guillard into title contention at 155 pounds. 

“I’m excited to see him in there with Lauzon. If he beats Lauzon, it’s gonna be interesting to see who we end up pitting together to fight for the title next,” White told 5thRound.com. 

Although Guillard has won his recent bouts in convincing fashion, there was a lot of doubt in his future, as just a couple years ago he was one of the highly touted lightweight prospects in the UFC—before engaging in drug abuse and having a few run-ins with the law. 

But Guillard's sudden resurgence is what has impressed most fans, including White, and now it could finally allow him a promising career and earn him a potential title shot. 

“I like Melvin and I like how he’s training hard,” he said. “I always thought he was the biggest waste of talent and he really turned that around and I’m happy to see it.”

UFC 136 will heavily focus on the lightweight division and certainly provide more opportunity for the fighters, depending on the outcome. With contenders like Ben Henderson, Anthony Pettis and Clay Guida lurking around the upper echelon of the division, the 155-pound division is the most competitive weight class in the UFC and the competition remains wide open.

“That division is so stacked and there’s so many good fights to make," he said. “There’s so many good guys in that 155-pound division, we’re trying to figure out who’s next.”