Well it looks like the Texas-sized showdown between Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard and Yves Edwards won’t be happening after all. The two long-time Texas MMA mainstays were slated to mix it up against each other at the “UFC Fight Night 23: Fight for the Troops 2” event, slated for January 22 at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas but it was not to be as one of them has been promoted to main event status on the same card.
Filling in for an injured Kenny Florian, a possible title shot at lightweight is now on the line for Melvin Guillard as he takes on Evan Dunham, the highly-regarded fighter out of Xtreme Couture. At 11-1, Dunham recently suffered the first blemish on his record but not without controversy as many, including UFC President Dana White, disputed the judges’ call in his split decision loss to Sean Sherk at UFC 119. All that being said, this bout is certainly an opportunity for the 28-6-2 “Young Assassin” to notch an impressive fourth victory in a row en route to a title shot.
Initially reported by MMAjunkie.com, it won’t be a total loss for the “ThugJitsu” originator as Austin-resident Yves Edwards will indeed remain on the card. While he won’t be taking on Guillard in the All-Texas Showdown, the good news for Yves is that he can at least pretend like he’s fighting a fellow Austinite as he takes on eclectic personality and Hill Country hippie lookalike Cody McKenzie. An expert at the Guillotine choke, the recent TUF semi-finalist could pass for any number of locals walking around Barton Creek pool in the summertime and should pose a different challenge with his submission(s) as opposed to the hard-hitting Melvin.
UFC Fight Night 23: Fight for the Troops 2 – Updated Fight Card
Main Bouts:
- Cole Miller vs. Matt Wiman
- Pat Barry vs. Joey Beltran
- Mark Hominick vs. George Roop
- Tim Hague vs. Matt Mitrione
- Evan Dunham vs. Melvin Guillard
Preliminary Bouts:
- Yves Edwards vs. Cody McKenzie
- David Mitchell vs. Mike Swick
- Amilcar Alves vs. Charlie Brenneman
- Willamy Freire vs. Waylon Lowe
- Chan Sung Jung vs. Rani Yahya
- Mike Guymon vs. DaMarques Johnson
