Clay Guida Looking to Make Anthony Pettis “Pay His Dues”Bleacher Report’s Mike Hodges reports:One of the most care-free and beloved fighters in the UFC, Clay Guida is the last person to hold a grudge or any sort of resentment towards an opponent. Howe…
Clay Guida Looking to Make Anthony Pettis “Pay His Dues”
Bleacher Report’s Mike Hodges reports:
One of the most care-free and beloved fighters in the UFC, Clay Guida is the last person to hold a grudge or any sort of resentment towards an opponent. However his opponent, Anthony Pettis, might just be an exception.
The two lightweights will square off in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter Finale this weekend, with the winner likely earning a title shot by the year’s end. Pettis, who was acquired by the UFC from the WEC merger, is one win away from possibly earning his title shot.
But Guida plans on ruining his chances.
“I’m going to make him pay [his UFC dues] June 4. It’s not out of any rivalry or anything like that, but he’s going to realize that it’s time to step it up,” Guida said in an interview with ESPN.com.
Guida said he respects Pettis and he acknowledges the fact he has fought tough, credible opponents, but he plans on showing the difference in competition.
“He has wins over Shane Roller and Ben Henderson — they are tough guys. But I’ve fought the best in the cage,” he said.
Guida has a valid point, and one that not many could argue against; plain and simple: the best competition resides in the UFC.
After 13 bouts in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Clay Guida’s nickname “The Carpenter” is more about his ability to outwork opponents in the Octagon than his job title prior to prizefighter. Posting an 8-5 record since arriving i…
After 13 bouts in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Clay Guida’s nickname “The Carpenter” is more about his ability to outwork opponents in the Octagon than his job title prior to prizefighter. Posting an 8-5 record since arriving in the UFC in October 2006 (28-11 overall), the reputation Guida builds with each performance is one of a can’t-miss fighter addicted to a feverish pace.
The 29-year-old lightweight vies for a title shot this Saturday night in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale at The Pearl at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. Guida enters the bout a slight underdog looking to give the final WEC lightweight champion, Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, a fight the Chicagoan promises will be one to be remembered.
That statement says everything audiences need to know about this fight: it’s two lightweights finding their prime ready to assert themselves in the most contender-rich division in mixed martial arts.
Here are five losses that defined Clay Guida leading up to his clash with Duke Roufus’ champion protégé.
1. Tyson Griffin (Split Decision) June 16, 2007, The Odyssey, Belfast Northern Ireland, UFC 72
Clay Guida alternated wins in his first two UFC outings before meeting Tyson Griffin, the latest UFC title picture prospect who was on the rebound from an exciting upset loss to a debuting Frankie Edgar.
The hunger for victory the combatants displayed—Guida was coming off a close decision loss to Din Thomas— in front of the lively Irish audience stole the show, perhaps saving the entire card. The Fight of the Night honored contest properly introduced UFC audiences to the Midwesterner with wild hair. Make no mistake: Guida’s reputation as a tireless fighter is rooted in Belfast.
2. Roger Huerta (Rear-Naked Choke) December 8, 2007, Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale
Clay Guida got back on the winning track after Tyson Griffin immediately, earning a split decision against American Top Team’s Marcus Aurelio and positioning himself across from Roger Huerta, an undefeated rising star in the Octagon.
A bloody, valiant battle pushed both past their limits, entering their Fight of the Year ballot close enough to year’s end that talk of the bout ushered in the New Year. Guida stunned Huerta and unleashed caveman-style ground and pound only to succumb to an emotion-charged rally that scored Huerta a late rear-naked choke.
Two dramatic decision losses six months apart solidified win or lose, fans demand to see what Clay Guida can do in 15 minutes in the Octagon.
3. Kenny Florian (Rear-Naked Choke) December 12, 2009, FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tennessee, United States, UFC 107
Kenny Florian losing his second UFC lightweight title fight overshadowed his reputation as a finisher leading up his bout with Clay Guida. The Bostonian reminded observers that pushing the pace requires control of the fight. He stunned and submitted Guida via rear-naked choke mid-way through round two by comfortably pulling away with precision in all-facets of the fight.
The defeat has only reinforced the reason why Guida set out for Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico prior to the bout—to elevate his technique and strategy to match his intangibles like determination and heart. Since then, he’s finished three consecutive opponents for the first time in his UFC career, including his most recent victory, a second-round guillotine choke in January against former PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi.
