If the fans watching UFC on FX weren’t vocal enough about the lack of action in Friday night’s main event between Clay Guida and Gray Maynard, UFC President Dana White added an emphatic exclamation point on their frustration after the event.In an inter…
If the fans watching UFC on FX weren’t vocal enough about the lack of action in Friday night’s main event between Clay Guida and Gray Maynard, UFC President Dana White added an emphatic exclamation point on their frustration after the event.
In an interview with Fuel TV’s Ariel Helwani, White vocalized his disappointment with Guida’s performance.
“I would’ve bet anything that fight would’ve been entertaining,” White said.
Fans were surprised to see a new style from the typically highly aggressive Guida, who normally utilizes in-your-face movement to wear down his opponents and beat them in exciting fashion.
Instead, the in-your-face style looked more like a track-and-field competition as Maynard chased Guida around the cage for the better part of 25 minutes, practically begging him to engage.
“He was literally running, swinging at Clay Guida, trying to hit him,” White said. “That’s not a fight.”
Since Guida moved to the Greg Jackson gym, we have slowly seen him turn from being a wildman in the cage to a much more patient, gameplan-based fighter. While he’s still capable of pouring on the pressure and keeping his opponents off balance, Friday night’s main event went beyond that and into the territory of avoiding exchanges.
“Some goof put it in his head that running around in circles might win him the fight, and they were dead wrong,” White said. “It was a blowout by Gray Maynard.”
Referee Dan Miragliotta did eventually warn Guida about running away and even threatened to take a point if he did it again.
White agreed with that decision, but noted that he thought that it should’ve come earlier in the fight.
“If only one guy is willing to fight, you can’t have a fight,” White said, referring to Guida’s timid style in the cage.
In the end, Maynard was given the decision, and although White was happy with the outcome on the scorecards, he was still frustrated with what the main event said about the card as a whole.
“This was not the way that I wanted to return to Atlantic City,” he said.
The UFC has a very clear rule against running in a fight: the passivity rule. As posted on the UFC website, here it is: “Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping th…
The UFC has a very clear rule against running in a fight: the passivity rule. As posted on the UFC website, here it is: “Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece or faking an injury.” This is exactly what Clay Guida did for almost the entire 25 minutes of scheduled action last night in Atlantic City.
The referee, Dan Miragliotta, allowed Guida to avoid contact with Gray Maynard until there was only a minute and fifty-three seconds remaining in the five-round bout. He then decided to issue a flaccid warning: a warning that would have been pertinent had it been issued fifteen minutes sooner.
Sport is about trying to score more points than your opponent in order to win; sport is not about trying to manipulate the rules to win via not-scoring.
Basketball implemented shot clocks for this very purpose; football has timeouts, the two minute warning and a shot clock; hockey has the icing rule and penalties for intentionally shooting the puck over the glass. These rules work to solve the problem of athletes holding on to a lead, stalling and no longer actively seeking to fulfill the intent of the game.
When Clay Guida decided to turn away from his opponent and sprint, he was not utilizing footwork. He was avoiding contact. The golden rule of footwork is “Don’t cross your feet.” Crossing one’s feet leaves one out of position to fight, throw and take strikes.
Clay often crossed his feet in order to turn and run once Gray managed to close him down and cut him off. The punches that Clay was throwing were well off their mark and were intended more to keep Maynard from entering range than to actually hit him. He was in violation of this rule several times throughout the fight but particularly in rounds 2,3,4 and 5. According to Fightmetric stats, Guida landed 49 of 327 total strikes.(To put these numbers in perspective, Edgar landed 95 and Maynard landed 71 at UFC 125.)
Gray did his part. He cut off angles and pressed the action. When he finally managed to have “The Carpenter” cut off and pressed against the cage, Guida turned and ran.
The lone highlight of the bout was when “The Bully” created a Ricardo Mayorga moment in the forth round. Gray dropped his hands and encouraged Clay to take free shots. He ate them cleanly and even turned that into a near-submission via guillotine. Well done, Maynard.
While Clay was running, for some unusual reason, commentators (Jon Anik and Kenny Florian) were praising Clay for his impressive footwork and elusive head movement. Strangely, in the fifth round, Clay was praised for burning up the clock. They did not have one disparaging thing to say about his tactics nor about the quality of the fight being languished as a result. They even had the audacity to thank God and Dana White for making this a five round bout.
What was good about that fight being five rounds? The commentators’ job is to call the fight and they should be more honest with their audience—and give their audience’s fight I.Q. more credit—but the onus is on the referees to do their job: implement the already present tools. Commentators should only call the action, not create it. When the fighters do not fight, that is the job of the person in stripes.
