KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Rafa Garcia admits it was hard to fight Clay Guida at UFC on ESPN 44.
Garcia (16-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) swept the judges’ scorecards in a unanimous decision win over Guida (38-23 MMA, 18-17 UFC) this past Saturday at T-Mobile Center.
While it was special to fight a veteran such as Guida, Garcia has a lot of admiration for him.
“A little bittersweet,” Garcia told reporters, including MMA Junkie, backstage. “It wasn’t like my decision where I was really excited to fight someone like Clay because it’s someone I admire. I had to prepare myself mentally for three months and be like, he’s somebody you look up to – he was one of my heroes growing up.
“When I met him for the first time, I went to a grappler’s quest and a few fighters denied me and my brother a picture. I went up to Clay before he was competing and he gave us a hug, was super nice to us too. We took a picture. It was me, Cub (Swanson) and my brother, and Clay. So, just to have that mentality, going in there and having to be like, ‘I’m going to have to go in there and try to hurt this guy’ was kind of hard.”
After their fight, Guida took off his gloves and faked a retirement announcement, which had Garcia worried for a second.
“Please don’t do this to me, Clay, I told him,” Garcia said. “I was super happy and super emotional that I won, but I also was just kind of like sad because that’s someone I look up to.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 44.
Rafa Garcia explains why UFC on ESPN 44 win over Clay Guida ‘a little bittersweet’