Cerrone and Guillard: The gameplan for two friends about to face off
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Melvin Guillard are set to face each other on August 11 in the co-main event for UFC 150: Henderson vs. Edgar in Denver, Colorado. The two trained together and became close friends while at Team Jackson-Winkeljohn in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but their friendship has nothing to do with their plans come fight night. The two videos are courtesy of our good friends at MMAHeat.com
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone
Cerrone, a Colorado native, has been longing to fight in his hometown since the venue was first announced: “As soon as I heard we were coming here, I rallied for it. I have always wanted to fight in my hometown. When you fight at home everyone calls you thinking that UFC gives you 500 tickets, so I stopped taking calls, but I hope the fans rip the f&@*ing roof off the Denver Colliseum!”
In addition to the hometown advantage, Cerrone is hoping that the altitude in which he grew up and where he trains, favors him in the “Mile-High City”: “I’m undefeated at home, this is where I started, so people have to come here and fight at altitude and I’m used to it. I have been all around the world and mountains all around the world, but the air here is so much thinner. There’s nothing else like it.”
With regard to his friennd, Melvin Guillard, and training for him, Cowboy says he’s confident and ready with a solid game plan: “We did a lot of sparring together and on Saturday I think we’re going to stand and fight. No one likes to see two guys roll around. Standing with him might be a high risk on my part, but high risk is more fun, it’s Fight of the Night. I have always respected Melvin and the way he fights, I know how he moves and I’m ready for it. People don’t change that much, he might come out different but he’ll fall back to what he knows. In case he decides to take me down I’m ready for it. I’m going to kick his legs because you can only throw so many punches when your legs hurt.”
Melvin “The Young Assasin” Guillard
Guillard has a reputation for being willing to fight anyone. A fact that the Young Assassin is very proud of: “I will never say no to a fight. I don’t mind welcoming guys to the UFC, I love to fight and stepping up to take guys that other guys won’t I’m hoping will help me somewhere down the line. But I know that you have to beat the elite to fight the elite. I don’t want to take six fights and fight six scrubs.In the end, the fights matter, not the win streak.”
The Young Assassin is known as a knockout artist and that is where 19 of his 30 career wins have come from. Although fans have been critical of his grappling, Guillard seems unfazed by it: “I’m not a jiujitsu fighter, I’m an MMA fighter. Everybody talks about jiujitsu, but no one complains when I knock guys out in the first round. For me its about going in there and doing my best; fans want to see knockouts, the owners want to see knockouts. I got to where I am by knocking guys out.”
Standing up is where he says this fight is going to happen. Guillard thinks that Cerrone is mistaken on him being predictable due to their past as training partners: “I’m focussed, I know how tough its going to be, I’m expecting a 3 round war. I want it to live up to the hype. I want the fans to get a fight of the night out of this. I just took it in stride and kept myself grounded and focussed on the task. Me and Donald have talked quite a bit on this fight so we’re going to go in there and bang. It’s his hometown and I know he’s going to bring it. We sparred hard but never tried to kill each other. This won’t be the same as a sparring match, when the lights are on, I’m the man!”
As far as fighting in the Mile High City of Denver, Guillard claims he is ready for the thin air that is said to be the bane of many fighters: “It only took me two days to get acclimated because I was still in shape from my last fight. I’m ready.”
