5 forgotten MMA fighters you didn't know were still active

Former top contender Thiago Silva remains active despite leaving the UFC in 2013
Former top contender Thiago Silva remains active despite leaving the UFC in 2013

#3: Melvin Guillard

Melvin Guillard is now in his 16th year as an active MMA fighter
Melvin Guillard is now in his 16th year as an active MMA fighter

While he picked up some huge wins during his eight-year tenure with the UFC – over the likes of Evan Dunham, Dennis Siver, Gleison Tibau and Jeremy Stephens – Melvin Guillard never quite lived up to his seemingly huge potential, usually struggling with both grappling and with his cardio. Despite still putting on exciting fights – like his 2012 classic with Donald Cerrone – by 2013 he was clearly past his best.

A 2014 loss to Michael Johnson proved to be the end of his UFC tenure, but he was quickly picked up by World Series of Fighting – one of the two biggest promotions outside the UFC at the time. He went 1-1 there before signing with Bellator, but his run under Scott Coker proved to be disappointing and he went 0-3 with 1 no contest and missed weight to make matters worse.

His Bellator career ended in January 2017 with a loss to Chidi Njokuani and you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d retired, given the loss was the 54th fight of his 15-year career. But surprisingly enough, he remains active on the smaller circuit.

He lost to current UFC fighters Muslim Salikhov and Israel Adesanya in the summer of 2017 and most recently lost to the unknown Maurice Jackson in February. How much longer he can continue on is a huge question mark given he hasn’t won a fight since 2014.

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