World Series of Fighting President Ray Sefo announced that former UFC star Melvin Guillard will be the next challenger for Justin Gaethje‘s Lightweight title. On paper, it has the potential to be an exciting fight, but the match-up for the title shows the struggles the WSOF has to deal with such a thin roster.
The fact is that Guillard did not make weight for his WSOF debut, tipping the scales at 157.2 for the Lightweight limit of 156 lbs. Guillard blamed the time of the weigh ins as being too early and the cause of his failure to make weight, but it shows that Guillard has not overcome some of the instabilities that drove the UFC crazy.
Guillard scored a KO victory over veteran JZ Cavalcante in his promotional debut, and he is a familiar face with more than 40 MMA fights to his credit. He is a UFC discard however, and he was well known as NOT being a top shelf MMA fighter, as his 13-9-1 UFC record would indicate. In the big picture, a win for the champion Gaethje over Guillard will likely still leave open many questions as to whether he is a legit world level talent.
Gaethje is undefeated at 12-0, and he has a lot of veteran scalps on his belt already. Dan Lauzon, JZ Cavalcante and Drew Fickett have all been stopped by Gaethje among his 10 KOs.
Gaethje has been in the media this week claiming to be the best 155 lber in the world. If he is anywhere close to that level, he should be able to work the holes in Guillard’s game that have always been there. Guillard on the ground tends to give up position and at times has not appeared to defend against submissions very hard, so Gaethje is expected to have this option open to him.
But to his credit as a fighter, Gaethje is talking about going right at Guillard’s strength with his strength and keeping the fight on his feet to look for a KO. Gaethje has never faced a striker as explosive as Guillard can be if he is on his game, so a strategy of keeping the fight standing may scare some bettors away from Gaethje.
Does Guillard deserve a title shot after failing to make the weight in his organizational debut? He is getting one anyway.