4. Gilbert Melendez (Split Decision) June 9, 2006, HP Pavilion, San Jose, California, United States, Strikeforce “Revenge”
Before Clay Guida was a UFC fan-favorite, he was the Strikeforce lightweight champion. The Chicagoan surprised San Jose, California’s Josh Thomson in his backyard the HP Pavilion by outwrestling to him a decision to become the inaugural titleholder in any weight class in the organization. He found himself facing off with world-ranked featherweight Gilbert Melendez for his first title defense.
The Cesar Gracie fighter was seeking challenges at lightweight after storming through opponents—finishing eight of nine—in the California and international circuits to earn his “El Nino” moniker.
A backbreaking five rounds later, the boxer-wrestler scrap concluded with the challenger capturing the Strikeforce 155-pound crown. Even though Guida relinquished the belt, the clash suggested this was the first of many memorable performances he would have at the championship level.
5. Diego Sanchez (Split Decision) June 20, 2009, Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale
Clay Guida is wired like a true fighter. When Diego Sanchez came out with high-pressure punches for the first minute of their headlining fight, Guida remain unperturbed by “The Nightmare.” Three minutes into round one, Sanchez landed a left high kick that floored Guida and would have knocked out most cold, but Guida was getting up before he finished hitting the ground.
There is a degree of toughness required to only go forward. It’s illustrated best in his typical bloody fashion against the fiery onslaught of Sanchez that Guida has one gear and it’s stuck on “Fight of the Year.”
Danny Acosta is the lead writer at FIGHT! Magazine. Follow him on twitter.com/acostaislegend
Filed under: UFCLAS VEGAS – Over the last couple years, unless they’re fighting against them, fighters sharing a card with Clay Guida or Anthony Pettis have been able to pretty much assume their post-fight bonus chances will be cut by one-third.
LAS VEGAS – Over the last couple years, unless they’re fighting against them, fighters sharing a card with Clay Guida or Anthony Pettis have been able to pretty much assume their post-fight bonus chances will be cut by one-third.
Guida has won four UFC bonuses in his last six fights – two Submission of the Night wins and a pair of Fight of the Night checks. Pettis, while in the WEC, won three bonuses in his last four appearances. Add them together, and Dana White is writing checks for them at a 70 percent clip – not too shabby.
So when their fight against each other was announced earlier this year for Saturday’s live Season 13 finale of “The Ultimate Fighter,” it wasn’t hard to make an early prediction for Fight of the Night, or even Fight of the Year. (Guida has a pair of those to his credit in the last four years, as well.)
Pettis on Thursday told MMA Fighting on a media call that when it comes to putting on a show, it seems to come naturally to him, just like it does for Guida.
“I don’t feel any pressure at all to go out there and try to one-up myself or win Fight of the Night,” Pettis said. “We always bring exciting fights, and putting two guys like us in the cage together is going to be a great fight. The fans can expect an awesome fight, but the biggest thing is getting your hand raised at the end. We’re both looking to win and I think we’re going to put on a good show doing it.”
Pettis has been waiting a while to put on his next show. After he beat Ben Henderson in December to become the last WEC lightweight champ in history, he watched his immediate UFC title shot hopes go out the window when Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard fought to a draw at UFC 125. Rather than waiting, Pettis decided to stay busy – and got the red-hot Guida, who submitted Takanori Gomi on the same UFC 125 card.
Pettis said after some aggravation over not getting the title shot he was promised, he came to grips with it.
“At first I was a little mad, but I understand it,” Pettis said. “I want there to be a clear champion and I want to show people that I earned being the No. 1 contender. So I don’t mind going out there and fighting a couple guys before I get my title shot. That’s just going to make me a more well-prepared Anthony Pettis.”
With three straight wins – and three straight submissions – to his credit, Guida knows a win could put him right where he wants to be, and that’s title contention, perhaps in line to meet the winner of the rematch between Edgar and Maynard, who were scheduled to fight last week, but both went on the shelf with injuries.
“I think a dominating victory will definitely look better in the eyes of Dana White, Joe Silva and the UFC,” Guida said. “I think there’s a couple of guys up there – Jim Miller is on a tear, but he’s fighting one of Anthony’s former opponents in Ben Henderson. It’s an interesting little debacle in the lightweight division right now. There’s a lot of stuff going on, and unfortunately it’s going to be a little delayed with the injuries to Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. But the most Anthony and I can do is go out and put on a great show, which I know is exactly what we’re going to do.”
