A featherweight fight previously scheduled for UFC on Fox 7 looks to be re-scheduled for UFC 164 on August 31st. Ariel Helwani reported on last night's edition of UFC Tonight that Mendes and Guida still want to fight each other and that the UFC wants to make it happen:
Guida (30-13) pulled out of the original Mendes matchup with an injury. "The Carpenter", who has been involved in several memorable wars at 155 lbs, has come under scrutiny recently by fans and Dana White for his poor, lackluster fights against Hatsu Hioki and Gray Maynard. The fight with Maynard hit a low point when Guida was warned for timidity after "fighting from a distance" was re-defined as "the parking lot". Guida lost the Maynard bout but did win a somewhat controversial split decision over Hioki in his FW debut.
Mendes (14-1) has knocked out his last 3 opponents (Cody McKenzie, Yaotzin Meza, and Darren Elkins) in a combined 3:34. The featherweight contender's only defeat was a KO loss to Jose Aldo at UFC 142, and he's obviously been on a tear since then. Before the McKenzie win, Mendes hadn't won by KO or TKO since stopping Steven Siler on a Tachi Palace Fights show in 2009. Clay Guida has never been knocked out or even stopped by cuts, but the two times Guida was finished in the UFC came by submission after he was badly hurt by strikes.
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