Diego Sanchez fires back at knockout claim of Guillard, who says words twisted

Diego Sanchez isn’t happy about being characterized as a sparring dummy, and Melvin Guillard isn’t happy that people think that’s his opinion.

Sanchez had harsh words for “The Young Assassin” in advance of his fight with Ross Pearson, which headlines Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 30 at Phones4u Arena in Manchester, England.

On Twitter, Sanchez (24-6 MMA, 13-6 UFC) on Wednesday wrote Guillard (31-12-2 MMA, 12-8 UFC) was “making up fake stories” by claiming to have “dropped” him in practice when they trained together at Jackson-Winkeljohn’s MMA in Albuquerque, N.M.

“Im not even gonna start with you OK,” he wrote.

But if you’ve seen Sanchez’s barnburner with Gilbert Melendez at this past Saturday’s UFC 166, you know that he doesn’t back away from a fight.

“Everybody @JacksonsMMA know the truth your full of s–t melv & never dropped me!” Sanchez wrote today.

The reaction from the UFC lightweight and the MMA world has Guillard pointing the finger at reporters who wrote the story, which came out of an open media workout in support of Saturday’s event on FOX Sports 2 and MMAjunkie.com.

Guillard was asked about his reaction to Sanchez vs. Melendez, which is a shoo-in for “Fight of the Year” and already is hailed as one of the best fights in UFC history.

“I would have dropped either one of them,” Guillard told MMAjunkie.com. “I used to drop Diego Sanchez in practice all the time. When I hit people, I hurt people. That’s just what I do.”

Guillard, who left Jackson-Winkeljohn’s in 2011 and earlier this year was blocked from returning, today tweeted, “the media twisting my words that’s why I hate giving interviews now I’m a fighter what you expect me to say that this guys would wipe my ass.”

Several hours later, he again said he’s been misinterpreted.

“Omg people I’m a fighter remember we fight stop taking everything out of context please I ment nothing by that ok we fight that’s what we do,” he wrote.

Guillard and Sanchez were unreachable for comment at the time of this writing.

On Saturday, Guillard hopes to build on momentum earned with a knockout of Mac Danzig at this past July’s UFC on FOX 8, which snapped a 1-4 run in the octagon. He recently switched gym affiliations again, joining forces with Florida’s American Top Team after a short stint at Grudge Training Center in Denver.

Sanchez, meanwhile, remains unbooked after losing a unanimous decision against Melendez. Recently, he tweeted his desire to fight Nate Diaz, who is scheduled to fight a rubber match with two-time title challenger Gray Maynard at The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale.

But maybe after hearing Guillard’s comments, Sanchez might be persuaded to take aim at a new target.

For more on UFC Fight Night 30, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Diego Sanchez)