The UFC recently released welterweight Jake Shields and Lightweight Melvin Guillard after long runs with the company. Neither cut comes as a real surprise to insiders, as Shields has earned a reputation as ‘methodical’ (that means boring) while Guillard’s bad points have lately outweighed his good points after a 22 fight UFC career. The World Series of Fighting organization moved quickly to sign Guillard to a multi fight deal, with a reported debut in July. As for Shields, he may not be far behind as the WSOF may see him as an addition to their welterweight division, which is their most talented weight class.
Guillard is expected to debut on the July WSOF 11 card that also features the first title defense for Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje, who is expected to face undefeated Nick Newell. Guillard’s opponent has not been announced yet, but it is likely going to be a match designed to build Guillard up a bit, with the goal of getting him into title contention quickly.
Guillard is still young at 31, and he can be exciting, but he has already put in a long career and has not shown the ability to adapt. Not to be disrespectful, but he has a rep for not being a ‘smart’ fighter, so WSOF is getting much the same product that we have in the past with Guillard. Their best scenario is for Guillard to win big, and then to rush him in with Gaethje. Even if Guillard was only a mid-level UFC fighter, getting a few UFC scalps on Gathje’s resume is necessary. They are hyping Gaethje a great deal, but he just does not have the level of competition to be called elite. To an extent, Guillard would help with that a great deal.
At WSOF< you get the feeling that someone over there cares about fighting. But you have to believe if they sign Jake Shields, that they will be cautious about putting on a Jon Fitch versus Jake Shields match-up. Though both UFC veterans remain fringe top 10 fighters in the weight class, it is a fight that you can just see Dana White laughing at, and it could be sponsored by that night time sniffling, sneezing medicine, so you can rest…..
