Melvin Guillard has started 2011 looking the best he's ever looked.Guillard destroyed Evan Dunham at the UFC Fight for the Troops 2 event at Fort Hood, winning in a first-round technical knockout in dominant fashion, with hard punches and brutal knees knocking Dunham to the canvas and forcing the referee to stop the fight at 2:58 of the first round. The last of the knees Guillard landed appeared to come after Dunham had already gone to the ground -- which would have made the knee illegal -- although Guillard already had Dunham all but finished before that.
"I'm very happy," Guillard said afterward, thanking the troops at Fort Hood who had turned out to watch the fight and noting that he comes from a military family.
An immensely talented lightweight whose focus hasn't always been great, Guillard is now completely focused and working with the great coach Greg Jackson. It's paying off, and Guillard is on a four-fight winning streak. The win over Dunham improved Guillard's overall professional MMA record to 27-8-2.
Guillard has big goals.
"I want a title shot," Guillard said. "No disrespect to anybody in my weight class but I am the best 155-pound fighter in the UFC. ... I will go undefeated in 2011 and I will get a title shot in 2011, or no later than 2012. I promise you that."
Dunham was trying to bounce back from the first loss of his career, a controversial split decision to Sean Sherk at UFC 119 in September. Instead he looked like he simply wasn't ready to take on a high-level striker, and he fell to 11-2 in his career. Dunham is a good prospect, but he's not on the level of Guillard, who looks like he's ready to take a big step toward being one of the sport's best lightweights.
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