On the eve of UFC 148, Melvin Guillard still haunted by 'lucky punch' loss to 'disrespectful' Joe Lauzon

Is longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight striker Melvin Guillard looking past Fabricio Camoes? Probably not. But is he still bothered by the loss to Joe Lauzon at UFC 136 back in Oct. 2011?

Sure sounds like it.

The "Young Assassin" was socked and rocked by "J-Lau" on the main card of "Edgar vs. Maynard 3" before he was quickly mounted and forced to tap from a rear naked choke. While Guillard was heavily favored to win the 155-pound contest, the submission loss, at the time, marked the eighth of his career.

Getting choked out by Jim Miller in his very next fight would be his ninth.

Still, Guillard maintains he lost the Lauzon fight because he was caught with a "lucky punch" from being "too amped up" and "transitioning between camps."

Those comments (via Five Ounces of Pain) after the jump.

"If I had to pick any one guy that I wanted to fight it would have to be Joe Lauzon. He was very disrespectful after he won the fight. All I said was I thought I beat myself because I was too amped up and I was also transitioning between camps. I gave him respect for beating me, but then I read in a magazine that he punched me in my face, dropped me and then choked me out. I tried to take the high road and be professional about it, but he chose to be disrespectful about it. I want to win this fight and hopefully get a rematch with Lauzon. [He] caught me with a lucky punch and that was the deciding factor. I could see if he beat me up for five minutes, but he didn’t and it will be different if we meet again."

In order to get to Lauzon, Guillard must first get past Camoes at the UFC 148 pay-per-view (PPV) event this Saturday night (July 7, 2012) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

After getting strangled by Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 111 back in March 2010, "Marango" returned to the regional scene, racking up back-to-back wins over Steve Lopez and Efrain Escudero. He was impressive enough to get a call back to the big show, where he promptly disposed of Tom Hayden at UFC on FX via first round rear naked choke.

Watch that neck, Mr. "Young Assassin."

Alright, let's assume Guillard is victorious at UFC 148 and Lauzon is able to overcome Jamie Varner at UFC on FOX 4. Is there any interest from you, the fans, in seeing part two? Or is this water under the bridge for you?

To see what happened in their first fight click here.