There's no one like Clay Guida in the world of mixed martial arts. His head movement and footwork is frenetic. He had Takanori Gomi confused from the opening moments of their fight. With Gomi off balance and punching at the air, Guida got his takedown game going. He showed off some solid jiu-jitsu in locking on a guillotine choke. Gomi tapped at 2:39 of the second.
Gomi (32-7-1, 1-2 UFC) did a decent job of stuffing Guida's takedowns until the middle of the second round. Guida shot in, Gomi landed a good knee but the American ate the shot and settled the fight down in half guard. Guida got a hold of Gomi's head and tried to pass to the mount. Gomi tried to fight the guard pass by rolling, but it allowed Guida to spin to his back where he locked the guillotine. It was too tight and Gomi had to tap.
Update - Guida's guillotine choke got him Submission of the Night. He received $60,000. It was Guida's fifth postfight award in 13 UFC fights.
Gomi, a legend in Japan, once considered by some as the No. 1 lightweight in the world, actually looked fine in the fight. Guida is a difficult matchup for strikers. Gomi came out in a low stance and did everything he could to find Guida, but he couldn't. He landed a few shots as he switched from southpaw to conventional throughout. Nothing ever rocked Guida.
Guida (28-11, 8-5 UFC) has now won three straight and is probably in the mix again for a fight against a top five fighter at 155. The last time he tried, he lost back-to-back matches against Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez.
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The UFC still can't promote a fight at Madison Square Garden, but the promotion will have a press conference there on Thursday afternoon to formally announce its intention to bring the Octagon to America's most famous sports arena.
