UFC Fight Night 39 results: Clay Guida tops Kawajiri, calls out McGregor, Thomson

ABU DHABI – After a dizzying three rounds of power punches, near submissions, and cage-shaking slams, Clay Guida emerged with a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) over Tatsuya Kawajiri.

The featherweight bout co-headlined today’s UFC Fight Night 39 main card. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass from du Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Guida owned most of the first round after dropping Kawajiri with a righthand bomb that planted the Japanese fighter facedown on the mat. Kawajiri recovered quickly and even threatened with an armbar later in the round, only to be slammed repeatedly by Guida, who always seemed one step ahead in the scrambles.

It was more of the same in the next two rounds as Guida’s frantic pace and the constant threat of his takedowns seemed to keep Kawajiri on the defensive, despite a few slams of his own. By the end, Guida was in total control from the top position, and the decision seemed a foregone conclusion.

To celebrate his win, Guida rattled off the names of a couple future opponents he wouldn’t mind facing, including lightweight Josh Thomson and featherweight Connor McGregor, the latter of whom Guida described as a “leprechaun” whom the UFC is protecting.

“After your injury, once you’re healed up, you want to fight a real man, there ain’t no gold at the end of that rainbow, man,” Guida said in his post-fight interview. “Just a chest-hair sandwich from a mullet with a caveman at the end of it.”

Guida (31-14 MMA, 11-8 UFC) has now won two of his past three, bouncing back from the TKO loss to Chad Mendes in August. Kawajiri (33-8-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) suffers his first defeat since coming to the UFC.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 39 results include:

• Clay Guida def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Ryan LaFlare def. John Howard via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Ramsey Nijem def. Beneil Dariush via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:20
• Jared Rosholt def. Daniel Omielanczuk via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Thales Leites def. Trevor Smith via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:45
• Jim Alers def. Alan Omer via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Johnny Bedford vs. Rani Yahya declared no-contest (accidental head butt) – Round 1, 0:39

For more on UFC Fight Night 39, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(John Morgan contributed to this report from on site in Abu Dhabi.)