Opinion: Guillard the Lightweight Antidote

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Once pegged as a frontrunner that fell apart when things got tough, Melvin Guillard is in a better place these days -- and fighting like a man reborn.

The gifted lightweight’s punishing first-round knockout of Shane Roller at UFC 132 on Saturday in Las Vegas was equal parts impressive and eye-popping. Technical expertise in MMA is often relegated to things the average fan finds boring, be it suffocating wrestling or ground work, but Guillard makes high-level skill one hell of a selling point.

The UFC has other compelling fighters with similarly exciting striking styles -- guys who aren’t looking to take down opponents a primary objective. I’d include Anthony Pettis and Charles Olivera in that group, along with Edson Mendes Barboza Jr. and Anthony Njokuani. What makes Guillard different from the rest of them is his amazing physical strength and takedown defense. Even when opponents are wrenching to finish a stalled single-leg, Guillard hops around and bashes them in the face. Plus, he probably has more power and overall accuracy than anyone in the division.

With the top tier of the division now comprised of champion Frankie Edgar and top contender Gray Maynard, along with stifling wrestlers like Jim Miller, Benson Henderson and Clay Guida, it will be interesting to see how the UFC matches its best lightweights. We saw in Guida-Pettis at “The Ultimate Fighter 13” Finale that a bout between top 155ers can produce a largely unsatisfying result, at least promotionally, as Guida took a decision without winning in a dominant fashion. That’s the promotional problem with good wrestlers; they can win without giving you much to build on in terms of their next fight. Miller and Henderson tend to be more exciting than Guida, but none of them can be faulted for doing what works to win fights.

However, any variation of matchups in the Pettis-Olivera-Barboza-Njokuani-Guillard group would likely provide solid, if not spectacular, entertainment. Barboza-Njokuani at UFC 128 was excellent fare, if you needed existing evidence. A “striker’s bracket” among the UFC lightweights might provide a nice counter-balance to the expectable procession of bouts like Guida-Pettis. Hey, I’m all for the better guy getting the decision, but the sport is also about entertainment and conclusive endings.

Jason Probst can be reached at [email protected] or twitter.com/jasonprobst.