Ultimate Fighting Championship made their way to Inglewood, California with a roster of fighters that would sell out most arenas the premier fight organization run.
In a night full of exciting fights and fun finishes back in June, it was a fight behind the scenes that grabbed the attention of over fifty UFC employees.
Clay Guida had put on one of his best performances in recent memory for fourteen minutes in his fight with Brian Ortega which aired on FS1. Guida proved that experience is just as much of a necessary skill-set as grappling or striking is working circles around Ortega throughout the entire fight. Guida had been training with Team Alpha Male in the months leading into this fight and he truly looked like an evolved, improved version of himself.
Guida and his corner were caught off guard by a knee that sent the veteran to the mat. With just twenty seconds left, Ortega had knocked out Guida with a devastating knee. Jason Guida, Clay’s brother, was in his corner and apparently emotions started to run high.
“After Clay [Guida] got stopped, the doctor is running in and whatever else,” Team Alpha Male Head Coach Justin Buchholz stated on this week’s edition of “Stud Radio”. “They keep you out of the cage and everything. I turn around and the stool… one of the UFC stools — they have like four stools for people to sit on — was just shattered in like six pieces. So, Jason [Guida] grabbed it and ripped it to shreds or he slammed it, I don’t know, but you know his brother just got [expletive] stopped so he’s just flying off the handle, like emotional.”
This is where things get interesting. As Guida and his corner were making their way back, they ran into Nate Diaz who was there to promote his upcoming fight at “UFC 202” with Conor McGregor. “We were walking in the back after and Clay was in front of everyone. It was Clay, Danny [Castillo], Jason, then me. I was in the back walking Clay in after the fight. Nate had come out of a bathroom in the hallway. Clay said something to him, but Clay was just discombobulated at that time, too. He just said something to Nate. He was all like, ‘Ah man, I’m gonna [expletive] you up again!’ or something like that.”
Guida and Diaz squared off in the octagon on January 31, 2009 at “UFC 94” in a close fight where Guida earned the split decision victory. This, of course, rubbed Nate the wrong way and he may not have known Clay just got knocked out. “Nate like, I didn’t see what Nate did but Danny told me Nate kinda smiled. Like, ‘What [expletive]? You joking?’ ‘Cause like, there’s no reason for this shit to go down like this. Then [expletive] Jason and Nate got into it, I don’t know what happened but Jason bull-rushes Nate and tries to put him against the wall. Nate’s got him in the clinch — Like fifty people from the UFC come rushing into this thing. And I’m staying in the middle, like, ‘NO!’”
“It’s going down like, Clay’s grabbing Jason. A bunch of people are grabbing Nate, trying to [expletive] kill each other for a good thirty seconds. Forty seconds. They get broken up. Clay’s got Jason. People got Nate. I’m standing there. I’m looking at Nate, like, ‘[expletive].’ We’re not trying to [expletive] fight. I don’t know what the [expletive] happened. He dropped one of those shirts that said, ‘I’m not surprised [expletive]’ and there’s a picture of Nate and ‘209’ on it. I grab his shirt and go, ‘Here’s your shirt!’ He grabs his shirt, goes out, sits in the crowd…”
The dust from that small battle has settled, however, as Diaz and Team Alpha Male have talked since then.
