LAS VEGAS – Don't look now, but with his second "Submission of the Night" bonus in his past three trips to the cage, fan favorite UFC lightweight Clay Guida (28-11 MMA, 8-5 UFC) has suddenly put together a three-fight win streak.
But following his UFC 125 win over former PRIDE champion Takanori Gomi at Saturday's pay-per-view event in Las Vegas, Guida said that's just the tip of the iceberg.
While Guida is known for putting on some of the most exciting fights in the UFC, "The Carpenter" said that's simply not enough. He's focused on a title, and he believes he can get there before the end of the year.
"There's no exact number (of fights before I expect to get a title shot)," Guida said following UFC 125. "Definitely by the end of 2011."
Wins over competition such as Gomi certainly will help Guida reach that goal. The 29-year-old said he used the blueprint perennial contender Kenny Florian established in a March 2009 win over Gomi in the Japanese product's octagon debut.
"Gomi has been known to come in under-conditioned sometimes," Guida told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Kenny Florian is a very tough fight for anyone in the octagon, and Kenny took it to him – jab, in and out. I'm not comparing myself to Kenny. He's a much more pinpoint striker, but we kind of mimicked that a little bit – staying away and doing a little Frankie Edgar – not getting hit too much and working our wrestling."
Guida made himself impossible to hit by constantly changing levels, moving back and forth, circling around the cage and generally contorting himself at a pace that would make a hummingbird blush. While Guida is always a high-energy fighter, he admits the gameplan called for an even more frantic approach than normal.
"I thought maybe I was wasting a little bit of energy out there staying on the outside, but I could feel wind when Gomi was throwing punches," Guida said. "That guy throws from his hip, and I'm glad he didn't connect too solid on any of them."
Hardly at all, in fact. Gomi, who in his previous outing needed just 64 seconds to dispatch of an always-tough Tyson Griffin via knockout, had difficulty landing any blows of consequence in the opening round. He began to score a touch more frequently in the second, but Guida also was finding range.
"The key in this fight in training was to not get punched by Gomi too much," Guida joked. "He's a momentum fighter. He's like Chris Leben. He loves when guys stand in his range and want to get in trading wars with him. That's not what I wanted to do.
"For a second, I kind of landed a couple good shots. I hit him in the face, and I saw him take a big, deep breath at the end of the first round, and it kind of took me back to when he fought Nick Diaz. You could see him getting winded, and I just kind of took over."
Guida then turned to his wrestling game to work the fight to the floor, where he eventually set up a guillotine choke from top position before rolling over and finishing the move from his back.
"We got the takedown, finally," Guida said of the final sequence. "He's got good wrestling, and he stopped a couple of my shots, but once I got that single-leg and picked him up, I think he kind of knew the end was near.
"In the second (round), he rung my bell real quick, and then I got back to my wrestling and opened up my ground and pound for that submission."
The three straight wins equal Guida's longest run in the UFC, but he followed up the first such streak with back-to-back losses to Diego Sanchez and Florian.
This time, Guida vows things will be different as he works toward his ultimate goal: the UFC lightweight title.
"I'm going to keep growing and get better at my wrestling, striking, everything," Guida said. "I just want to get back in the gym and see what the UFC's got for me next."
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