Issue 031

November 2007

Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida is fast becoming one of the UFC’s hottest lightweight fighters. A fan favourite, Guida brings an energy into the Octagon that is hard to match. Always entertaining, his fights are fast, dynamic and full of action, but away from the Octagon Guida is as laid back as they come. 

So how does a guy who is chilled out and easy going in everyday life get as hyped up as Guida does? “I get it from my coaches and my cornermen who walk out with me,” the Chicago native says. “We do a ritual, they hit me a couple of times when I walk into the cage. I feed off the crowd.

“Man, when I’ve got someone cheering for me I’m happy to have their support and when you’ve got ten or fifteen thousand people cheering you its easy to get into my zone. Its not big secret, I feed off the crowd.” 

For Guida, winning is obviously priority, but putting on a good performance is equally as important. “Having fun is primary, to always have fun. Don’t get me wrong, winning is very, very important, cos if you’re not winning you’re not fighting in big organisations. They go hand in hand, but I like putting on a good show for people.” 

The UFC seem to know this, as even though some close decision losses put Guida without a win for close to a year, they kept inviting him back. “They know I can step up to the competition. They know they’re going to get a good performance for their money, and the fans will get exciting fights and get their money’s worth,” he says. 

His latest showing, an impressive three round decision victory over Marcus Aurelio, one of the sport’s top lightweight fighters and a man who shocked the MMA world when he choked Takanori Gomi unconscious, was a definite relief for Guida though. “Coming off losses, to have a fight which was a dominating performance made it that much sweeter. It’s been almost a year since I won. It’s good man, it just set in finally. It took a few days, but it feels good.

“My coaches and I put together a good game plan that I stuck with and we executed it almost to perfection. There were a couple of things I would have done differently, I would have worked some more ground I think, some more accurate combinations on my feet, but for the most part I felt pretty good about the fight.” 

To shut down and dominate as dangerous a fighter as Aurelio was no mean feat, and though Guida was in control throughout the fight, the judges returned a questionable split decision, though with Guida rightfully as winner. “How it went to a split decision I don’t know, the crowd knew it wasn’t a split decision,” he said, ruefully.

Though affable, easy going and always fun to watch, Guida has been on the end of some tough calls by the judges in recent history, including his close decision loss to Tyson Griffin on UFC 72 in Belfast, which was a candidate for fight of the year. “People are gonna remember that fight for a long time,” he says, not without a small amount of pride in his voice. “I lost, but in the people’s eyes and the owner’s eyes, it wasn’t a bad loss.” 

Back on the winning track, Guida is looking forward to more fights with the UFC. “I’m happy with them so I hope they’re happy with me! I hope it’s a mutual feeling. I hope they keep giving me opponents that will build our camp and my record in the cage, I want to fight to the top guys in that weight and when the title shot comes I’ll be ready.

“I’m happy to be where I’m at in this point in my career. I put myself in the top ten in the UFC light heavyweight division. Some other people may put me higher, some may not. 

“This is a dream for some people… This is a dream for me! I never thought that I would be part of it. I’m very fortunate, I don’t take it for granted.”