Guida got manhandled the first round. If he did not have a granite chin, determination, AND heart; with only two of those intangibles he would have folded, because he was getting obliterated throughout the whole first round. You can really say it should have been 10-8 in the first round.

But yeah, the fight was extremely amazing and spectacular!

Diego will be in line for the winner of Penn vs. Florian I beileve.

Also, Guida is a great fighter, but it kind of seems like his only good attribute is being able to lay and pray. Don’t take it so literally, because Guida can stifle submissions, and also he has decent hands. But the only reason he beat Danzig was lay and pray, and then the only reason he won the 2nd round was because of lay and pray.

On another note, the only way Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson beat Nate Diaz is because of lay and pray. It’s ridiculous and quite boring. But all the respect for the fighter’s and their gameplans. To me it’s not real fighting.

In a real fight, you don’t know your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, but you kind of figure them out on the fly and go with the flow.

I like Wanderlei Silva because he does not train for the other fighter’s weaknessess, he just trains for anything and that’s why he is one of my favorites and true warriors.

Aside from the sidebar, Sanchez won and will be next for the title, and Guida is an animal with a seemingly endless cardio bank.

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Hell even he ran at Maynard or Griffen like that hed be put on his back.

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Ali was brilliant. Guida, not so much.

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On to argument. Sanchez (I hate the guy) was super impressive in round 1, but missed the 10-8 round slightly because Guida took him down. Without the takedown, Sanchez gets 10-8.
Round 2 was all Guida on top. I thought about 2 minutes in that Diego obviously had a hard time making weight, and seemed to be sputtering out. He stayed focused and pulled his way through it.
Round 2 was completely uneventful. Diego was smart to initiate the kimura because he would have lost the round due to positioning, but keeping Clay busy trying to escape a submission for the remainder of the fight obviously shined well on him.

Diego has a bright future at 155. He appears to have lost some of his strength, but gained so much speed and agility. With his run and gun fight philosophy, I’m hard pressed to find more than a couple of 155 guys that can hang with him. He needs to naturally lose about 5 pounds of his walk-around weight to make the cut a little easier, but so far I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen. The winner of BJ / Florian is going to be in big trouble. There’s no way either of those guys can withstand the onslaught he gave Clay Guida.

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That’s pretty funny. Anyway, yeah I’m a little nuts. I’m not saying the mma world is trying to put diego down at all – if you read my posts carefully, I’m not talking about the judging or the UFC’s marketing system – I’m talking about a particular fan base that insists Guida actually won – they just can’t take the fact that their boy lost – read some of the posts on Sherdog and you’ll see what I’m talking about…

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I couldn’t care less how Diego Sanchez acts, other than how he applies focus and technique in his fights to achieve victory. If you don’t approve of a fighter jumping up and down in the ring after a fight, and think that is indicative of some kind of character flaw, you’re reading way too much into subjective actions, and not paying near enough attention to the meat and potatoes of the fight game.

Personally, I thought Sanchez won a very close fight. I watched it twice, and thought Diego took rounds one and three. As a fan, I’m into ground work and wrestling, favor technique over punching power, and find Clay Guida to be a very exciting fighter, but Diego put it to him, and deserves recognition for a tough, entertaining win.

Where no one lost in this fight is in fan appreciation; if they really understand this sport and recognize the will of a warrior, then both of these combatants were praiseworthy. Why the need to minimize the effort of the fighter who lost, when he gave a huge, entertaining, brilliant performance in a fight that highlighted all the elemental aspects of MMA at such a high level? Sanchez won, great victory, Guida lost, still a great fight, and I’d watch Clay again any time.

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Most fans, if I recall correctly, were happy that Diego got “crushed’ and it solidified their belief that “dirty” was thoroughly “dominated”.

The hypocrisy here is real and the Sanchez deserves better…

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Forrest Griffin.

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Thanks for writing. Someone needed to speak the truth and you did it with eloquence. I felt that Sanchez won every round of the fight.

I hate to say this, but I think there’s some ignorance and underlying racism at work here (not the judges but the fans). Guida was the blue collar white guy who got beat by “dirty” Diego. The thought sickens me but I’m beginning to believe there’s some sad validity to it.

The majority of UFC fans (not mma fans) are drunk, blue collar white guys – and they want a white blue collar hero. Perhaps I’m being overly cynical, but that’s how I’m beginning to see it.

