Hyped as a shoo-in fight of the night contender, the Melvin Guillard vs. Jeremy Stephens battle at UFC 119 was a big letdown. Both fighters brought their intensity and proclivities to throw haymakers, but the fight ended up coming across as surprisingly actionless, with little of the three-round fight living up to the hype. There simply were not enough successful striking combinations to create a real sense of danger, and the result was a fight that seemed to be about going through the motions.
But who won? Did Melvin Guillard outpoint Jeremy Stephens? Or, did Stephens put the hurt on the explosive Guillard?
The result follows:
Melvin Guillard b. Jeremy Stephens via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
*Story of the fight: The decision is reasonable enough, but there is no justification for a 30-27 Guillard victory here (on the basis of round three). The fight basically came down to Guillard showing more comfort and quickness on his feet. Stephens pushed the pace and moved forward, but because Guillard was so adept at dodging Stephens’ combination of hard punches and kicks, much of Stephens’ attempted offensive was rendered worthless.
After stumbling Guillard at the onset, Stephens largely struggled to connect with the smoother Guillard for the duration of the first two rounds. Guillard did not do too much either–but because he was more comfortable on his feet, he was able to connect with a handful of shots from the outside.
Round three seemed to belong to Stephens, who showed more urgency and started to connect with some big shots in the closing moments. That offense was not enough, however, as two judges decided that Melvin Guillard was the rightful victory.