Melvin Guillard Thinks UFC Will Lose Talent Over Reebok Deal

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Melvin Guillard said that he thinks that the UFC is set to lose a lot of talent over their deal with Reebok, as there are many against it. Here are highlights:

On fighting Brandon Girtz at Bellator 141: “In the UFC I fought Waylon Lowe, I fought Shane Roller, and they were good wrestlers, they were brawlers, they liked to come forward aggressively. So when I watched him on tape, that was a big reason why I picked him. I want to come out and have a spectacular debut that people are going to remember for a long time. I didn’t pick him because I thought he was an easier fight, so I don’t want people to get that twisted. Because like I tell everyone, at this level everybody is tough, everybody is strong, everybody is game. Right now he probably thinks he has an opportunity to make a name for himself by fighting me, so I know he’s going to be a tough opponent. But I think as far as aggression and the technical part of the fight, I really think he matches up very well for my style.”

On talent being unhappy with UFC: “I’ve been hearing that a lot around my gym. A lot of the guys are really unhappy with how things went with the UFC. I’m just happy that I was released before all of that went down, because I never left with bad blood, I never left in a bad way. I was the one released, so I’m kind of glad it happened like that because a lot of guys are really not looking forward to re-signing. And I’m just thinking to myself, damn, the UFC is really just dropping the ball on a lot of guys. They’re going to lose a lot of talent.”

On the Reebok deal: “Guys aren’t happy with how things are going as far as the Reebok deal, obviously. Guys are losing money with sponsorships because they can’t make any money with sponsors. I never ever understood when I was with the UFC and they started charging companies to be in the UFC. That’s when everything started affecting our money. I never understood that, but I was always optimistic to think that maybe they would pay us more money on the back-end because we were losing money on this end, but it never happened. So I don’t know what the motive for what they’re doing is.”