UFC 72: Clay "The Carpenter" Guida - Tyson Griffin

Up next was the fight I’d been most looking forward to: Clay “The Carpenter” Guida vs. Tyson Griffin. Tyson came out to “Eye of the Tiger,” a blue chip fight song for all eternity.

Guida and Tyson are both fierce ground fighters, both are extremely tough to take down, and both throw fierce punching combinations as soon as they can. Round 1 was outstanding and belonged to Griffin.

Round 2 was more of the same, this time with Guida getting the better of the Randy Couture-backed Griffin.

The final round slowed a bit, with Guida scoring a takedown, maintaining dominant position for the last minute and a half and landing a handful of hard shots in the closing seconds. Joe Rogan, Eddie Bravo, Northern Ireland, and I all believed that Guida won the fight by taking the third round.

But what do we know.

Somehow, Griffin got the split decision. The Irish crowd, which had really been into this fight, reacted to the decision with a wave of boo’s. For once, I actually agreed with the booing.

Despite consecutive losses to Din Thomas and Tyson Griffin, Guida earned legions of fight fans with his heart, his relentless style in the cage, and with looks that would make him a very popular man in prison.