Clay Guida: Anthony Pettis Bout Will Be a Fight of the Year Candidate

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Sandwiched between two UFC pay-per-views and at the start of the busiest stretch of the year in mixed martial arts, Saturday night's Ultimate Fighter Finale is being somewhat overlooked by MMA fans.

But Clay Guida, who's fighting Anthony Pettis in the main event on Saturday night, says any fan who misses it is going to miss what may be the single best MMA fight of 2011.

"It's got fight of the night, fight of the year written all over it," Guida said on The MMA Hour. "It's going to be a fun fight for the fans and a fun fight for us."

Although Guida's bout with Pettis may be a brawl, he says it's no grudge match. Guida said he likes Pettis personally and admires the way Pettis approaches the sport, constantly looking to improve himself and bringing new techniques into the cage every time he fights, as he did with his "Showtime Kick" in his last fight, a win over Ben Henderson.

"I'm a fan of his," Guida said of Pettis. "I love watching him fight. He's very exciting. He has a high pace. Every time he fights he's coming up with different things. Besides the kick heard round the world he has lots of tricks in his bag."

Learning new tricks is part of why Guida moved to New Mexico and began training with a new coach, Greg Jackson. Guida made a football analogy in explaining why he's thrilled to be training at Jackson's gym.

"Training with the best guys in the world is only going to improve your game," Guida said. "Do you want to be coached by Vince Lombardi or Dave Wannstedt? Go to the best guys in the world and you're going to be one of the best. The first week I was here I realized there's nothing but hard working animals in the gym."

If Guida beats Pettis, he might just become the next No. 1 contender in the UFC's lightweight division -- and possibly the next champion from Jackson's gym. But Guida says he's not focused on that.

"I'm focused on June 4," Guida said, "and that's all I'm thinking about."

 

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‘The MMA Insiders’ audio: Roy Nelson talks feuds and Sonnen

Roy Nelson was in studio for ESPNRadio1100's "The MMA Insiders" show on Friday.

Nelson took part in the 10-minute "opening round." Adam Hill and Nelson covered the five big MMA stories of the week - ringside monitors for the judges, Brock Lesnar's illness/heavyweight division, Jon Jones' hand injury, WEC vs. UFC 155 pounders and the Chael Sonnen saga.

The Sonnen story took a twist later on Friday with California changing the date when he could re-apply for a license. Nelson stuck around for Part 2, and in Part 3, Jon Jones joined the show.

If you're in Las Vegas next week, "The MMA Insiders" will be live from the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday from 6-7 p.m. PT before the Tuff-N-Uff fight card.

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The MMA Hour With Askren in Studio, Guida, Swick, Mendes, Kingsbury, Browne

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The MMA Hour will be off on Monday due to Memorial Day, but the show returns on Tuesday at its usual 1 p.m. ET / 10 p.m. PT start time with another loaded lineup. Here's who you will hear from:

* Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren will be in studio to talk about his upcoming title defense against Jay Hieron.

* Clay Guida will discuss Saturday night's lightweight battle against Anthony Pettis.

* Mike Swick will talk about his long road back to the Octagon and his upcoming fight at UFC 134.

* Chad Mendes will explain why he chose to fight at UFC 133 instead of wait for Jose Aldo to get healthy.

* Kyle Kingsbury will discuss his TUF Finale fight on Saturday night against Fabio Maldonado.

* Heavyweight Travis Browne will discuss his first round knockout win against Stefan Struve at UFC 130.

Of course, we'll be taking your calls. Give us a shout at: 212-254-0193 or 212-254-0237.

*** You can now stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.

Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.

Editor's Note: Today's show is over and a replay will be available by Wednesday.

 

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Johnson pulls mild upset on Torres at UFC 130

LAS VEGAS - Demetrious Johnson continues to clash with bigger fighters in the bantamweight class and take them down with his non-stop approach. The 5-foot-3 Johnson made former WEC champ Miguel Torres his latest victim. Torres found himself on his back too often and lost a unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three cards.

Torres (39-4, 1-1 UFC) did a good job of moving and try to pick apart Johnson in the first, but became way too stationary in the final rounds.

Johnson (10-1, 2-0 UFC) scored multiple takedowns in the second and third. Torres worked for submissions, but more often than not MMA judges won't reward fighters for offense from the bottom. And the reality was, Johnson countered every Torres' move and stayed out of real trouble.

"It was a tough fight," Torres said. "He took me down and he just held me. I had a couple of submission attempts that gave me the chance to put him away. This was my fault tonight. He's slippery and he was able to get the takedowns. I just didn't take advantage when I should have."

Johnson said he thought the difference was controlling the pace and pushing forward in spite of what he thought was an injured leg.

"I thought I had a great game plan," Johnson said. "My goal was to kick his front leg, but at one point, he checked my kick and hit a soft spot (on my right leg). It really limited my mobility. My legs are my engine and he took that away from me. Fortunately, I was able to recover and secure good takedowns.

Torres, who raced out to a 37-1 start to his career, has now lost three of five. This was a costly loss for Torres, who was working toward a title shot or slot on a future "Ultimate Fighter" against the winner of the UFC 132's fight between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.

The 24-year-old Johnson has a bright future. Frankly, he should be fighting down at 125 pounds, but the UFC hasn't added the flyweight division yet. So for now, look out bantamweights and expect to go hard for at least 15 minutes against "Mighty Mouse."

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Ducati Gearing Up for Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

There are a number of things this summer we’re pretty pumped about here at Asphalt & Rubber, two of which are are the upcoming Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and the release of the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Pikes Peak Edition. Part Formula 1, part World Rally Championship, there’s something about a race course where one wrong move in a priceless no-limits vehicle can send you over the edge of a 3,000 foot cliff that ...

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Rossi?s opinion of the Lorenzo negotiations

This quote comes from the Spanish language website elmundodeportivo.es. The message and the sentiment are clear: “You aren’t worth what I get paid Jorge”. From elmundodeportive.es, translation by Fans.Moto.GP (Thanks!): What Jorge is looking for seems presumptuous to me: Arrive at Yamaha, and in his second year ask that he be given the same treatment as me. [...]

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