There is no such thing as a boring Clay Guida fight. This time, he came within seconds of ending the UFC undefeated streak of "El Matador" Roger Huerta for the biggest win of his career - on Guida's birthday, no less.
It was not to be. Huerta came back from the brink of defeat to submit Guida in the third round of their main event fight on Saturday's finale of The Ultimate Fighter 6.
Huerta threw several head kicks in the first round that did not connect. Guida seemed content to fight Huerta standing, and established early that he could take Huerta to the mat at will. Huerta landed a knee from a crouching position, which Guida answered while Huerta had one knee planted on the mat. Knees to a downed opponent are illegal, however, and Huerta was considered down because his knee was planted on the canvas.
Referee John McCarthy warned Guida and separated the fighters briefly. The round ended with the fighters reversing position several times on the mat, and Guida at one point taking Huerta's back in a rear naked choke attempt.
Guida dominated the second round both grappling and striking, with Huerta landing some solid shots but Guida actually knocking Huerta to the mat with a right hand as the round drew to a close. Guida attacked from the top with strikes, while Huerta hung on to barely survive the round.
Apparently, that's all it took to wake Huerta up.
Huerta rocked Guida with a knee to the face on a takedown attempt as Round 3 began and pummeled him with strikes. A staggered Guida sunk to the mat with a takedown attempt, but didn't have enough behind it. Huerta took his back, and moments later, a rear naked choke earned Huerta the victory via tapout.
"Clay is a really, really tough dude," Huerta said after the fight.
Huerta has won all six of his fights in the UFC, and caps off a 2007 that saw him become the first MMA fighter in history to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated and the UFC market him heavily to Hispanic fight fans.
As for Guida, his tough luck continues. "The Carpenter" has earned himself plenty of fans with his enthusiasm and his all-out style of fighting. The loss to Huerta takes his record below .500 in the UFC, but he has yet to be thoroughly dominated despite facing very good competition.
"I thought I had the first couple of rounds, and then he came back," Guida said. "He's got a lot of heart."
The Huerta-Guida fight marked the end of an era in the UFC, as legendary referee McCarthy worked in the Octagon for the last time. "Big John" is retiring from refereeing to pursue a career with a media outlet.
McCarthy's famous line "Let's get it on!" signaled the start of countless UFC fights dating back to the very beginning of the promotion in the early 1990s. McCarthy is one of the most recognizable faces in the sport, despite not being a fighter.
In the final of The Ultimate Fighter 6's welterweight tournament, Mac Danzig made quick work of Tommy "Farmboy" Speer to become the TUF6 champion and guarantee himself a spot on future UFC cards.
Danzig took Speer down and neutralized the size advantage right away. Almost immediately after putting Speer on the mat, Danzig had full mount and began hammering Speer with fists. In defending himself, Speer wound up giving Danzig his back. One rear naked choke later, Danzig was the TUF6 champion.
An elated Danzig smiled, blew kisses and bowed to the audience.
"I was really nervous going into this fight with Tommy," Danzig said.
Speer's size and wrestling credentials were a cause for concern to Danzig, who made it a point to get Speer on his back early.
"I really knew that I had to take him down," he said.
After the fight, Speer publicly thanked his brother for helping their family run the farm while he trained to enter the Octagon. His voice shaky with emotion, Speer acknowledged that Danzig's years of on-the-job training played a role in the outcome. Danzig has twice as many professional fights to his credit as Speer, including one fight on a Pride pay-per-view earlier this year.
"His experience showed," Speer said.
Leading into the fight, there was much talk of Danzig's natural body weight. While he walks around at close to 170 pounds without cutting weight, he is looking forward to fighting guys more his stature by moving down to the UFC's already-loaded 155-pound lightweight division. By doing so, Danzig joins the likes of Huerta, Guida, BJ Penn, Joe Stevenson, Kenny Florian, Tyson Griffin, and former champion Sean Sherk.
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