Rafa Garcia shuts Clay Guida down with his striking at UFC on ESPN 44
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, April 15, 2023, for UFC on ESPN 44, going down live from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Headlining the event is a matchup of featherweight contenders, as former champion Max Holloway (23-7) faces no. 4 ranked Arnold Allen (19-1) in the main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event is also a featherweight contest, this one between coming Edson Barboza (22-11) and Billy Quarantillo (17-4).
Opening up the main card tonight was a lightweight affair between Clay Guida (38-22) and Rafa Garcia (14-3).
Guida came into the bout having gone 3-2 over his last five outings, while Garcia came in having won three of his last four.
Continue reading to see how this lightweight contest went down:
Official Result: Rafa Garcia def. Clay Guida via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Guida opens up the bout showing off his much-improved boxing over the last few years, though he’s eating some leg kicks in the process early on.
Guida did a good job of evading most of Garcia’s punches in round one, but he really started to get busted up in the second.
Garcia lands a beautiful right uppercut at the beginning of the round, and within the first 90 seconds Guida’s face was bloodied. Garcia starts to land his jab early on in the round, and only got more effective with it as the round went on.
Guida shot in on his first takedown of the fight in the second but was unsuccessful with the attempt.
Guida hangs in there through the third and final round, though he continued to get busted up throughout it.
Rafa Garcia improves to 4-3 inside the octagon at UFC on ESPN 44.
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