The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale Results: An Average Night Of Fights Marred By Clay Guida's Bizarre/Boring Performance

Look, these guys are professional fighters, and while I dislike fights that are boring, I felt that the main card fight wasn’t that bad. I’ve seen MUCH worse. This was an important fight for him, and he needed that win. The card was a good one, with plenty of (t)kos, so I can’t complain.

I think the Guida fans are a little confused as to why there’s so much hate for him going on now. Personally, I’m not mad that Guida shot for the takedown constantly and kept the fight mostly on the ground.

I’m mad that he did **** all else once the fight got there.

Guida embodied all the worst qualities Greg Jackson cynics accuse of Greg Jackson fighters: he used his wrestling to hold position and then drained out the clock, doing nothing but minimal damage and just barely enough to not get stood up.

For this one fight, Guida became the kind of fighter who would rather win than make it entertaining, who’s so focused on keeping his spot that he doesn’t care if the fight is boring. That’s never been who Clay Guida was, that was never what he was all about.

So, when you think about it, a lot of Guida fans are feeling betrayed right now. As I said, I don’t care that Guida won by takedowns. I care that he didn’t do anything with them afterwards.

And I hate to bring up this argument, but think of the way the fight would have been scored in Japan. Guida would have been carded for stalling, and Pettis more than likely would have won because he spent so much time attempting to finish the fight with submissions.

Guida used his dominant wrestling and the Unified Rules system to grind out the decision in a very boring fight. Since when does Clay Guida have boring fights?

That’s why I’m mad at him, that’s why I think most people are mad at him. This is the UFC, one bad performance CAN and WILL cause your other good performances to not matter. Even though he’s won four straight, even though he’s been finishing guys, there’s no way that Guida deserves a title shot after that performance. Even Dana White agrees with me, he’s not giving Guida the shot.

So I say “**** it”, Clay Guida is going to have to go back to being Clay Guida if he wants me to take him seriously in his next fight. And with Pettis no longer getting the title shot that was promised to him (which is total ****ing ****, by the way), I’m putting my feet firmly in the Jim Miller war wagon and hoping he gets the next shot.

I wasn’t an Anthony Pettis fan before last night, but I am one now. If last night the fight between Anthony and Clay had been a real fight where holding by itself doesn’t count for anything, Anthony would have won. Oliver is correct that Clay won on Unified MMA rules, but Clay LOST on real fight rules. On top of that, Clay was sloppy, and Anthony was skilled. I enjoyed watching Anthony, and I hated watching Clay. I will watch Anthony again gladly, and I am unlikely to watch Clay again unless I’m tied to my chair at gun point or something.

There are four fighters from last night I’d gladly watch again:
- Anthony Pettis (crisp traditional martial arts)
- Scott Jorgensen (Fedor-style ground and pound)
- Tony Ferguson (crisp traditional martial arts and impressive ground game.)
- Chris Cope (gets better every time I see him, and he had a huge arsenal all of which were fun to watch)

I enjoyed those four people’s fights very much. As for Clay Guida, my girlfriend describes his fight better than I do. She accused Clay of being a dog humping a tree.

This is a sport where wins and losses count.

If this were basketball, if the Heat were to go all Harlem Globetrotters with their shots and passes, and had all the infractions called that that style of basketball deserves and lost a game in the finals, would you say it was great because it was entertaining?

These guys are in it to win.

Mike
P.S. A mixed martial arts fight without a ground game is just a crappy amateur boxing match.

It’s a sport where wins and losses count to the fighters, but it’s not a sport where they count to the people who pay to see the fights.

What a bunch of crybabies.
Guida put together a cohesive round of smothering fighting and came out the winner. Few predicted his win and it seems most of these comments really wish that Clay would have fought stupid instead of fighting smart. Stupid can often be charismatic, but cannot be counted on for wins. I thought the style he used against Pettis was brilliant. He was able to stay away from the powerful kicks and get inside (where others have failed mind you) and not get submitted. It was awesome.

I honestly dont know what everyone is crying about, clay is a great wrestler with average striking and good submissions, but pettis has better submissions and way better striking, what did you mob expect was going to happen? This was the only way for clay to win, and it’s just ignorant for everyone to expect him to stand with a far superior striker for three rounds and lose the fight just to make it super exciting. The honest truth is that this is what clay has to do to succeed at high levels. I’m not a fan of it but seriously, dont hate on the guy because he didnt make it fight of the year, you should have known that he was going to do this. Clay has paid his dues to fans in the past, and I really enjoyed this fight anyway. I dont think he deserves a title shot yet but I think a no. 1 contender fight against the winner of Jim miller/ben henderson, plus that option gives time for the frankie/gray situation to clear up anyway

Jim Starbal :
What a bunch of crybabies.
Guida put together a cohesive round of smothering fighting and came out the winner. Few predicted his win and it seems most of these comments really wish that Clay would have fought stupid instead of fighting smart. Stupid can often be charismatic, but cannot be counted on for wins. I thought the style he used against Pettis was brilliant. He was able to stay away from the powerful kicks and get inside (where others have failed mind you) and not get submitted. It was awesome.

