Melvin Guillard has a bout with Chidi Njokuani lined up for Friday’s Bellator 171 event, but he’s already considering what could come after, and he’s seeking an explosive fight in the welterweight division.

“Back in July, I called out Paul Daley,” Guillard told MMAjunkie. “He’s a good friend of mine, and I think that would be a great fight for the division. That’s still a fight that I’m looking to want to take. Hopefully I can have Paul Daley by April or maybe summertime.”

Daley (39-14-2 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) is coming off a brutal flying knee knockout of Brennan Ward at this past weekend’s Bellator 170 event. Guillard (32-16-2 MMA, 0-2 BMMA) meets Njokuani (16-4 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) in the main event of Friday’s Spike-broadcast fight card from Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kan.

The rangy Njokuani will enjoy a six-inch height advantage in the 175-pound catchweight contest, but Guillard seems unconcerned.

“He’s all right,” Guillard said of Njokuani. “I have nothing exciting to say about him. He’s just an average fighter. He’s tall. He’s lanky. He uses his reach pretty well. But I’ve fought a lot of tall people. I’ve fought a lot of short people. The only thing I think I haven’t fought is a midget. I hope I get to fight a midget before my career is up. But at the end of the day, a fight is a fight.

“I’ve got judo. I’ve got wrestling. I’ve got striking. I can strike with the best of them, so I’m not worried one bit – not in any aspect of this fight.”

For Guillard, the fight marks his first since serving a reduced six-month suspension after testing positive for a non-performance-enhancing banned substance this past July. It’s an issue “The Young Assassin” isn’t interested in discussing.

“It’s behind me,” Guillard said. “It’s done. I got reinstated, so that’s all that matters. Had it been something really severe, I probably wouldn’t be reinstated. That’s all I’m going to go on with that.”

Guillard is no stranger to controversy, hand-delivering ammunition to his critics by missing weight in four of his past five appearances. But those were all scheduled for lightweight, and Guillard said welterweight is his home for the remainder of his fighting days.

And despite a professional career that dates back well beyond his documented record, which began in 2002, the 33-year-old Guillard thinks he still may have another decade left of fight in his body, and he wants to make sure he enjoys the ride. He doesn’t want to suffer the same kind of fight that often befalls veterans who stick around a little too long.

Guillard cited UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn’s one-sided loss to Yair Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 103 as a warning for how it can all go wrong.

“These years are flying by so fast – before I know it, five years will have passed by,” Guillard said. “I’m just ready to end on top. I don’t want to be like most fighters and end by getting my ass kicked or something like that. I want to end on top. I watched poor B.J. get his face kicked in the other night, and all I could think to myself is, ‘Damn, man. He should have probably stayed retired.’

“I’m not going to quit it anytime soon. Like I tell people, when it’s over, it’s over. I want to be one of those fighters that when it’s over, I’m not going to look back and want to come back to it. I’m going to make sure I’m completely done with competing. I think that’s what’s wrong with a lot of fighters now. They’re retiring too young, and they feel like they’ve still got something left in them. It’s kind of hard to jump back on the horse when you fall off.”

So Guillard is looking for a big push to finish his career. He believes his body will respond well to a new weight class that won’t force him to endure a brutal weight cut. He’ll get to test that out on Friday against Njokuani, and if all goes well, he’ll do it again with “Semtex” Daley on the other side of the cage later this year.

“No matter what happens to me outside the ring, I’m a fighter,” Guillard said. “When I come, I come to fight. When Bellator hired me, they hired me as a co-main or main-event fighter, and I respect that. Sometimes it’s hard because I can’t get on certain cards that I want to be on, but at the end of the day, I know my position, and I earned that.

“It’s an honor to always be able to go out there and showcase what I’ve got. I’ve still got a lot of fight left in the tank, and I’m not even going to half-step it like I’m losing a step or anything like that. I haven’t lost a step, and I don’t think I will any time soon. As long as I keep my steps in front of me, I’m always two steps ahead. I’m going to keep on pushing, man. I’m going to go out there and grind it out and knock this cat out and be waiting for my next fight, hopefully by March or April.”

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