SHARE

“The Carpenter” may have almost 60 fights and 14 professional submission wins under his belt, but he makes no bones about it; the only grappling he has ever done is in practices.

“Other than this one I’ve only competed one other time and it was in a similar situation to this – it was on short notice at QUINTET Ultra,” Guida said. “They called me on short notice, and they offered me to be on Team UFC against Team WEC, Team Pride and Team Strikeforce. I didn’t know a whole lot about it, but I liked the idea of it. I’ve only competed in MMA and wrestling, so it was an itch I wanted to scratch and it worked out well.”

From QUINTET Ultra to Fury Pro Grappling 3, the name Clay Guida sure does seem to come to mind at the best possible times, Luck doesn’t always happen to be on his side, however. In his first BJJ match of his life he found himself against one of the most qualified applicants at QUINTET Ultra.

Subscribe To UFC Fight Pass Today!

“My first grappling match of my life I ended up getting paired up with Gregor Gracie. Figures,” Guida laughed. “Multiple-time world champ, one of the Gracie’s best. That was a fun, interesting matchup. It didn’t go well against Gregor Gracie; I got my takedown and we wrestled around a little bit but then I was standing over him in his guard and next thing I know he has me in one of his armbars.”

In spite of Guida’s loss, Team UFC would go on to advance past Team Pride to the finals. The stacked Team Strikeforce roster was waiting with bells on to overthrow the UFC. Guida yet again found himself in a comedically impossible position.

“I got paired up with the former number one contender years back at light heavyweight who went up against Chuck Liddell, ‘Babalu’ Sobral,” Guida said. “Bit of a size difference. I never expected to be in a competitive grappling match with Babalu.”

“David” Guida would fare better than in his first matchup and get a takedown on the Goliath that was Babalu. While he didn’t get the submission for the team, he took the former 205er down and forced a draw that ultimately led to Team UFC winning the historic event.

View Guida’s Athlete Profile Here

After initially being offered to compete, Guida simply thought, “Why the heck not?”

He watched the event grow and got to the venue and saw Dana White, UFC fighters, a giant crowd and even his friends and gym teammates on the other team.

He could have thought about all of these things potentially happening, acknowledged his lack of BJJ matches and passed on the opportunity, but that just wouldn’t have been Clay Guida. A competition he could have shied away from turned out to be one of the best experiences of his career.

Watch Fury Pro Grappling 3 On UFC Fight Pass

“I love to compete,” Guida said. “I love new challenges and I’ve always been so busy with MMA and competing like that. I never got offered anything like this and I never really entered myself in grappling events. It was basically the highest level. How cool is it to represent Team UFC? I wouldn’t have cared if I got paid a dollar. I would have done it anyway.”

After QUINTET Ultra, Guida began wishing he had been grappling long before he was freshly 38 years old.

He had never entered himself in grappling competitions before, so his name has never circulated throughout the BJJ world, but let it be known, promoters, Clay Guida is on the SuperFight market. Another entertaining showing at Fury Pro Grappling 3 and we may be seeing more of “The Carpenter” in action.

“It’s the next closest thing that I can get to strapping on the wrestling shoes and competing in wrestling, which has been my passion since I was five years old,” Guida said.

Catch Clay Guida vs Billy Quarantillo at Fury Pro Grappling 3, ONLY on UFC FIGHT PASS!

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

LEAVE A REPLY