I totally agree.

Mike and Jim,

I agree with you that Guida fought smart. That is if by smart you mean using unified mma rules to NOT lose. Hugging someone as hard as you can to eek out a win is not enjoyable. He was attempting close range shoulder strikes for ground and pound, but he was so worried about getting caught in a submission, the shoulder strikes were useless because the two fighters were so fused together. Both fighters were just bobbing up and down a bit. While some fighters have been acused of oiling up before a fight, it looked almost but not quite like Guida rubbed crazy glue all over himself before the fight. Of course he didnt but he might as well have. Maybe thats the new method for Lay and pray.

Yes he won! He could have also won by putting a straight jacket on pettis before the fight. I dont have to enjoy that style. Where technique is smothered in favor of brute strength. The rules are rigged so you can just be slightly stronger than the other guy and clinch him and get a win. But I think that is a mistake. And as a free citizen I dont have to enjoy it. Just like I dont like when Brock lesner curls up like an embryo when he fights. People confuse being allowed with being good.

Just because its allowed doesnt mean its good or that its what I would recognize as fighting. Curling up or being human fly paper is not fighting to win it is fighting not to lose.

Dont forget there are also fans. If they are going to do this kind of fighting why dont they just do it in their basement where no one has to watch it. Curling up like Brock or being human fly paper are boooooring. (Although I like Clay and Brock). In Guida’s case, he went from being one of the most exciting fighters to watch, to being one of my least favorite in like a single fight.

I think Guida did exactly what he needed to do to win the fight. Pettis is a tough fighter. Why would u stand up and bang w/someone who can kick your head straight off? That’s not smart. You have to fight a smart fight to come out a winner. Guida used the perfect amount of striking and stand up before taking Pettis down each round. Guida used his wrestling skills to take Pettis down and tried to ground and pound…although Pettis is very good off his back. Pettis was trying to work his legs around Guida as well as controlling his wrists working for a submission, the whole time…that being said, Guida wasn’t left w/much to do offensively. He used his shoulder as well as his knees to the back while trying to avoid the submission and wrist control. Wrestling wins MMA time and time again. Do what u need to do to win. Fight your fight…not your opponents fight.
Guida is on a four fight tear and I’m happy for him. Next up I think is Jim Miller and then a title shot. Pettis fought a great fight too. He’s got a great deal of talent but needs to learn how to stop the take downs. Like I’ve said before and will continue to say for any fighter. Fight your fight! Do what you need to do to win. Don’t show all your cards in one fight. Fight smart and you’ll come out the winner.

@ Jason

I agree with everything you said, at least in theory. It was smart in terms of his paper record for Guida to do what he did. Guida’s style was reminiscent of GSP, at least in how he dictated and managed the fight, but without nearly the perfect skill and technique. I will just have to reiterate that since people are paying for this, (although in this case by watching tedious commercials), it should be kept in mind in the future that we dont have to watch every fight or every fighter. There is no way anyone can say that this kind of fight was as exciting for a fan as the Silva Belfort or Machida Couture fight where they did something magnificent, and I mean almost magical to win.

I’m intrigued by the fact that at least three posters argue that “smothering” fighting is an effective and good mode of fighting. And it makes me wonder, real question, what these three people think smothering would do in a real fight with nobody around to break up the fight.

Imagine a real fight between Guida and Pettis fought the way Guida fought it. The BEST case scenario is that Guida would hold Pettis in a loving embrace all night until Pettis falls asleep. The most likely scenario would be that Pettis would eventually submit Guida or knock him out.

There is LITERALLY no value to lay and pray in a real fight other than prolonging the fight long enough for bouncers to show up or for your friends to jump in to help you.

Have I used that kind of hold attack in real fights before? Yes, but only three times (out of maybe 100 fights) because I was losing a fight where I failed to keep the attacker at distance. And all three times had a positive outcome for me because I neutralized my opponent long enough for the fight to be intervened. But that kind of “attack” did not make me win the fight. It simply let me survive until it was over, and that’s what Clay did. Clay “survived” and happened to be in a U.S. version of the sport where you get points for that kind of non-attack survival.