UFC On FX: How Not To Grapple By Melvin Guillard

Known as arguably the hardest hitter in the division, Melvin Guillard always adds excitement to any card he's scheduled for. Friday's UFC on FX 1 was no different. Early in the round he displayed his incredible striking while simultaneously defending the non-stop takedown threat of Jim Miller. However, as he as often been criticized for, Guillard through caution to the wind in throwing several flying knees in the single-round affair.

That was not my problem with Guillard's performance tonight though. My issue is that, despite his habit of getting submitted, he absolutely refuses to tighten up his defensive grappling fame. Following his loss to Joe Lauzon at UFC 136, I was willing to write his lack of defense off as an inability to recover from being rocked. In this case, on the other hand, Guillard had been dominating the fight up until the takedown Miller was desperately attempting. After the jump, I'll look at some of the basic mistakes Guillard made that led to Jim Miller being able to finish the fight.

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In the gif to the right we see Miller in a very loose half guard by Guillard. At the start, Guillard has his left leg crossing Millers left to keep him from passing. To slow down Miller here, The Young Assassin should lock down Miller's left leg with his legs to stop the pass while he establishes an underhook with his left arm. This would allow him to shrimp out of the half mount while keeping Miller from taking his back. Instead, Melvin keeps his right leg high, while stepping over Miller's leg with his left. Essentially he relinquished all the control he had of Jim Miller's hips and immediately gets his half-guard passed into mount.

Right after the pass, Melvin appears to panic. Before Miller's knee can hit the ground Guillard explodes into a hip escape. This was a solid idea and probably caught Miller by surprise for a second. However, Guillard fails to make the most of it. Just like before, he fails to set up a fundamental defense. For Guillard to keep a grappler on Miller's level from taking his back here, he needs to get an underhook or wizzer on the opposite side he is rolling toward. This would keep Miller from being able to easily transition to his back. Yet, Guillard acts too quickly and essentially hands the transition over to the waiting arms of Jim Miller.

Though somewhat obscured here by Herb Dean, once again Guillard makes a fundamental mistake in defending Miller's attempt to choke him. As they fall to the mat, Miller has Melvin's right wrist controlled with his left hand, which shows incredibly prsence of mind by Miller in setting up the rear naked choke. Guillard, on the other hand, completely fails to make the most of his last chance to defend himself. The second Miller let's go of Guillard's right arm, Melvin needed to grab the choking arm on his neck with both hands to defend the submission. But Guillard hesitated and allowed Jim Miller to quickly lock in the gable grip and transition to a bicep grip to get the tapout.

What upsets me the most about this performance is that Melvin Guillard has, and has had for a long time, the ability to be a top contender in the Lightweight division. There is no reason for a fighter with his level of experience and talent to consistently make fundamental mistakes like this.