Guida has twice fought at The Pearl at The Palms on TUF Finale cards, and twice he last come away empty handed. In 2007, Roger Huerta submitted him in the third round at the TUF 6 Finale. At TUF 9, his slugfest bloodbath against Diego Sanchez ended in a close split decision loss – and sent Sanchez on to a title fight against BJ Penn.
Guida told Ariel Helwani on Tuesday’s edition of “The MMA Hour” he believes the bout will be an instant Fight of the Year candidate. On Thursday, he told MMA Fighting the win is the most important thing, and if the bonus comes, it comes. “To me, the most important bonus check is my win bonus,” Guida said.
But somehow, no one, least of all White when he writes the check, likely will be surprised if Guida or Pettis – or both – add yet another bonus to their resumes.
Guida and Pettis fight on the main card of the TUF 13 Finale on Saturday, which airs live on Spike TV at 9 p.m. Eastern. Also on the main card, Season 13 finalists Ramsey Nijem and Tony Ferguson meet to decide the next TUF champion.
The Ultimate Fighter Season 13: Ranking the WinnersBleacher Report’s Sean Smith looks back:In its more than 12 seasons of existence, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has produced multiple champions and even more top contenders. On the other hand, we have a…
The Ultimate Fighter Season 13: Ranking the Winners
Bleacher Report’s Sean Smith looks back:
In its more than 12 seasons of existence, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has produced multiple champions and even more top contenders. On the other hand, we have also seen a number of former winners being released after not being able to live up to their potential.
Still, The Ultimate Fighter has become an excellent source of new talent for the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC). However, even with all the former TUF talent that exists within the organization today, only series winners have been able to capture a UFC title.
From worst to best, here are the power rankings of the 18 former TUF winners.
TUF Season 13 Finale: 5 Reasons to Tune in on Saturday NightBleacher Report’s Dwight Wakabayashi:The “Ultimate Fighter” season 13 finale will be held this Saturday night June 4, and it will be headlined by a much anticipated, high energy clash betwee…
TUF Season 13 Finale: 5 Reasons to Tune in on Saturday Night
Bleacher Report’s Dwight Wakabayashi:
The “Ultimate Fighter” season 13 finale will be held this Saturday night June 4, and it will be headlined by a much anticipated, high energy clash between UFC veteran and tough as nails contender Clay “The Carpenter” Guida against the last WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.
It has been a somewhat underachieving season this year and it will take a solid finale to salvage a bit of momentum heading in to season 14 Mayhem vs. The Count. The show finals is set with Ramzi Nijem vs. and to be honest, the finalists are two very solid fighters with potential.
I think the show is often if not always driven by the animosity and rivalry set up between the two coaches and the lack of that between JDS and Lesnar is the real culprit for the dip in ratings.
There are some things on this card to get pumped up about and here are five reasons you want to watch this event.
Season 13 of the UFC’s reality program The Ultimate Fighter will come to a conclusion on Saturday, June 4 from the Pears at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Fighting for the six-figure UFC contract will be Ramsey Nijem and Tony Ferguson, two fig…
Season 13 of the UFC’s reality program The Ultimate Fighter will come to a conclusion on Saturday, June 4 from the Pears at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Fighting for the six-figure UFC contract will be Ramsey Nijem and Tony Ferguson, two fighters that did not go the distance in any of their previous fights during the filming of season 13 of TUF. Nijem enters the finals with two submission wins and one TKO while Ferguson has earned one KO victory to go along with two TKOs.
Also on the card will be a lightweight bout between former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and Clay Guida. Pettis and Guida will both be looking to show the UFC brass that they deserve a shot at the UFC title with a win in this bout.
Pettis will be making his UFC debut on Saturday night while Guida will be appearing on his third TUF finale show. He is 0-2 in his previous efforts, losing to Roger Huerta and Diego Sanchez.
Spike TV will air the five-fight main card from this event, beginning at 9 pm ET.
Bleacher Report will be your source for news, analysis and opinions on The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 Finale fight card.
One of the most care-free and beloved fighters in the UFC, Clay Guida is the last person to hold a grudge or any sort of resentment towards an opponent. However his opponent, Anthony Pettis, might just be an exception. 
LAS VEGAS – Over the last couple years, unless they’re fighting against them, fighters sharing a card with