Clay Guida Talks About Move To Featherweight

UFC featherweight Clay Guida

"The Carpenter" speaks about decision to make weight cut

Clay Guida has been known by UFC fans for his bountiful hair, boundless endurance, and battles that have netted him fight of the night honors. However it was evident after his last fight with Gray Maynard it was time to switch things up.

Guida lost to Manyard by split decision back in June in a fight that garnered criticism from Dana White and echos of boos throughout the Revel Casino in Atlantic City. The bout saw Guida's first attempt at a 'stick & move' strategy in fight, a game plan that resembled a more 'dance & prance style'. Maynard even refused to shake hand's afterwards due to frustration of Guida's lack of engagement.

Since the fight, after talking with his camp and family, Guida decided it was time to cut weight and start knocking people out. He explained the move in a recent interview with UFC's Thomas Gerbasi:

"Looking at my record in the UFC, 9-7, it just doesn't sit well, and I demand more out of myself and I know I can do better and always improve," he said. "People see my fighting style, and if they've seen my fights, that record could be 15-1 just like that. I think there's only really one fight that I went out there and it wasn't even a close fight, and that was the Kenny Florian fight (in 2009), which helped change my career in a positive way. So looking at it as a whole and in the bigger picture of my career, after the Maynard fight I spoke with my brother (fellow fighter Jason Guida), who is a huge influence in my life and my career, and he said it might be that time to cut those extra pounds and get down to '45 and start pushing people around and start knocking dudes out. He said ‘You had some close fights, you stunned Gray a few times and wobbled Ben, but we've gotta start finishing these guys.' So I thought about that, and let it soak in for a while.

Guida will look to make a huge splash in the featherweight division when he takes one it's top fighters in submission specialist Hatsu Hioki at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs Dodson.

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