Credit Dana White for saying: ” I think Gray Maynard won that fight easily. Nobody can win or lose a fight when the guy is running around in circles. He was literally running. I had some guys who are fans on Twitter saying “Great footwork.” This isn’t f**kin dancing with the stars. You can’t win a fight by running around in circles—that’s not how fights are won.”
The truth is, the fight was a debacle and not a legitimate main even. Dana is absolutely right and his comments help create a sports culture that is conducive to entertainment and promotes the growth of the sport.
However, where Dana and I disagree is on his comment about Dan’s warning: ” “That’s what they’re supposed to do.” I would suggest that referees should do more than that. That is what they should do when it commences and not when the fight is virtually over (1:50 remaining) and the damage has already been done. I feel Dana should have higher expectations of the referees especially considering the ramifications on the integrity of the sport.
Some might attempt to mitigate the lousiness—as is often Dana’s mantra—by saying it was free. The last time I checked my cable bill, I pay for that channel. Yet, the finger cannot be pointed at White’s direction, and hopefully his words ring out to others known for employing this same strategy.
Should blame be placed at the feet of Guida—literally and figuratively—and those of his coach, Greg Jackson? Absolutely. The Jackson camp is notorious for having their fighters utilize this exact blueprint to win either controversial or lackluster decisions. (See Carlos Condit-Nick Diaz or any of G.S.P.’s last fights.) However, they are not unilaterally culpable.
The truth is, the system already has a built in mechanism to counter this strategy: the timidity rule. It is incumbent upon the referee to take a point from the fighter engaging in passivity.The referee’s failure to do so creates this opportunity for manipulation. Consider that Maynard was a single round on one judge’s card from losing the split-decision that he won.
Consider the safety of residents who live in a neighborhood where the police never arrest anyone, or the classroom environment of a teacher who never issues detention. The same principle follows for the health of a sport in which a referee never holds athletes accountable to the rules. This is often seen in hockey and basketball games when the play’s chippiness gets out of control and players get hurt.
Dan has done this before. Prior to this, what was the worst main event in the history of the UFC? If you chose UFC 112 (Silva v Maia), we are on the same page.
Miragliotta enacted the same method. He allowed Anderson to dance, run and clown until time had virtually expired and then issued a warning against inactivity. No point deduction, just a warning. Silva still did not engage and the fight ended without any points being taken away. However, he should have issued a warning sooner—not with 50 seconds remaining—and followed through on it.
Warning someone for a foul right at the end of the fight after allowing them to continuously commit the same infraction is an empty gesture. It serves to placate restless and frustrated fans and gives the false impression of doing one’s job without having to stand behind any definitive action. It is perfunctory. It is akin to “having enough” and threatening to take the screaming impudent kids out of the restaurant and straight home- conveniently after dessert is over and the bill is on the way.
For the record, according to Fightmetric, Silva landed eight total strikes in the fifth round and eleven in the fourth. For those who know the fight, you will recall him actually running behind Miragliotta and using the referee as a shield: Miragliotta found this amusing and laughed. Dan was complicit in the Guida and Silva bouts, allowing the fighters to break the rules and creating a fight that never should have been exhibited before a paying crowd nor a viewing audience.
Truthfully, this scenario is better than one at the opposite end of the spectrum. Referees who determine the outcome of a fight by capriciously deducting points is a far more bleak paradigm. Yes, the fighters should determine who the winner is- not the referee.
The athletes should be the main focal point of an outcome. However, the officials are tasked with the duty of ensuring the rules are followed. When one participant is not affording the other competitor an opportunity to compete, the referee is compelled to do his job.
Warnings should be issued once a fighter’s game-plan is revealed to be avoiding contact. These warnings should be supported by point reductions.
Not considering five round fights, what was the worst example of timidity in any combat fight…ever? Surpassing even the Hopkins-Hakkar match (boxing), the worst example of passivity—if it was not Maia-Silva—has to be Khalib Starnes-Nate Quarry at UFC 83. Who was the referee for that fight? How many points did he deduct? Zero. He never even gave an official warning for a point reduction.
I think the matchmakers did a good job and we should have expected a great main event at UFC on FX 4. Dana also said the right things and voiced the general sentiment of most fans. The judges delivered by not awarding the running session as a “W” to the violator. Yet, the worst offender of all was the referee. He is there to do a job and not be a fan.
Being a referee is very difficult and I praise-and never fault- a referee who chooses fighter-safety first. However, timidity is an easy call to make. Hopefully, referees will simply do their job in the future.
