Two of the worlds most competitive Featherweights collide at UFC 199.
Reported from UFC Tonight on Wednesday, Clay “The Carpenter” Guida takes on fast rising star Brian Ortega at the Forum.
Guida (32-16, 12-10 in UFC), 34, is coming off a loss to fellow veteran Thiago Tavares at UFC Fight Night 77: Belfort vs. Henderson and is 3-3 in his last six with victories over Robbie Peralta, Hatsu Hioki, and Tatsuya Kawajiri while also losing to ranked Featherweights Dennis Bermudez and Chad Mendes. Interestingly enough, he holds a submission victory over current UFC Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos as well as a decision win over former champion Anthony Pettis.
Ortega (10-0-1, 2-0-1 in UFC) is coming off a highlight reel victory over TUF winner Diego Brandao earlier this year at UFC 195, submitting the Brazilian in the third round. Prior to that he recorded a TKO stoppage victory over Thiago Tavares in a bout that won both men Fight of the Night. He holds a lone No contest on his record from his debut with the UFC after testing positive for drostanolone which is a banned substance. Ortega has quickly garnered much attention due to his talented and high level Gracie Jiu-jitsu skills. The GJJ black belt is a protege under Rorion Gracie, and his sons Ryron and Rene Gracie.
UFC 199 takes place on June 4th at the Forum in Inglewood, California and will feature a UFC Middleweight title fight between defending champion Luke Rockhold and former champion Chris Weidman in a rematch of their UFC 194 bout. The card will be co-headlined by a Bantamweight rubber match for the 135 pound belt as Dominick Druz defends his title against long time rival Urijah Faber. The rest of the card features:
Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman (UFC Middleweight championship)
Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber (UFC Bantamweight championship)
Dustin Poirier vs. Bobby Green
BJ Penn vs. Dennis Siver
Clay Guida vs. Brian Ortega
Evan Dunham vs. Leonardo Santos
Kevin Casey vs. Elvis Mutapcic
Jonathan Wilson vs. Luiz Henrique da Silva
Polo Reyes vs. Dong Hyun Kim (Lightweight)
Sean Strickland vs. Tom Breese
John Makdessi vs. Mehdi Baghdad