Guida looking to go 4 for 4 in 2008
It had everything you want to see in a fight – skill, intensity, heart, and most importantly, drama. But when it’s over, there can only be one winner, and Related News
on December 8, 2007, the man with his hand raised wasn’t Clay Guida.
Sure, Guida had clearly won the first two rounds of his high-impact clash with fellow rising star Roger Huerta in their nationally televised clash at The Palms in Las Vegas, and with positive margins of two points on two scorecards and three on the third, he could have just taken his foot off the gas and coasted to victory in the final five minutes.
But ‘The Carpenter’ doesn’t play the Four Corners offense.
“Anyone who’s seen me fight knows I’m a go-getter and I’m not gonna let anything hold me back,” said Guida. “The plan was to get it to the ground, but he’s shifty and a good scrambler. Who knows, even if I would have taken him down just like before in the fight, he has ways of getting out, just like I do. So we wanted to trade for a little bit and get it to the ground and try to work some ground and pound, but everyone knows I leave it all out there. I’m out there to get the win, but at the same time, the fans are out there watching and I know it.”
So Guida didn’t back away from the onrushing Huerta, who was desperate to pull off the comeback victory. He didn’t put Huerta on his back and hold him there to stall out a win, and he most certainly didn’t disengage from battle. As he had done throughout the fight, he moved forward and the two lightweight standouts traded blows, but this time, as Guida changed levels for the takedown, he was greeted by a Huerta knee to the head. It was the beginning of the end.
“I feel like I did everything right in that fight until the end,” said Guida. “We watched his fights, we knew he threw looping punches and that everything is kinda wild, nothing’s really straight down the middle, so our plan was to throw everything as straight as an arrow, and we connected and bloodied him up. His takedown defense was not what I expected it to be – it was pretty much non-existent, and he’s a Division III wrestler. He wrestled at a better college than I did, but wrestling and MMA wrestling are two completely different things. But he’s got a lot of heart – I knew that coming in – and I wasn’t too surprised with anything. He’s an excellent fighter. I think my cover came down a little bit, I shot, and his knee happened to be in the right place and my chin happened to be in the wrong place.”
Everyone who saw what happened next will remember it for as long as they watch fights. Huerta began a ferocious assault on Guida, who gamely searched for the takedown to clear his head, and moments later, Huerta sunk in a rear naked choke that ended the fight. Just like that, in the cruelest of fates, Guida had victory snatched from his grasp. It wasn’t like his previous UFC losses, decisions to Tyson Griffin and Din Thomas, where you could make a case for the Illinois native. This one had the emphatic ending you could only chalk up to experience and move on. At least in this one, Guida was one half of the best fight of the year, which is consoling.
“I want to make people happy about the sport of mixed martial arts again,” said Guida, who estimates that he has watched the bout ‘close to a dozen times.’ “I’ve only been in it a few years professionally – it’s been a long road, don’t get me wrong, and it’s had its bumps and curves in the road – but I want people to be happy about the purity of the sport and I want them to like it because they like the fighters, our competitiveness, and our hearts. That fight right there was a true display of heart and talent.”
Can’t argue with that, and luckily, Guida’s stock hasn’t dipped at all despite a 2-3 UFC record (22-6 overall), but that’s one thing that doesn’t console him. The 26-year old isn’t content with putting on great fights and losing. He wants the end result to justify the hard work he puts into this sport, and he doesn’t want to go through another year like 2007, when he lost three of four bouts.
“Every champion loses, and even greater champions learn from their losses,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a wash by any means, but it was more motivational than anything. That loss in that last fight really sparked a fire beneath me, and it’s gonna be a new year starting in April. 2007 was a trying year; I guess that would be the best description.”
Wednesday, Guida gets a fresh start when he takes on France’s Samy Schiavo in Colorado. Sure, it’s not a headlining gig, but in his eyes, emerging victorious may be even more important. But if you’re expecting Guida to change his style, think again.
“He has fought some decent guys,” said
Guida of Schiavo. “But no one really fights him the right way, the way I’m going to. Everyone is quite timid and I think I have that advantage over most fighters. When everyone is still trying to get warmed up in the second round, I’m out there guns slinging 10 seconds into the fight. But the first time you overlook somebody, that’s your first mistake and that’s when you get caught.”
So Guida is putting in the long hours back home in Tinley Park, Illinois, but he’s also gotten some new looks while on his seemingly endless journeys around the country, getting in workouts with the standouts at Greg Jackson’s Gym, WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber, heavyweight contender Brandon Vera, and middleweight contender Dean Lister.
“I’m picking up different skills from different instructors, coaches, and fighters, and I’m kinda putting them all into one and it’s gonna be something special,” he said. “But overall, we stick with what’s working. I’m still with the same camp I’ve been training with, and every fight I feel I’m improving, every week in practice I’m improving.”
And despite the ups and downs of the last couple of years, he’s enjoying the ride being a pro fighter has taken him on.
“Most definitely, and I’m gonna continue to enjoy the ride for years to come,” he said. “Fighting is a privilege in my eyes and I’ve been very privileged in this life to be doing it. It’s only been three years and I’ve had almost 30 fights, and things are looking on the up and up. I’m gonna continue to train harder, continue to learn, and have as much fun as I can while I’m in the sport. Traveling is one of my interests and one of my loves and joys in this life. I love training and living out of a backpack. A lot of people, that’s not for them, but it seems like I’ve been living out on a plane for the past couple of years and I enjoy the heck out of it. I didn’t get on a plane until I was 18 years old, and I haven’t slowed down since.”
In or out of the Octagon. But this year, Clay Guida plans on not only entertaining, but winning.
“I’d like to get four fights in this year, and I’d like to make it four ‘W’s,” he said. “So we’ll take it one step at a time, starting with April 2nd.”