Anyone who saw the main event of UFC on FX 4 was not impressed, and UFC president Dana White was no exception. “The fight sucked. I don’t know how to expand on it anymore,” White told MMAjunkie.com at the post-fight news conference. “… I do…
Anyone who saw the main event of UFC on FX 4 was not impressed, and UFC president Dana White was no exception.
“The fight sucked. I don’t know how to expand on it anymore,” White told MMAjunkie.com at the post-fight news conference. “… I don’t think that was a split decision at all. I think Gray Maynard won that fight easily. Nobody can win or lose a fight when the guy is running around in circles. He was literally running. I had some guys who are fans on Twitter saying, ‘Great footwork.’ This isn’t (expletive) ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ You can’t win a fight by running around in circles – that’s not how fights are won.”
Many fans and analysts alike believed the fight between Clay Guida and Gray Maynard would be an exciting, high-octane bout between two lightweight contenders.
Instead, Guida refused to engage with “The Bully” for five full rounds, leading to a very boring, and downright bizarre, fight at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
White compared Guida’s strategy to the most notorious case of running away from an opponent in the history of the sport: Kalib Starnes’ UFC 83 loss to Nate Quarry.
As a matter of fact, White actually believes that Guida’s performance was worse.
“Because this was the main event, I think it was worse,” White said. “I’m sure I will (talk to Guida). I’m not his trainer. I’m not his coach. These guys come up with gameplans, whatever it is, but to make a guy like Clay Guida go out and fight like that—that was the gameplan?”
The video of White’s interview is available courtesy of MMAWeekly.
Despite the harsh criticism, Guida, a 16-fight UFC veteran, defended his performance in a post-fight interview with MMAjunkie.
“I think a little more movement and if I would’ve landed a few more strikes, I would’ve gotten the nod,” Guida said. “We stuck to the game plan. We were unpredictable. He’s a big, heavy puncher. The guy hits hard. The guy punches holes in walls for practice, I’m sure, and I didn’t want my head to be one of those. I thought we stuck to the game plan, we kept him guessing, we ran him out. He was swinging for the fences, and we weren’t there. … I felt good about my performance.”
After winning four fights between 2010 and 2011, Guida has now lost two in a row, including a title eliminator bout to Benson Henderson last November.
Meanwhile, Maynard finds his first win in nearly two years, after fighting then-lightweight champion Frankie Edgar to a draw at UFC 125 and then being knocked out by “The Answer” at UFC 136.
Gray Maynard has never been the most popular UFC fighter. Maybe it’s because it’s almost impossible to picture him as an underdog; he’s an enormous lightweight who lives up his “Bully” moniker. (His choice of entrance music probably doesn’t do him any favors, either.) He’s always Goliath, and in our society we’re conditioned to root for David. That attitude was epitomized in Frankie Edgar’s back-to-back comebacks against him, with the crowd firmly in favor of the smaller fighter who seemed to rely on his will and technique, while Maynard relied on his size and power. As long as Maynard’s achievements were contextualized within that narrative, he would always be the villain.
Clay Guida won the first two rounds of their main event last night by constantly remaining out of Maynard’s reach, dictating the pace, occasionally landing jabs, and landing a solid head kick in the latter half of the second round. The action had been sparse throughout, but it seemed understandable; Guida obviously didn’t want to engage Maynard head on at first, he’d tire him out and then wear him down. Well, that didn’t happen. For the majority of the third round, Guida squandered whatever momentum he may have built by circling, dancing, and circling some more. It was UFC 112 Anderson Silva on meth. By the end of the round, Maynard was flailing with power punches, frustrated by Guida’s unwillingness to engage.
Midway through the fourth round, Maynard had enough. With Guida still circling and refusing to engage, Maynard finally grabbed a hold of him, landed some knees and then proceeding to embody the audience’s frustrations by dropping his hands and bellowing epithets, daring Guida to just stop running and hit him. Guida proceeded to oblige him, only to have Maynard walk through a hard overhand right, stuff a takedown and almost secure an arm-in guillotine in an unprecedented display of attitude and badassery that it actually caused fans to cheer him. Round 5 was unfortunately more of the same, which is to say, not much at all.
Gray Maynard has never been the most popular UFC fighter. Maybe it’s because it’s almost impossible to picture him as an underdog; he’s an enormous lightweight who lives up his “Bully” moniker. (His choice of entrance music probably doesn’t do him any favors, either.) He’s always Goliath, and in our society we’re conditioned to root for David. That attitude was epitomized in Frankie Edgar’s back-to-back comebacks against him, with the crowd firmly in favor of the smaller fighter who seemed to rely on his will and technique, while Maynard relied on his size and power. As long as Maynard’s achievements were contextualized within that narrative, he would always be the villain.
