Clay
Guida never fails to bring infectious energy to the table.
The shaggy longtime
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight has spent more than
15 years with the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization,
thrilling fans while often throwing caution to the wind at his own
expense. Guida, now 40, carries a 17-16 record across 33
appearances inside the Octagon. He last competed at UFC Fight Night
205, where he surrendered to a
Claudio
Puelles kneebar in the first round of their April 23
pairing.
As Guida awaits word on his next assignment, here are five things
you might not know about him:
1. He lived the American Dream.
Guida was born in Round Lake, Illinois, a Chicago suburb of nearly
20,000 people. He later attended Johnsburg High School in a
neighboring county, played three sports and went on to wrestle at
Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, where he was part of a
national championship for the Hawks.
2. His arrival can be described as fortuitous.
“The Carpenter” made his professional mixed martial arts debut on a
whim—Guida accepted the match with no formal MMA training under his
belt—when he was 21 years old, submitting to a rear-naked choke
from
Adam
Copenhaver in the first round of their Silverback Classic 17
pairing in 2003. Guida lost two of his first three bouts and went a
pedestrian 3-3 through his first six appearances before a 15-fight
winning streak put him on the map.
3. He scores points with originality.
Guida was the first lightweight champion in the history of the
Strikeforce
organization. He laid claim to the title with a unanimous decision
over
Josh Thomson
on March 10, 2006, then surrendered it to
Gilbert
Melendez in a split decision defeat on June 9, 2006. Guida’s
reign covered just 91 days.
4. He maximizes his earning potential.
The onetime Strikeforce champion has earned 10 post-fight bonuses
across his 33 appearances in the UFC. Guida has been awarded “Fight
of the Night” on six occasions, “Submission of the Night” three
times and “Performance of the Night” once, resulting in close to
$500,000 of additional income.
5. Preparation has long been a strength.
Guida once operated out of the
Jackson-Wink MMA academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he
sharpened his skills under the direction of revered trainers Greg
Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn. He has since thrown out his anchor at
the famed
Team Alpha Male gym founded by former
World Extreme Cagefighting champion
Urijah Faber
in Sacramento, California.