Justin Geathje's next WSOF lightweight title challenger: Melvin Guillard

As expected, Melvin Guillard‘s big win at WSOF 10 has earned him a coveted title shot.

Guillard (32-13-2) will challenge Justin Gaethje (12-0) for WSOF’s lightweight title later this year. WSOF President Ray Sefo confirmed the news to AXS TV’s “Inside MMA” on Friday, and Gaethje found out while he was a guest on the show.

No time table was given for the fight, though it’s not expected to be part of the promotion’s next event, WSOF 12, which originally was planned for Aug. 2 in Tokyo, but now is expected to take place Aug. 9 in Las Vegas. Less than a month out, only Yushin Okami has been announced for that card, but that was when it was going to be in his native Japan.

Gaethje was asked by “Inside MMA” host Kenny Rice who he thought his next opponent would be, and he said he believed Luis Palomino had done enough to earn the shot. “That’s who I would think would be well-deserving – but Palomino, Guillard, it doesn’t matter,” Gaethje said.

But then he was informed that it would be Guillard. “I’ve trained with Melvin before, and you guys are in for a show,” he said. “He’s the most explosive 155-pounder in the world. (But) I’m not going to submit Melvin. I’m going to knock Melvin out.”

Guillard made his WSOF debut a week ago and picked up a second-round TKO of former training partner Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante at WSOF 11. Guillard came in heavy for the fight and blamed the weight-cut woes on the show being earlier in the day than a normal fight card. WSOF 11, the promotion’s debut on NBC, went off early to stay out of the way of that night’s UFC 175 pay-per-view. But despite the weight infraction, Guillard picked up one of the biggest wins of his career.

Guillard was released by the UFC after his unanimous decision loss to Michael Johnson at UFC Fight Night 37 co-main event in London in March. After a five-fight winning streak between 2010-11, Guillard had fallen on rough times in the octagon, going just 2-5, including three first-round losses.

He and Cavalcante were told before the fight that the winner was going to get a title shot against the winner of Gaethje and Nick Newell, who fight in the WSOF 11 main event – with Gaethje dominating for a second-round TKO to stay perfect. Gaethje’s win over Newell was his first defense of the lightweight title that he took with a 69-second knockout of Richard Patishnock at WSOF 8 in January.

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