Clay Guida won the first two rounds of their main event last night by constantly remaining out of Maynard’s reach, dictating the pace, occasionally landing jabs, and landing a solid head kick in the latter half of the second round. The action had been sparse throughout, but it seemed understandable; Guida obviously didn’t want to engage Maynard head on at first, he’d tire him out and then wear him down. Well, that didn’t happen. For the majority of the third round, Guida squandered whatever momentum he may have built by circling, dancing, and circling some more. It was UFC 112 Anderson Silva on meth. By the end of the round, Maynard was flailing with power punches, frustrated by Guida’s unwillingness to engage.
Midway through the fourth round, Maynard had enough. With Guida still circling and refusing to engage, Maynard finally grabbed a hold of him, landed some knees and then proceeding to embody the audience’s frustrations by dropping his hands and bellowing epithets, daring Guida to just stop running and hit him. Guida proceeded to oblige him, only to have Maynard walk through a hard overhand right, stuff a takedown and almost secure an arm-in guillotine in an unprecedented display of attitude and badassery that it actually caused fans to cheer him. Round 5 was unfortunately more of the same, which is to say, not much at all.
At the end of the fight, Maynard was awarded a split-decision, with two 48-47’s and one 47-48. I don’t have a problem with the decision, though I can understand why some might; the fight was difficult to score just because so little happened during it. But that’s not what this night should be remembered for; this is the night that Gray Maynard broke the narrative paradigm that has plagued him throughout his UFC career. By expressing the frustration that so many of us felt, Maynard wasn’t a bully anymore; last night, he was one of us.
Well, and the night that Clay Guida single-handedly destroyed his reputation as a fan-favorite. Hey, I’m trying for the glass half-full approach here, people. Moving on…
Disappointing main event aside, this was a pretty good card. Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher lived up to expectations, in what was – I imagine – either the most difficult or the easiest fight to live blog of the night. (It depends if you try to actually give a play by play, or simply copy and paste “They engage. Both land shots,” over and over.) Although Fisher seemed to get the better of the standup exchanges ever so slightly, Stout sealed his victories by nailing takedowns in each round, securing the unanimous decision in their trilogy fight.
Just as interesting was the ground war waged between young gun T.J. Waldburger and battle-tested, immaculately manscaped Brian Ebersole. Waldburger got off to a fast start, dropping Ebersole with a straight left, and almost finishing him on the ground with a D’Arce choke. Despite his face turning the color of Prince’s garments of choice, Ebersole survived. In the next round, Ebersole escaped from an omoplata, an arm bar, and two triangle chokes. Despite Waldburger’s active guard, Ebersole took the round on the strength of his ground and pound, turning it on in the final seconds. The deciding round saw Ebersole secure a takedown, escape yet another triangle, and deliver shoulder strikes and elbows until the bell rang. It was enough for Ebersole to take a unanimous decision, 29-28 across the board. With this momentum, Ebersole plans to set up a higher profile fight at 170 in an attempt to… wait, no, apparently he’s going to try to cut to 155. Huh?
Cub Swanson and Ross Pearson was another highly entertaining fight, in which Swanson really got to show off just what was in his arsenal. Although Pearson was clearly the larger and stronger of the two, Swanson’s speed and ingenuity allowed him to get the better of the exchanges. At one point in the first round, Swanson threw a capoeira kick that would impress Anthony Pettis, which Pearson didn’t even flinch from, with Swanson following with upkicks from his back. The end came as Pearson pushed forward, Swanson landed two jabs, pivoted to his left and unleashed a counter left hook that sent Pearson crashing into the fence at 4:14 of the second round. Bring on Do Bronx, please.
The prelims were generally solid, but the highlight had to be Ricardo Lamas’ upset of Hatsu Hioki. Hioki had passed on a title fight with Jose Aldo because he believed he wasn’t ready to face him, and took the fight with Lamas as a tune up to that title shot. Well, it proved to be the right decision, because there was no way Hioki was ready for a title shot. After winning the first round and losing a competitive second round, Hioki was utterly ineffective in the third. It’s not so much that Lamas dominated him, although he did almost submit him with a number of guillotines, so much as Hioki just didn’t do anything in the final round. His standup looked atrocious, and his cardio looked almost as bad.