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I strongly believe that the judging needs some altering. It appears that if you take down your opponent and stay in top position you are granted a win. I really think Diego was far more aggressive and was executing more damage from his back. I think this was greatly overlooked. Clay was getting pounded while in a dominate position and was rewarded the round. Is there not something wrong with this? You take a beating and win the round? In my mind, Guida should not of won any of those rounds. You should not win a round for holding an opponent in what is considered a dominate position and do very little. In fact if someone is on their back and can avoid damage this should be considered point worthy as well. That in itself is skill. If I were a judge I would balance how I score a round on those factors – How effect was the person who achieved the take down and vice versa, while scoring the take down. Mind you if they had achieved multiple take downs during the round, that would obviously swing the score and take precedence.

There is no question Sanchez won round one. In round two, Guida achieves the take down and attempts some lame gnp which was ineffective. Even with Diego on his back he could do very little except hold him. Diego was battering him from his back and going for submission attempts. If anything Diego was robbed of a better classification for the decision. In my mind there is no way Clay should have come close despite his very valiant effort.

Diego was never in danger. He was far more aggressive, calculated and had his opponent in danger for the majority of the fight. I would of scored the last two rounds in favor of Diego.

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As for this story, I agree with the general premise that Diego deserves more credit for being THE winner. Sure Guida impressed by not going down despite having his butt kicked all about the cage; but still, who’s face is going to hurt more the next morning? As for him bouncing up and down, sure, he has to market himself so he can keep getting fights on the main card. Maybe someday he’ll be a fun fighter to watch when he learns to put that energy into knocking somebody out, or even trying a guard pass or two.

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I am a fan of Diego and can’t really stand Guida but the dude kicked some ass Saturday and I am going to give the guy credit were credit is due. Great fight Guida you showed just how great your wrestling is against a very good wrestler in Sanchez. Your standup looked improved and your move forward at all cost style is very exciting.

I was happy with the decision because it was a close fight but I do feel that Diego did a great job of working the high guard and using his elbows from his back and attempting some very decent Kimura’s. Diego’s stand up was sharp and fast his lead uppercut looks like it is going to be giving a lot of people trouble in the LW division. I personally think Diego is going to be the next champ and for Guida to do to a split decision shows how good he is.

Let’s face it off course there is a loser as there is in all fights. Diego is going to move on towards a title fight as Guida is not. But Guida did not lose any appeal, fans or respect and in the fight game sometimes that’s all that matters.

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1st Round – to Sanchez, obviously, and I think if I was ringside I would have even given it a 10-8; based on multiple clean shots to the jaw, huge kick knockdown, aggression, damage inflicted.

2nd Round – Guida 10-9. Guida wins the round the way he usually does and that’s by getting his opponents down and keeping them there. He didn’t do any considerable damage but exerted impressive control over a bigger fighter with strong jits.

3rd Round – Sanchez 10-9. I’ve just watched the fight again, twice, and this round is incredibly close to score but I think Sanchez takes it. They start on the feet with both fighters missing tired-looking punches, each taking it in turns to push the action. So until it goes to the ground with 1.50 left I have it exactly even. The reason it goes to the ground is that Guida shoots from way out, comes up short, and Sanchez spins to take his back and attempts a choke which fails. Guida is then on top and for the next 30 seconds half-lands 2 shots to the head and 3 weak shots to the body before Sanchez goes for a Kimura with a minute left. Sanchez tries for this until there is 10 seconds left at which point Guida escapes throws a few wild punches and Sanchez gets to his feet as the bell goes. Ultimately, the fight almost hinges on this last 2 minutes (unless you have Sanchez 10-8 in the 1st, as I do) and it depends on whether you give Guida the points for being on top but not doing much apart from defending a Kimura OR Sanchez the points for stuffing Guidas takedown, attempting a choke and then later a Kimura. I give it to Sanchez as I felt he, with his submission attempts, was trying to win the fight, while Guida was effectively laying on him from the 3.30 mark.

Result – Sanchez 29-27.

I admit that both the 10-8 is debatable and that the last round is debatable. But unless you disagree with both, Sanchez won the fight. In my opinion it’s difficult at the end of the fight, looking at both fighters, to say Guida won. For those of you that think Guida was “robbed” are wrong, but it was a veryclose fight. Props to both fighters for the fight though; an absolute war.

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