Fighters Only

Issue 034

February 2008

December 8^th 2007

The Pearl, Las Vegas

Report by Daniel Fletcher Photos: Josh Hedges / Zuffa LLC.

The final event of any Ultimate Fighter season is always highly anticipated, but when you headline it with a fight like that between Roger Huerta and Clay Guida, it’s a wonder the roof didn’t blow off with excitement.

Mr Composure vs the Caveman

Huerta, the good-looking golden boy, cover star of magazines and one day hotly tipped lightweight title contender, has been criticised as never haven been truly tested in the Octagon. All questions were answered when the UFC top brass decided a fight between him and Clay Guida would not only be a sure-fire hit for a TV event of this nature, but would prove whether ‘El Matador’ had the goods.

Clay Guida is the kind of guy who could have an exciting fight in his sleep. He is more energetic in his ring entrances than some fighters are in a full fifteen minute fight. Though his record in the UFC was 2-2 going into the fight, he was 22-8 overall, and had already made fans sit up and take note with his fight of the night war against Tyson Griffin at UFC 72.

When these two met, sparks flew. Guida pressured Huerta relentlessly, scoring a total of six takedowns to Huerta’s none. He attacked with a caveman-like ferocity, and badly rocked Huerta with a brutal uppercut as the Mexican-American was caught on his knees with nowhere to go.

With a true warrior spirit, Huerta held on and even gamely fought back for the rest of the round, making it to third and remarkably looking fresher than Guida, who was snarling from his side of the Octagon and keen to get back to work. They traded and Huerta caught Guida with a massive knee to the chin as he shot in, badly stunning the Chicago-based fighter and totally changing the balance of the fight. Huerta stuffed the resulting takedown attempt and span to take the back, forcing the tap via rear naked choke in a stunning come-from-behind win.

Huerta’s compsure throughout the fight was remarkable, especially considering Guida’s work ethic and relentless pressure. A candidate for fight of the year, this is the second such contest Guida has been part of in the last seven months. If he keeps up this habit, he could be the most popular fighter in the UFC on that alone.

Huerta’s stock certainly rose after that showing, yet it is still early to consider him in line for a potential title contest when you have fighters like Kenny Florian, Frankie Edgar, Tyson Griffin and more all eyeing the result of Stevenson and Penn’s fight come January 19^th.

Danzig in no danger against the farmboy

Grumpy Mac Danzig from the latest series of the Ultimate Fighter was nowhere to be seen on this evening, with Danzig’s chirpy alter-ego turning up instead. Equally focussed and possibly even more intense, he walked into the Octagon with a determination to prove the doubters wrong. A natural lightweight fighting a huge welterweight, he may have been up against it in some observer’s eyes but with many years of experience under his belt the fight wasn’t a question of size and strength – it was all about technique, which Danzig has tonnes of.

Speer may have had the weight advantage and wrestling background but that didn’t stop Danzig from putting him on his back, where his lack of submission grappling experience showed as Mac smoothly passed guard to mount, took the back and sunk the choke in a shade over two minutes into the first.

Immediately announcing his intention to fight at lightweight, Danzig’s arrival makes an already interesting lightweight division a whole lot more complicated. He will join the ranks of top lioghtweight fighters coveting the gold strap recently vacated by Sherk, although it will remain to be seen how quickly the UFC decide to push him in that direction.

Jon Koppenhaver vs Jared Rollins

The most notable fight of the undercard went to the war between Jon Koppenhaver and Jared Rollins, an epic tussle that could have been fight of the night had Huerta and Guida decide to upstage them. A gruelling and bloody encounter, the fight looked to be going Rollins’s way until Koppenhaver pulled off an incredible reversal and pounded out his opponent in true ‘Rocky’ style in the third round.