It looks like Chase Hooper ended Clay Guida’s UFC career.
According to UFC Roster Tracker, Guida, 43, has been dropped from the promotion’s active roster.
Hooper defeated Guida via first-round submission in December 2024 at UFC 310. The loss was Guida’s third consecutive defeat in the Octagon, and the UFC has seemingly called a halt to his run with the organization.
Guida is in the 22nd year of his MMA career, and he’d been with the UFC since 2006 when he came over from World Extreme Cagefighting. No one currently on the roster had been a part of the organization for longer. Guida has a record of 38-25 professionally, and he’s 18-19 with the UFC.
When Hooper saw the news on social media, he reacted with a sad face emoji.
Another current UFC fighter, Terrence McKinney, paid his respects to Guida on X.
Hooper has been on a tear. The MMA journalist-turned-legitimate-lightweight has suddenly won four fights in a row.
He might be ready for a step up in competition. With one or two more wins, he might find himself in the Octagon with a ranked lightweight.
In Guida’s career, he made his mark by competing in several thrilling fights. Over the course of his career, Guida won ten performance bonuses and participated in a whopping six Fight of the Nights.
Guida’s epic brawl with Diego Sanchez on the Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Finale was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2019.
Guida captured championship gold in Strikeforce in March 2006 when he defeated Josh Thomson by unanimous decision to win the vacant lightweight title. Guida lost the belt in his first defense to Gilbert Melendez.
He was never able to ascend to that level with the UFC. However, he shared the Octagon with the likes of Nate Diaz (win), Kenny Florian (loss), Sanchez (loss), Rafael dos Anjos (win), Takanori Gomi (win), Anthony Pettis (win), Benson Henderson (loss), Gray Maynard (loss), Chad Mendes (loss), Brian Ortega (loss), Joe Lauzon (win), Charles Oliveira (loss), BJ Penn (win), Jim Miller (loss), Bobby Green (loss), and Michael Johnson (win).
Guida was a respectable 7-9 against that group. It could be argued that no one in Guida’s weight region has had a more impressive strength of schedule over the course of their career.
Throughout his career, Guida was only stopped via strikes twice. Ortega scored a nasty KO win after a knee and follow-up punches in 2016. Mendes stopped Guida with punches in 2013.
Guida’s primary Achilles heel was submission defense. While he was an accomplished grappler in his own right, Guida was submitted 12 times. Five of those submission losses came via rear-naked choke.
Guida’s release comes just days after the 2010s version of Guida’s model was released in EA UFC 5.
The Illinois native hadn’t commented on social media as of early January 16, but most recently, he posted a video fishing for swordfish. Looks like a lot of fun, and so was watching Guida fight.
