If at first you don’t succeed, the UFC will try to book the fight again.
Featherweights Chad Mendes and Clay Guida will finally meet this August as part of the upcoming UFC 164 card from Milwaukee after their original bout at UFC on Fox 7 had to be scrapped.
Guida suffered a training injury at the time, and it forced him to the sidelines where he sat waiting until this week when the UFC gave him the chance to return to action against the exact same opponent he was supposed to face the last time.
UFC officials announced the pairing on Tuesday.
The fight at UFC 164 will be Guida‘s second at 145 pounds after the Chicago native spent most of his MMA career fighting in the lightweight division. In his first bout at featherweight, Guida upset former title contender Hatsu Hioki by split decision in a closely contested bout.
Right from the frying pan and into the fire for Guida, who will get another step up in competition for his next trip to the Octagon when he faces another top featherweight at UFC 164.
Since losing his bid to become UFC featherweight champion in 2011, Chad Mendes has been an absolute wrecking machine, as he’s bowled through every fighter he’s faced in his last three bouts.
Mendes has not only won his last three fights in a row, but he’s done so by finishing all of his fights inside of two minutes of the first round.
In his last bout where he was supposed to face Guida, Mendes instead drew late-notice replacement Darren Elkins. Mendes blasted the Indiana native with punches, finishing the fight at just over one minute into the round.
Now Mendes faces another top challenger with Guida standing in his way at UFC 164 in Milwaukee.
The upcoming UFC 164 card will be part of the Harley-Davidson Hometown Throwdown event as part of the Harley-Davidson 110th anniversary being held in Milwaukee that weekend.
No main event has been named for the event yet, but it’s expected that UFC officials will look to make an announcement in the coming days with tickets going on sale soon.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com