Next week’s Bellator 149 card was initially scheduled to see Melvin Guillard meets Fight Master finalist Mike Bronzoulis in a lightweight bout. However, Bronzoulis recently pulled out of the bout due to an injury and Patricky “Pitbull” Freire made it clear that he was ready to step up and fight Guillard next week.
The two Bellator lightweights would end up exchanging multiple messages on various social media platforms including Twitter and Instagram. Guillard made it known on social media that he was open to taking a fight against Pitbull, but we wanted the fight to take place in April, not February.
On Thursday, Guillard spoke to The MMA Report about his fight next week against Campos. The complete interview with Guillard can be heard on Tuesday’s edition of The MMA Report Podcast on Radio Influence and Guillard went into detail on why he is not fighting Pitbull next Friday night at Bellator 149.
“It common sense. I know I am a bad mother f**ker alright. I know I am a cocky mother f**ker at times,” Guillard told The MMA Report. “But I am not stupid. I am coming off a six month layoff from a broken wrist that I got when I fought Brandon Girtz on August 28. Why would I come off a six month layoff and an injury to fight a guy that is in the top five guy in my division? Whatever people might call ring rust. That s**t do exist. I would be stupid and that’s me actually giving the dumb**s idiot a compliment. Telling him that I respect him.”
“Now what I don’t respect is the fact that him and his camp tried to network a fight,” he continued. “He is coming off a knockout win over Ryan Couture. I feel like Ryan Couture was piecing him up. Ryan Couture was getting into his s**t until Ryan Couture got clipped by the little left hook. Other than that, Patricky Pitbull is a one-dimensional fighter. He is a Brazilian kickboxer. Overly aggressive. Very flat foot. I can pick one hundred different ways that I beat the guy.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to fight a guy in the top five coming off a six month layoff with an injury. That would be stupid. I had my momentum. I still have my momentum, but I had my hopes on fighting Mike Bronzoulis. Who is an ex-teammate and was a friend. As of right now, I think we are still friends. If he [Patricky] wants to say I am taking an easy payday, he can call it whatever he wants. But like I told him, I am not ducking him. I will fight Patricky Pitbull in April. As early as possible in April. Let me get my feet wet like he just got his feet wet. Let me knock this guy out [Campos] and then we both can talk. Let’s see if he feels the same way about fighting me after I knock out Derek Campos.”
When it came to the injury he suffered against Girtz, it was the eighth time that he has broken his hand. But the first time that surgery was required. He ended up recovering three weeks quicker than expected and after he defeats Campos, his sights are completely set on Patricky Pitbull.
“He sat there and tried to be disrespectful,” he said. “He tried to talk s**t. One, I do not talk Portuguese. I am American. I speak American. When mother f**kers refer to me, they need to learn how to talk American because I speak American. At the end of the day. He ran his mouth. Now he has networked himself into a fight with me and I am glad he did. Because I can’t wait to knockout Patricky Pitbull and show him how easy of a fight he is.”