MMA
Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Clay Guida: I'm a dangerous fight right now

As far as losing skids go, this latest one is nothing new to UFC featherweight Clay Guida.

Guida (30-14), who is 1-3 in his last four fights, will look for a big win at 145 pounds this week when he meets Tatsuya Kawajiri at UFC Fight Night 39 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

It's the third time in Guida's 11-year professional career that he has managed one win over a four-fight stretch. The first two didn't derail him, and neither, he says, will this one.

"I've been on a skid and then ripped off three or four wins over tough opposition in a big way," Guida told ESPN.com. "Right now is a dangerous time for anyone I fight -- I'll leave it at that."

It's not as if Guida has been uncompetitive. He lost a back-and-forth lightweight bout to former champion Ben Henderson in November 2011. Seven months later, he dropped a split-decision loss in Atlantic City, N.J., to Gray Maynard in a fight he believes he won.

"When a guy is swearing at you and flipping you off in the middle of the cage, that guy isn't winning," said Guida, describing the fourth round of that lightweight fight. "Those bonehead judges in New Jersey need to find new jobs."

Following a split-decision win over Hatsu Hioki in his January 2013 featherweight debut, Guida suffered the first TKO loss of his career to Chad Mendes in August.

At the time, Guida didn't forcefully protest the stoppage of that fight, but he says he was far from finished when referee Yves Lavigne ended things in the third round. Guida absorbed a few heavy right hands but was working to stand up when it was called.

"I was talking to Yves Lavigne like we were having breakfast," Guida said. "I said, 'Dude, what are you doing? You've seen me dropped before.' I was back up running around the cage.

"It didn't make any sense to get mad about it. It's not like they could have restarted the clock. I'm an adult. Getting mad, I don't think solves things."

Ultimately, Guida understands losing streaks are part of the sport at the highest level, which is why he's not too concerned about shaking things up in this current skid. And he welcomed the chance to fight a name like Kawajiri in Abu Dhabi.

"You look at the competition I've fought and you're bound to come up a little short in some fights, unfortunately," Guida said. "You change minor details and make tweaks your coaching staff wants. You have to believe in the system and what got you here, and what got me here was having fun and leaving it all out there.

"Kawajiri is going to be on my long list of a winning record, or however you want to say it. He's not going to win. I'm going out to show this guy what a true 145-er is all about."

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