UFC 125 Results: Takanori Gomi Taps to Clay Guida

Clay Guida came out with a clever game plan, out struck Takanori Gomi on the feet for a round and a half then took Gomi down and submitted him with a guillotine choke.

Guida's coach Greg Jackson put together a brilliant series of tactics for Guida that seemed to throw Gomi off his game completely.

Guida came out circling and waving his head and arms wildly. Gomi seemed confused by Guida's movements but just honed in and loaded up his hands. Guida threw a high kick followed by a shot. When Gomi sprawled Guida charged in behind a series of punches. Guida landed a single leg but Gomi quickly got back to his feet. It was quite a take down though. Gomi sought the range to land his jab but Guida continued to dance outside range. Guida shot again and got stuffed. Guida landed a body kick and then shot in and took Gomi down. Guida quickly passed to half guard and ended the round on top of Gomi.

Gomi stuffed Guida's first shot of the second round and their heads clashed from the impact. Gomi began to connect with his jab when Guida shot for another single. Gomi twisted like a pretzel to stuff the take down. Gomi briefly threatened to take Guida's back and with a choke. Guida got back to his feet. Gomi connected again. Guida then connected with a high kick/right hand combination. He followed up with another right to Gomi's face. Gomi then landed a hard knee to the face but Guida used that to get the take down. Gomi held onto half guard. Guida went for a guillotine then locked it in and got the tap out after Gomi rolled him over.

Gomi, the Fireball Kid who reigned over Pride's lightweight division for the final two years of its existence, reignited his struggling career when he knocked out perennial contender Tyson Griffin at UFC on Versus 2. That win brought Gomi to 1-1 in the UFC following his debut submission loss to Kenny Florian in March.

Prior to coming to the UFC, Gomi had wandered in the wilderness for two years after the collapse of Pride going 4-2 and dropping like a rock in the rankings. Along with Hidehiko Yoshida, he was World Victory Road's biggest signing when they launched their Sengoku promotion. They held a tournament to provide Gomi a challenger for their lightweight belt but he dropped a very controversial decision to Sergey Golyaev in what was supposed to be his tune up fight. Shortly thereafter he was submitted by Satoru Kitaoka in a title fight. 

Guida picked up two UFC wins in 2010 which helped him turn things around after going 1-2 in 2009. Guida forced both Rafael dos Anjos and Shannon Gugerty to submit but Gomi will represent a serious jump in competition for Guida. He's come up short in the past against the division's elite with losses to title challengers Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez as well as contenders like Tyson Griffin, Roger Huerta, and Din Thomas.