Melvin Guillard, a veteran who competed on the second season of the Ultimate Fighter, is retiring from MMA.
Guillard, 42, began fighting professionally when he was nineteen years old on the Louisiana regional circuit.
Within three years, he fought an astounding twenty-five times before joining the cast of TUF Season 2 under coaches Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin. Guillard lost on the show to Josh Burkman, was signed by the UFC, and beat Marcus Davis on the TUF 2 Finale card in November 2005.
He fought for the UFC for over eight years and conveyed a fan-friendly style with tremendous power in the lightweight division. From 2009 until 2011, he was in his peak form when he stopped Dennis Siver, beat Gleison Tibau by decision, and followed with wins against Jeremy Stephens, Evan Dunham, and Shane Roller. During this stretch, he won eight of nine fights with his only blemish a submission loss to Nate Diaz in the main event of a September 2009 card on Spike TV.
While establishing himself as a possible title contender in the division, his momentum was curbed after losses to Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller, and he lost four of five fights over fourteen months.
Guillard was let go by the UFC after a decision loss to Michael Johnson in March 2014 and continued his career despite mounting losses on his record. After leaving the UFC, he went 1-11 with 1 no-contest over the next decade until finally winning a fight this past Saturday in 27 seconds and announcing his retirement.
During the past decade, he ventured into bare-knuckle fighting, where he went 2-6 and last competed in October 2021 when he was knocked out by former UFC star Joe Riggs.
Guillard faced domestic violence and felony assault charges in 2018. He was accused of assaulting a woman and physical confrontations at a pair of bars.
His MMA record is listed at 33-24-2 and 2 no-contests, but on Saturday, he claimed to have over 200 fights, and it’s not hard to imagine that there are undocumented fights he had earlier in his career.
