• UFC 136

Lauzon's going to sleep - Guillard

Melvin Guillard has warned Joe Lauzon that he'll be running directly into a brick wall when the pair meet at UFC 136 this weekend.

Guillard has made it clear that he believes he is a UFC lightweight champion-in-waiting. Five straight wins, three by knockout, suggest the Young Assassin (now 28) is finally bringing all parts of his game together.

He will need to against Lauzon, a man with educated hands who has submitted 16 opponents in his MMA career. He intends to make Guillard his 17th, but Guillard has other ideas.

"I will finish this fight. I said I'd knock out Evan Dunham and I did, I said I'd knock out Shane Roller and I did. Joe Lauzon, you're getting knocked out too," said the Greg Jackson pupil. "Good luck taking me down without getting punched in the face or kneed in the face.

"Joe Lauzon is a tough fighter. He's talented and he has skills, but I don't think he'll be fast enough or strong enough for me. People know when they're fighting me that they're gonna get put to sleep.

"It's a like a dog in a yard. You put two dogs in a yard, you have to attack straight away to show your dominance. I expect him to come out fast, but he'll run right into a brick wall. When I hit him, he's going down."

Lauzon is coming off a win over England's Curt Warburton, and he has won either the Fight of the Night or the Submission of the Night cheque in his last five outings. Very simply, he is out to silence the pro-Guillard crowd on Saturday.

"I'm a submissions guy, Melvin's biggest weakness is submissions, I'm going out to submit Melvin Guillard," promised Lauzon.

"Wrestling's the most important part of the fight. I've got to get Melvin to the mat. He's got good defensive wrestling and he's good at getting back to his feet. So it's up to me to get him down and keep him down.

"He's got the hometown crowd, I got the odds stacked against me, but I'm here to spoil everything."

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