Is Clay Guida’s job on the line at UFN 39?
Is Clay Guida’s job on the line this Friday at UFN 39 when he fights in the co-main event vs. Japan’s Tatsuya Kawajiri in the featherweight division?
Against a background of older fighters like Jake Shields being cut, Mookie Alexander asks if Clay Guida’s job is on the line this Friday at UFN 39.
Three years removed from a four-fight winning streak that had him on the cusp of a title shot, Clay Guida finds himself in the co-main event of a Fight Pass card against Japan’s Tatsuya Kawajiri in the featherweight division. In the wake of several recent roster cuts, this may be the most important bout of Guida’s UFC career.
Based on the Shields, Okami, and Fitch cuts, the UFC seems to be sending a very clear message that if you’re not popular with the fans, you command a high salary, are no longer a contender, and you’re not exciting even in defeat, you are expendable. By these standards, Guida is on incredibly thin ice. He earned $44,000 in his TKO loss to Chad Mendes, which is high for a featherweight (higher than Mendes’ $31,000 base pay), is 1-3 in his last 4, on the wrong side of 30, and was memorably booed and berated by fans after his poor and bizarre showing against Gray Maynard.