Clay Guida vs Frankie Edgar - The Match You’ve Always Wanted

Two of combat sports’ most exciting fighters with the exact same skillset, style and intensity shared the exact same era and never faced off. Until now. Frankie Edgar and Clay Guida may have never met in college wrestling, fighting or grappling but the compatible competitors will meet on the RAF mat and throw caution to the wind as they always have at RAF11.

Between the two of them, there’s almost no fighter within three weight classes that haven’t either wrestled or fought Frankie Edgar or Clay Guida. Stylistically they match up perfectly and their timelines aligned perfectly so what happened?

Who cares? They’re squaring off now.

In the post-TUF era of the UFC two grapplers with impossibly high outputs and brawling styles that led to hall of fame fights and performance bonuses that lead to jam-packed bank accounts. Not only were Guida and Edgar two violent brawlers but the secret sauce was that both men carried a wrestling pedigree so strong that attempts to slow things down were thwarted and opponents were drug further into deep waters.

Both are known for violent exchanges, high motors and fan-friendly styles but what separates the two and makes for an interesting clash on the RAF mat?

Edgar comes into the Milwaukee matchup as the cleaner wrestler. The Clarion Golden Eagle was a D1 wrestler in one of the country’s most stacked conferences. While being one of the most physically gifted wrestlers on the team, Edgar still developed into one of the most fundamentally-sound wrestlers on the team.

His swiftness on the feet made him one of the most dynamic attackers as well as smoothest defenders in the Clarion wrestling room. Edgar rarely stays in front of an opponent for long leading to overextensions, sloppy shots and openings for “The Answer” to capitalize.

While he has the offensive prowess to set up level changes and single-leg attacks, he can use his defense to get opponents off-balance without ever putting himself in danger to begin with.

Guida’s game has never revolved around “the perfect attack.” Guida’s cardio, physicality and pace throws gameplans right out the window. If you’re thinking about getting an inch to move and a second to breathe, you’re not thinking about giving up push out points and where your lead leg is.

Guida is already an RAF-veteran and has proven that his iron lung is still well in-tact and hasn’t lost a step.

It’s still a surprise they’ve never met but the styles match up perfectly and both men have paths to victory but can’t deviate and expect positive results.

Edgar’s keys to victory are clean entries, staying light on the feet and winning the hand fights.

As mentioned, Edgar is the technically-superior wrestler and can score at-will if he avoids falling into Guida’s trap of physicality.

If Edgar can keep his feet where he wants it not only keeps him out of harm’s way of push out points but also gives him room to circle and force Guida to blur the line between aggressive and reckless before capitalizing.

For Guida he needs to make Edgar fight for every exchange by constantly disrupting and pummeling for inside control. It’s well within Guida’s arsenal to not allow Edgar to gain an inch of offense and he’ll need to utilize this ability. If he can disrupt mobility and force tight exchanges, it negates Edgar’s footwork.

Guida can also rely heavily on a surprising arsenal. While he’s not as technically-sound as Edgar he does have a very deep bag of attacks that he can put to use if he implements a heavy focus on chain wrestling. He’s never been a “one shot” guy. This match would not be the one to change that and lessen the aggression.

Combat sports fans are finally getting the match they’ve always wanted and both men still have plenty in the tank but who will establish themselves and leave Milwaukee with the win? Find out SATURDAY!

Catch Clay Guida vs Frankie Edgar LIVE from Milwaukee, Wisconsin Saturday, July 18 ONLY on FOX Nation!