The UFC is headed back to Austin for a fight night live tonight on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. central. The card will feature a lightweight title eliminator in the main event between Armen Tsyrukyan and Benial Dariush, but first on the main card is a fight featuring a former Harper Hawk who’s a UFC legend.
On December 2nd, 2023, Harper alum Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida will be back in action squaring up against Joaquim Silva in the UFC’s lightweight division.
Harper College has a rich history of athletes turned MMA fighters, and the pipeline continues with many Harper Hawks continuing that tradition today and seeing success. Clay Guida wrestled at Harper College from 2000-01. He was head wrestling coach Dan Loprieno’s first athlete to make a name for himself in Mixed Martial Arts.
Loprieno attested in an interview that the common factor among his students that go into MMA is their gas tanks, heart and the ability to want to keep fighting.
Clay Guida is the definition of a wrestler-fighter. He’s never been in a boring fight and being at the top for 17 years is no small feat.
“The sport of wrestling keeps me always wanting to come back,” Guida said during UFC Austin’s media day. “I never excelled, I never made it to state ever in the state of Illinois, so there were things I didn’t do younger in my age that kept me motivated to succeed later in life. I’m a slow learner and that’s why I’m still going at it at the ripe age of 41 years old. Wrestling got me here, that’s what’s gonna keep me here and that is my motivation.”
Guida made his MMA debut in 2003, and just 3 years later he would find himself in the UFC. Since then, Guida has amassed an impressive resume.
“I want to be the longest tenured fighter of all time, and I want to have the most takedowns,” Guida said. “I know it doesn’t mean a whole lot to most people, but to me, being a kid who never made it down state … To hold that one record in the UFC, to me, it would mean a lot to myself and my brother Jason, who got me into [wrestling and MMA].”
Guida currently sits at fourth place in all time fights with 35, with first place being held by Jim Miller with 42 fights. Guida is also top three in takedowns landed with 76. First place is Georges Saint-Peirre with 90 takedowns landed.
A seven fight stretch past the age of 41 is unlikely, but 14 takedowns isn’t so out of reach. Guida averages over three takedowns landed per contest, so with a couple favorable matchups Guida can be right there.
“I’m 41 going on 21,” Guida stated. “I’m in better shape now than I was when I was 21, 25, but to be able to compete with some of the best fighters in the world, in the lightweight division, one of the best weight classes in the UFC. … To be at that upper echelon for so long, it speaks volumes.”
