Personally, Melvin Guillard vs. Jamie Varner was one of the fights I was most looking forward to on The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale card. The fight was scrapped at the last minute when Varner got sick, vomiting “like the Exorcist,” as Dana White put it.
Melvin doesn’t seem to think that the illness was due to anything more than nerves as he told Sherdog’s “Beatdown” radio show:
“I think it was a little bit of fear, a little bit of nerves and it got the best of him,” Guillard told the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show.
To back up his claim, Guillard explained that shortly before hearing that Varner was sick, he’d been warned that his opponent’s camp was concerned about him greasing.
“I’m in the locker room getting my rules meeting from the ref, and the end of that rules meeting was a little disturbing because the referee was like, ‘His corner wanted me to let you know that they are a little concerned about you greasing.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ I’ve done nothing but respect this guy and his camp,” Guillard said. “I’ve said nothing bad about him or his camp, and [they’re] going to sit there and try to falsely accuse me of possibly greasing? I’m like, ‘OK, whatever.’ I get undressed out of my suit and I put on my fight gear and I’m warming up now … and not even 15, 20 minutes later, the commissioner walks in and says, ‘Melvin, I think your fight might get scratched.’”
Melvin is known as a little bit of an emotional person, and he has taken pretty strong offense to the greasing questions. The fight has been rescheduled to the UFC 155 card and Melvin is promising that he’ll finish Varner in the first round and convince Dana and Co. to hand Jamie his walking papers.
I’m just holding out for an exciting fight between guys with very complimentary styles.
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