Gray (The Bully) Maynard and Clay (The Carpenter) Guida are set for their five-round bout with important lightweight title shot implications after both made weight for Friday’s UFC on FX 4 headliner in Atlantic City, N.J.
The former No. 1 contender Maynard and his highly-ranked opponent both hit the scale on the 155-pound number at Thursday’s weigh-ins at the Revel Atlantic City casino. But nothing about how they came to the stage was similar.
Guida, known for his constant energy, entered the arena hopping as usual like the Energizer Bunny, and his enthusiasm continued as he stepped on the scale. Maynard by contrast, who seems to do everything with a deliberately slow and calculated pace, was purposeful right through to their staredown, during which Guida continued to bounce with his fists in the face of Maynard, who pressed into his opponent with a serious glance.
Maynard is fighting for the first time in a bout that doesn’t have a belt on the line in almost two years after two straight battles with champion Frankie Edgar. He believes a win over Guida puts him back in line for another title shot. But there are plenty of other contenders.
“There’s a big traffic jam at the top of the lightweight division,” Maynard said. “You’ve got Clay up there, Nate Diaz has been looked great, and there’s Anthony Pettis plus Frankie (Edgar) is rematching with Ben Henderson in September. There’s a big traffic jam in the division now — and now it isn’t me causing it I think it sucks!”
Guida, who is coming off a loss to the current champion Henderson, has been on the cusp of a title shot for a while but knows he needs to make an impression to move quickly up the ladder.
“The lightweight division is so stacked right now, I think it is safe to say I’ve got to knock Gray out to get a title shot. There’s five or six guys right now at 155 pounds who are all one big punch or one big kick from being the No. 1 contender. Winning isn’t enough for any of us.
“(UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva and (UFC president) Dana White have a very tough job here — and I want to make their jobs easier for them by not only winning this fight but also winning in a way the fans want me to get the winner of the Henderson vs. Edgar rematch.”
London, Ont.’s Sam (Hands of Stone) Stout was 155.5 pounds for his bout co-main event against Spencer (The King) Fisher (156), the third of their famous trilogy.
They split their first two meetings in 2006 and 2007, but it’s been quite a while since they last grappled. Stout said the timing never seemed right, but he and his camp thought it was perfect now with both coming off losses to the same fighter, Thiago Tavares. So they asked the UFC for a couple different names, with the Fisher being one of them, and they agreed to the matchup.
“I knew (the third fight) would come at some point,” Stout said. “People asked me about it a lot, and I said I was willing to do it but I always said it would happen when the time’s right. I didn’t really set a date on it when I wanted it to happen. It just seemed like the perfect time to do it. And he’s starting to talk about retirement, so this is possibly the last chance.”
“I’m very excited about it,” he added. “It seems crazy it was 2006 when we first fought, just seems like yesterday but we’ve had so many fighters between then and now. I like the fact there’s someone in my career that fans will look back and say, ‘Those Stout vs. Fisher fights were awesome.’ Obviously, I want to be the winner of the trilogy.”
Fisher agreed that the third meeting between the two was bound to happen and should deliver.
“Whenever me and Sam Stout fight, the fans will get to see something a little special,” Fisher said. “We’ve just got two styles that make for great fights. It’s a little bit of magic, two very technical strikers who came to have a war.”
As far as the retirement thoughts go, Fisher says it’s not necessarily imminent.
“I’m 36 and people keep bringing that up but I feel great. I’m getting better with my weight all the time and that’s making me feel younger, not older.”
All other fighters made weight except for one, C.J. Keith, who was 157 pounds for his lightweight bout with Ramsey Nijem, and he had one hour to shed a pound. Nijem was also above the 156-pound limit by half a pound on his first attempt, but after dropping his trunks and weighing in behind a towel he made 156.
Here are the full weigh-in results:
Main card (Sportsnet, 9 p.m. ET)
Gray Maynard (155) vs. Clay Guida (155)
Sam Stout (155.5) vs. Spencer Fisher (156)
Brian Ebersole (170) vs. T.J. Waldburger (170.5)
Ross Pearson (146) vs. Cub Swanson (145.5)
Preliminary card (Sportsnet, 7 p.m. ET, joined in progress)
Hatsu Hioki (145.5) vs. Ricardo Lamas (145)
C.J. Keith (157) vs. Ramsey Nijem (156)
Brock Jardine (170.5) vs. Rick Story (169.5)
Joey Gambino (145) vs. Steven Siler (145.5)
Chis Camozzi (185.5) vs. Nick Catone (185.5)
Matt Brown (170.5) vs. Luis Ramos (170)
Preliminary card (Facebook, 5 p.m. ET)
Ricardo Funch (170.5) vs. Dan Miller (170.5)
Dustin Pague (135) vs. Ken Stone (135.5)
