BROOMFIELD, Colo. – Clay "The Carpenter" Guida is a solid back end of the top 10 lightweight but you would never know it by seeing his fan following and the greeting he got tonight at the 1st Bank Center. He’s about as blue collar as it gets in mixed martial arts and the fans love it. Shannon Gugerty felt what it was like to keep up with a guy who’s a card carrying union carpenter who works his opponent every second of the fight.
Guida took down Gugerty early in the first and made the San Diegan work hard for four minutes to avoid getting into a worse position. In the second, Guida’s grinding style paid off. Less than a minute into the round, using a whizzer, Guida got Gugerty to the mat. Gugerty didn’t have as much fight this time around. Working out of half guard, Guida slapped on an arm-triangle choke. Once he jumped to side control, it was over. Gugerty tapped at 3:42 of the second giving Guida his first win in 13 months.
"My back was to the wall," Guida told UFC.com. "You cage a guy like me, I’m just gonna come back furious."
Guida (26-11, 6-5 UFC) had dropped two straight entertaining fights against top lightweight contenders Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. He said it was important to fight his fight.
"I got out there and went after it. I got back to the old ground and pound style. I’m not known for submitting people in the UFC but I’ve got something 15 submission wins."
Guida thought he broke Gugerty early in the second but admitted that he was a handful in the first. He pointed out that Gugerty had him in two tight guillotine chokes and he was also in jeopardy for a split second when his opponent came close to locking on a triangle choke.