(Video courtesy YouTube/MMACanada)
MMACanada caught up with Clay Guida in Edmonton over the weekend where they asked him about his upcoming bout with former WEC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis at the TUF 13 finale June 4. According to "The Carpenter" Pettis is a solid prospect, but he’s in for a rude awakening when he makes his UFC debut.
"It’s a very exciting fight. Anthony Pettis has a lot of hype around him right now. He’s a very advertised fighter. The kick heard around the world. ‘Showtime’ is gonna be ‘No Time’ once I get in there. I’m really excited about it. [He's a] very tough kid, but the WEC and the UFC merger is gonna show you what the UFC’s all about."
When asked if a win over Pettis should guarantee him the winner of Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar, considering Anthony was supposed to have dibs on the next title shot, Guida said that Showtime really hasn’t earned his spot as the number one contender and he wouldn’t want to take the status away from those more deserving of him.
"[It] definitely [wouldn't put me] next in line, but it gets me in the top three or four [of guys in line after Edgar and Maynard]. A few guys are ahead of us. George Sotiropoulos and Jim Miller — they’ve been on a tear lately, just damaging opponents and tearing right through them. I think they should fight each other for the number one spot. the reason they were going to give Pettis the shot was to unify the belts. Don’t get me wrong, down the road I can see him becoming a contender, not because he’s going to get past me. I’m going to knock him down a few rungs. They just wanted to unify the belts and have [one] clear-cut champion and that fight between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar was one for the books. They’re gonna run it back and do number three and hopefully we’ll have a clear-cut champion at the time. Beating Anthony Pettis is gonna be another notch on my belt that will get me closer to the lightweight belt."
Guida, who was cageside for Pettis’ Matrix-like kick and subsequent win over Ben Henderson at the final WEC show says that he figured "Bendo" would have taken out the younger and less-seasoned fighter, but feels that he didn’t because he respected him a bit too much.
"I thought Ben Henderson respected ‘Showtime’ too much. He respected his stand-up a little too much. I thought Ben was gonna go in there and take Pettis down and maybe submit him or just ground and pound him, But I think he gave him a little to much respect on the feet and that’s one thing you can’t do in a fight," he explains. "Respect your opponent outside the cage, but once you get in there it’s game time. We’re all the same. It’s a level playing field. I don’t care who you are. If you’re fighting Fedor, if you’re fighting Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva — we’re all in there for a reason. we all make weight the day before so we can go out and perform the following night."
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He makes me proud to be a Claymate, you guys!