UFC on FX Picks: Guillard and Miller Are Ready to Get Real Rowdy in Tennessee

UFC on FX Picks: Melvin Guillard vs Jim Miller

This Friday the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN is going to host a sanctioned but all out brawl in the octagon when Melvin Guillard takes on Jim Miller. This fight is for the #1 lightweight contender-ship so these fighters are VERY hungry for a win. The winner will fight the victor of UFC 144’s Frankie Edgar vs Ben Henderson.

As both fighters are the “in your face” type of fighter, and both got their winning streak cut short in their last outing, they will be looking to make a statement and finish the fight quickly. I would be surprised if this fight goes for more than 2 rounds.

Stylistically, Melvin “The Young Assassin” is at a disadvantage as 8/9 of his losses have come from submissions, something Miller is very good at. Jim not only is lethal standing up, he is an all around fighter with 55% of his wins coming from submissions. This can’t be said of Guillard as only 2/29 of his wins come from submission. Everyone knows that Melvin’s greatest weakness is his BJJ as he has never been (T)KO’d but has been submitted in his six most recent losses, adding his total losses via submission to 8.

Melvin Guillard has switched camps to Imperial Athletics to train with Rashad Evans to improve is already great wrestling. This will assist his take down defense which will be a skill needed to defeat Miller. He has also hired a BJJ specialist to help him with his lacking ground game, but I am wondering how much more that will help as he was already training his ground game over at Jacksons Submission Fighting.

The BetDSI Sportsbook placed the following UFC odds on this match:

MELVIN GUILLARD +150
JIM MILLER -180

I would place Jim Miller as the betting favorite too as he has only lost to the most elite of fighters so far and has never been KO’d. Not to take anything away from Guillard, he does have the KO power and athleticism that makes him very dangerous. It’s just that he doesn’t do that well against submission fighters, I predict that Guillard will meet his kryptonite this Friday and will be at the wrong end of a sick submission.