Fight of the Night went to Fisher-Stout, KO went to Swanson, and Sub went to Dan Miller for his third-round guillotine win over Ricardo Funch.
In a fight that can only be summed as a total disappointment, Gray Maynard hand his hand raised via split decision over Clay Guida. The bout took a few bizarre turns with Maynard even allowing Guida to hit him a few times without doing anything i…
In a fight that can only be summed as a total disappointment, Gray Maynard hand his hand raised via split decision over Clay Guida. The bout took a few bizarre turns with Maynard even allowing Guida to hit him a few times without doing anything in return. Fans were expecting a five round action packed roller coaster of a fight but instead were treated to two fighters who were too timid.
What We Will Remember From This Fight:
Obviously fans will remember how much of a disappointment this fight was. Guida and Maynard were expected to go back and forth over the course of 25 minutes. Instead, Guida chose to dance while Maynard was visibly frustrated with the lack of engagement.
Fans will also remember Maynard dropping his hands to allow Guida to hit him and then Maynard immediately stuffing a takedown right after.
What We Learned About Gray Maynard:
Well Maynard was supposed to look like a brand new fighter after switching his training camps. At some points he showed better footwork in being able to cut Guida off but for the most part he looked like the same Maynard as before.
He still swung with wild haymakers and didn’t seem capable of streamlining his punches and kicks into combinations. Only in the final minutes of the fight did Maynard showcase his striking skills.
Maynard may also be a bit disappointed with his wrestling in this fight as well. Guida was able to fend off Maynard’s takedown attempts, something that shouldn’t have happened given how powerful Maynard’s wrestling has looked.
What We Learned About Clay Guida:
For five rounds Guida utilized his trademark dance to bait Maynard into following him around the cage but couldn’t fully capitalize. It looked as if Guida wanted to use the same gameplan as his teammate Carlos Condit used at UFC 143 but was unable to.
Condit was able to land counter punches and clearly won that fight. Guida may have landed more punches but in no way could he be declared the winner of anything except a marathon.
Guida was able to stun Maynard a number of times and even made him bleed in the opening round but Guida was entirely too timid. The normally overly-aggressive fighter fought too safe and it cost him.
Maynard may have not done much to be called a winner either but the only thing Guida won this night was the chance to compete in the next Tour de France.
What’s Next for Gray Maynard:
It’s highly unlikely Maynard will be competing for the lightweight title in 2012 as this performance means Maynard will need to face another top contender. A bout against Anthony Pettis could serve as a title eliminator or a rematch with Frankie Edgar should Edgar fail to win the title.
What’s Next for Clay Guida:
A long look in the mirror. It’s one thing to fight smart or fight safe. Guida did neither as those both involve the word “fighting.” The fact it took a referee’s warning in the final round to finally light a fire under Guida’s behind is perhaps the most telling about Guida’s performance tonight.
Two-straight losses have effectively cemented Guida’s place as the gatekeeper of the lightweight division. Hopefully his next bout doesn’t come after another lengthy layoff because it clearly affected him.
UFC on FX 4 marks the UFC’s return to Atlantic City for the first time in seven years. That card featured Andrei Arlovski vs. Justin Eilers and Rich Franklin vs. Evan Tanner. This card may lack the heavyweight and middleweight title fights, but it more…
UFC on FX 4 marks the UFC’s return to Atlantic City for the first time in seven years. That card featured Andrei Arlovski vs. Justin Eilers and Rich Franklin vs. Evan Tanner. This card may lack the heavyweight and middleweight title fights, but it more than makes up for it with a fantastic trilogy fight between Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher and a lightweight scrap between Gray Maynard and Clay Guida.
The card is part of a doubleheader, as the UFC will also be running fights down in Brazil the following night with UFC 147. I will be providing cageside play by play and commentary on the night.
The card will be broken down as follows:
Main Card (on FX): Gray Maynard vs. Clay Guida Sam Stout vs. Spencer Fisher Brian Ebersole vs. T.J. Waldburger Ross Pearson vs. Cub Swanson
Preliminary Card (on Fuel TV): Hatsu Hioki vs. Ricardo Lamas Ramsey Nijem vs. C.J. Keith Rick Story vs. Brock Jardine Steven Siler vs. Joey Gambino Nick Catone vs. Chris Camozzi Matt Brown vs. Luis Ramos
Preliminary Card (on Facebook): Dan Miller vs. Ricardo Funch Ken Stone vs. Dustin Pague
UFC on FX 4 Start Times: Prelims on Facebook: 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT Prelims on Fuel TV: 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT Main Card on FX: 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT
