THE CANADIAN PRESS
LAS VEGAS — Clay (The Carpenter) Guida is chasing his UFC lightweight title dream in an RV.
The 29-year-old from Illinois lives in a Winnebago called the Dudemobile near a river, five to 10 minutes away from trainer Greg Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, N.M.
"It sounds very cliched but I’m on the road to victory every day," Guida said Thursday at a sparsely attended open workout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
On Saturday night at UFC 125 (available on pay-per-view), Guida takes his next step up the 155-pound ladder when he faces former Pride champion Takanori (The Fireball Kid) Gomi.
Guida (27-8) has been a commercial fisherman in Alaska as well as a carpenter, but is now fully focused on mixed martial arts.
The five-foot-seven fighter is a cross between the Energizer Bunny and Tasmanian Devil in the cage.
Guida is often a bloody blur of motion. Tattoos and a wild shoulder-length mop of hair add to the whirling dervish image, as does the blood that often decorates Guida’s face during a fight.
Before he climbs into the cage, he gets in the mood by having older brother Jason — a fighter himself — slap him around the head. Clay Guida says he sees stars every time.
Guida, who is 7-5 in the UFC, has gone to war with the likes of Diego Sanchez, Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian in bouts that have made him a fan favourite.
Guida almost put Huerta away in a memorable fight before a dazed Huerta rallied for the win.
"All I could see was his hair, just all over me," Huerta said later of Guida. "I was like ‘What the heck is this?’ Seriously that’s when I thought it was a lion or some kind of an animal. I’m trying to get this thing off of me. About 20 seconds, I’m like ‘Oh, it’s Clay.’ It turned out OK."
Guida’s hair is so wild that developers of the "UFC Undisputed 2009" video game were unable to recreate it for the first edition of the game (he made the next year’s model).
After splitting his first six pro bouts, Guida ran off a 15-fight win streak that finally ended in February 2006 when he was choked out by Tristan Yunker.
He had his hair cut before that fight, something he has never done since.
The 32-year-old Gomi (32-6 with one no contest) was once widely seen as the best lightweight in the world. But he had a rough entry to the UFC, losing to Florian via submission in March.
He bounced back with a devastating one-punch knockout of Tyson Griffin in August.
"People saw the old Gomi against Tyson Griffin," says Guida, who lost a disputed split decision to Griffin when they met in 2007.
"Tyson’s got one of the toughest chins in the lightweight division, let alone the UFC. I hit that guy with everything I had and didn’t even see him blink. So to see Gomi put him on the mat like that makes me not want to get hit by him."
Guida pulled up stakes in Illinois to train in Albuquerque, leaving friends and family.
Asked if he sold his home to make the move, he said dryly: "Yeah, I don’t think I could sell the bedroom my parents rent out to me."
Guida has won two straight since losing to Florian, whom he thanks for reminding him that he needed to get back to his wrestling and grappling roots.
"Against Kenny Florian, I thought I was a striker," Guida said. "I made a mistake, I paid dearly for it."
Guida calls such errors "speed bumps" in his career. "Nothing’s a roadblock to me. You can always get over them," he said.
Sacrifice, hard work and discipline are Guida’s mantra and explain why he moved to Albuquerque.
"I’m my worst enemy sometimes," he said. "I need to be in the gym more than I was back home."
He lived an hour to 90 minutes away from his training in Illinois. So instead of always being in the car going to the gym, he is in it training.
"It’s a tough decision but that’s life. Life isn’t all peaches and cream," he said.
Still fighting is a walk in the park compared to fishing on the Bering Sea.
"Nothing’s easy about this (fighting) but doing that for 18 to 20 hours a day, man, it really made this a lot more fun. Just being on a stinky, smelly boat with 50 guys every day is not my idea of a good time.
"But I was 21 years old. I’ll never take that experience back. It was something I think every guy should try when they’re in their early 20s and they just want to get away from a while and kind of clear up their minds."
A former high school wrestler, he turned to fighting after being laid off as a carpenter, making his pro debut in July 2003 outside a strip club in Illinois
Back in Albuquerque, Guida says life is "very simple" in the Dudemobile.
While there are two flat screens inside and one outside for tailgating, he says it has nothing on some of the high-end RVs out there. But there are pullout couches for guests.
"The cool part about it is I can invite my teammates back home to come and train and stay with me," he said.
"To me it’s like a hotel on wheels. It’s great"
His current 40-foot Winnebago Vectra is a far cry from his previous "beater" — a 26-foot Winnebago Warrior model.
"This thing looked like it came out of the Sturgis bike rally," he said, referring to the annual gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts in South Dakota. "It was all black with Harley-Davidson symbols and screaming eagles up and down the side.
"That thing sometimes couldn’t even make it out of the border of Illinois so I bought this thing to live in it full time when I am on the road training."
Guida has added his own decorating touches to his new home on wheels. There are nods to the film "The Big Lebowski," not to mention the screaming eagle from his previous RV.
Thanks to a dealer friend, he has a car to get around town. He leaves the RV to the highway.
When he beat Shannon Gugerty in Colorado in March, he drove the RV to the fight. But this time he is staying in a hotel.
"I didn’t want to have to deal with New Year’s and leaving it out in a vacant parking lot in Vegas," he said with a laugh. "I’d come out and the thing would be on blocks or something."
Guida visualizes a win over Gomi and a successful 2011 putting him in the top three of the division a year from now.
His choice of vehicle might be prophetic.
"You’ve earned it," says the Winnebago flyer for the 2009 Vectra (base price, new, of US$302,491)
"Make your dreams come true in a Winnebago Vectra."
