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Clay Guida      

Clayton "The Carpenter" Guida (born December 8, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist, fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a featherweight. Guida was the inaugural Strikeforce Lightweight Champion. He is one of the two men to defeat current UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis. As of January 17, 2014, he is #9 in official UFC featherweight rankings and ranked the #10 featherweight in the world by Sherdog.

Guida is renowned for his iron chin, having been knocked out only once in competition by Chad Mendes, relentless pressure, and unending stamina.

Guida has been criticised for noticeably shifting away from his once relentless, forward moving and offensive fighting style, in favor of an apparently safety first, non-combative gameplan. Guida's recent approach to MMA has not been received well by both fans and critics alike, who seem to regard his incessant footwork and continuous head movement not as an attempt to be elusive, but rather a deliberate and measured attempt to avoid significant exchanges with his opponent. The change even drew criticism from UFC president Dana White, who in an interview with 95.5 KLOS Los Angeles, in February, 2013 stated: "The problem with Clay Guida lately is Clay Guida has completely changed his style. The style that made him popular and exciting, what everybody liked, why everybody liked Clay Guida—now he does the exact opposite," White continued "He was a buzzsaw and just moved forward and doesn't stop and he kept going until he eventually broke you. Now he does the exact opposite, he runs. Nobody wants to see that."

During the early stages of his MMA career, Guida worked as a carpenter (leading to his nickname, "The Carpenter") while training and fighting in his spare time, compiling a professional record of 20-6.

In 2008 Guida worked as stunt performer in the movie 'Assassination of a High School President' starring Bruce Willis and Reece Thompson. [6] In 2009 Guida starred in the motivational mixed martial arts exercise video 'The Ultimate Workout: Five Rounds With Clay Guida'.

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