Clay Guida UFC Profile
PALATINE, Ill. – Clay Guida experienced the thrill of a national championship with the Harper College wrestling team in 2001. After that, he moved on to the University of Northern Colorado and wrestled unattached the next year.
However, the 21-year-old from Round Lake was a broke college kid in transition who didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. So he took a chance, driving across the country as a nomad living out of the back of his pickup truck. When he arrived in Seattle, Washington, he filled out a lengthy application for the Fishing Company of Alaska, boarded a plane to Alaska, and left behind his family, friends, hopes, and dreams.
Guida describes the experience working on a fishing boat as a "wild one", but he knew it wasn't his ultimate destination. His goal was simply to make enough money to come back and be able to pay for tuition to go back to school, but even that hope was put on hold when he got back. His older brother, Jason, was a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, and Guida was intrigued by the possibility of giving it a try.
"I thought hey, I want to try this out, too. I had been on a fishing boat, wrestled in junior college, and thought I was a tough guy," he said.
Guida was a 149-pounder at Harper College who was still learning how to wrestle. He wasn't an All-American for the Hawks, but he was grateful for his opportunity to wrestle for the Hawks with three of his best friends: his brother Jason, Jarad Carlen, an All-American with the Hawks, and heavyweight Wes Anderson.
Guida also admires what Harper head wrestling coach Dan Loprieno brought to the table.
"Loprieno knew to get us motivated and put the best guys on the mat. He was great. He had three or four full-time jobs. Besides being a great coach, he was a great father. He was also a full-time babysitter for our team and kept us out of trouble."
In addition to his primary commitments, Loprieno made himself readily available as a math tutor for Guida.
"I don't know how he did it. It's pretty amazing he's still able to pull it off (to this day)."
After some preparation, Guida made his MMA debut in a cage fight on a hot summer day in July of 2003 down in Ottawa, Illinois. His opponent, Adam Copenhaver, had eight professional fights to his name. Copenhaver got Guida on his stomach and applied a rear-naked choke, causing him to submit. Despite the loss, Guida was hooked.
"That fire, that competitive edge that I missed for several months … It was back in my blood again," he said. "I was hungry and wanted to continue to compete. I started fighting and learned MMA. I started fighting by accident."
If Guida was going to turn this hunger and desire into success, he'd need to get to work. While his wrestling experience certainly helped, mixed martial arts involves not only the techniques of wrestling and boxing but also those of martial arts such as kickboxing, judo, and karate.
Guida won his first professional match in March of 2004 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin at XFO 1: The Kickoff with a rear-naked choke submission of Adam Bass. After posting a 3-3 record in his first six matches, Guida went on an unprecedented run with 15 straight wins from October of 2004 to December of 2005. Nine of those 15 wins were by submission, and the fighting community began to take notice of his incredible endurance and skill in the Octagon. The Octagon, which made its debut in 1993, is a 750 square foot, eight-sided structure of metal and mat where matches take place.
Guida says he that in preparation for a fight, he goes through 3-4 workouts a day. In the early morning, he'll typically go to a hot yoga class followed by a 90-minute wrestling, grappling, or sparring session. After lunch, he'll get in another training session and close the day out with some form of cardio exercise such as a 30-40 minute run or 45 minute swim session.
Guida took the next step into the big leagues of fighting in 2006 as he planned to make his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut. The UFC is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world with most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport.
He entered the Octagon for UFC for the first time on October 4 of that year in Las Vegas, Nevada and took on Justin James, defeating him with a rear-naked choke submission that earned Submission of the Night Honors.
Since that first experience at UFC 64, Guida has had a very successful and distinguished career. He has been in six matches that have been named Fight of the Night and three matches that received Submission of the Night by the UFC. In addition to his success in the Octagon, Guida, whose nickname is "The Carpenter", also became a fan favorite at events as well as on social media. He currently has over 150,000 followers on Twitter, and his fan page on Facebook has nearly 36,000 likes.
Guida most recently fought on June 4 against Brian Ortega at UFC 199 in Inglewood, California. He appeared to have the upper hand over Ortega until late in the third round, when Ortega won the match on a KO (knee) with just 20 seconds left. After the match, Ortega talked about what it was like to face Guida, who was his childhood hero.
Guida credits much of his success in MMA to wrestling and says the sport was a catalyst to making him into a great fighter. He says that there is no better workout (quote about wrestling) than wrestling and that in wrestling, you can't give your opponent even an inch.
In his free time over the summer, he says he loves to travel, fish, kayak, and go to autograph signings. Once he is back in full training mode, he does his training in New Mexico and California.
Looking back on his college experience, Guida wants to impart some wisdom to the next generation of Harper College athletes.
"Don't go about it the way I did. Don't put your academics and sports aside. Do the best you can at those, and that'll set you up for the future."
