Den personen som troligen fick mest uppmärksamhet under nattens UFC on FX: Maynard vs Guida var Clay Guida. Men inte i någon positiv bemärkelse. Denna vilding som tidigare varit Guida omvandlades till Kalib Starnes för en kväll. Han bokstavligen sprang iväg från Gray Maynard, och under huvudeventets gång twittrade UFCs VD Dana White att han trodde att det skulle vara en omöjlighet att huvudeventet skulle kunna vara tråkigt.
På presskonferensen efter galan gjorde White sin frustration känd på riktigt.
”The fight sucked,” säger White. ”I don’t know how to expand on it anymore. I mean, it is one of those situations where I think a guy like Guida you know, his style is to move forward. I think thats the style that has made him who he is. The style that made him a fan favorite and won him fights. Is he the most talented well rounded mixed martial artists in the world? No. But his thing is, he has got stamina for days. He is in your face, stays on top of you and wheres his opponents down and takes them out.”
Matchen mellan Guida och Maynard slutade efter fem ronder och 25 minuter. Resultatet var ett delat domslut där Maynard fick med sig två poängdomare, och Guida fick med sig en.
”First of all, I don’t think this was a split decision at all. I thought Gray Maynard won that fight easily,” fortsätter White. ”Nobody can win or loose a fight when one guy is running around in circles. He was literately running. I had some fans on twitter or whatever like ’great footwork’. This isn’t fucking dancing with the stars. You know what i mean? You can’t win a fight by running around the circles. It is not how fights are won. Gray Maynard moved forward and pressed the action. Maynard was literately running, full speed running throwing punches. Its crazy. It reminded me of the Kalib Starnes fight. But, because this was the main event i think it was worse.”
Detta är förstås långt ifrån ett bra betyg från den färgstarka VDn. Han har sparkat folk för mindre saker förr, och efter att Starnes bokstavligen sprungit bakåt i femton minuter i matchen mot Nate Quarry på UFC 83 så rev de hans kontrakt på plats. Men Guida har en stor fanbase, och kommer kunna räkna med en framtid i organisationen trots nattens uppträdande.
”Guida is a warriors,” avslutar White. ”He has fought for us a zillion times. He has put on some of the best fights in the UFC history. And tonight, I don’t know if he got some premission to go out and fight like that, or if he got some bad advice. But again, who am I? I’m not his trainer, and I’m not his coach. Maybe this is the way he wants to fight for the rest of his career. I don’t know. I wouldn’t advice it. But again, I’m not his trainer.”
