One of the most exciting lightweight fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Clay “The Carpenter” Guida (27-11), will square off against one of the most explosive fighters from Japan in Takanori Gomi when the two meet on Jan. 1st in Las Vegas as part of the UFC 125: Resolution event.
Guida has won his last two fights earning submission wins against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 117 and Shannon Gugerty at UFC Live 1 – Vera vs. Jones. But it’s not these past two victories that he’s thinking about, it’s the two straight losses before those fights that has him motivated against Gomi.
“The Carpenter” lost a split decision to Diego Sanchez at the “TUF 9 Finale” and was choked out by Kenny Florian at UFC 107. Guida spoke to Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports about how he wasn’t implementing his own game plan in those losses and will look to set the pace when he meets Gomi on Jan. 1st.
“What’s happened in a lot of those fights is very simple: I didn’t fight my fight. In the Diego fight, I fought Diego’s fight for the first minute or so, when he kicked me in the head, but then I won the second and third rounds. I implemented my game plan a little bit too late. Against Kenny Florian, I started off pretty good for the first two or three minutes, but then I started fighting his kick boxing style as if I was a pro kick boxer, which I’m not. Wrestling is what got me here, but in a lot of those fights, I got away from what Clay Guida is and it cost me. But now, I’m focusing on fighting my fight and 90 percent of the time, I get my hand raised.”