Melvin Guillard finds new home at Grudge, coach optimistic about turnaround

This morning UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard moved in to a triplex that serves as a fighter house for the Grudge Training Center in Denver, and a handshake deal has put a new head coach in his corner.

Trevor Wittman today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that he will run Guillard’s fight camps moving forward, including one for a newly announced fight against Mac Danzig (21-10-1 MMA, 5-6) at UFC on FOX 8.

“I feel me and him have a very good connection, and I know him pretty well,” Wittman said. “I feel we can really help him turn his career around.”

Guillard (30-12-2 MMA, 11-7 UFC), who couldn’t be reached for comment, recently hit a rocky patch in his professional life when he left the Blackzilians MMA team at JACO Hybrid Training Center in Boca Raton, Fla., and was then barred from returning to his previous gym, Jackson-Winkeljohn’s MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., where he faces a pair of assault charges stemming from incidents in 2010.

In the cage, “The Young Assassin,” who left the Blackzilians but retained his management team, is 1-4 in his past five outings following a five-fight win streak. Danzig, meanwhile, has hopscotched between losses and wins in his past seven fights.

Guillard this morning tweeted his arrival at Grudge, which has developed the talents of Nate Marquardt, Shane Carwin, Brendan Schaub and others under the guidance of Wittman. The two had a long talk, the 39-year-old coach said.

“Heading to my first workout with team grudge I sleep in a basement these are the thing’s I’ve been missing felt good let’s get it.:-):-),” Guillard wrote.

Wittman said he briefly worked with Guillard as the fighter prepared to meet Jim Miller at UFC on FX 1, where he suffered a first-round submission loss. But the two were familiar when Guillard was a regular at Jackson-Winkeljohn’s, which maintains a strategic partnership with Grudge.

“He asked me to hit mitts with him for the week, and it was a very good connection, and I think that was a part of what helped him make his choice to come here,” Wittman said.

Guillard joins six other fighters in the house. Wittman said the fighter’s wife is staying in Florida for work and will make regular visits.

Wittman has a very clear idea of what’s needed to turn around Guillard’s career.

“Melvin has to be Melvin,” he said. “He’s got to find who he is and where he performs the best. A good coach is going to find out where and what makes an athlete perform. Melvin’s one of those guys that’s a spot fighter. He has shown spots of greatness. There were runs where he’d go three or four fights in a row with all finishes.

“Seeing a guy like that, you can either be at the top of the game or the bottom of a game, or you can be a gatekeeper. When you’re mind is not right and you’re fighting for the wrong reasons and [acting] outside of what you do well, that’s where you see an athlete going downhill. To me, it’s all about where you are mentally.”

The right mindset, he said, far outweighs the importance of the opponent standing across from Guillard at UFC on FOX 8, which takes place July 27 at Seattle’s KeyArena.

“I don’t think it’s too much of our focus,” Wittman said. “I think Melvin could compete with the best in the world. Mac Danzig, to me, is just an opponent. I don’t want to qualify him as a great fighter or not a great fighter. My No. 1 goal is bringing out the best Melvin.”

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