A battle of top-ranked featherweight fighters has been booked for the summer. The UFC announced over the weekend that veteran Clay Guida will take on the surging Dennis Bermudez in the opening main card bout of UFC on FOX 12, which is set for July 26 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The fight is set for three rounds. I think this is a fantastic fight booking between two solid featherweights, and I’m expecting a “Fight of the Night” type of matchup when these two meet. Bermudez has been nothing but fantastic as of late, winning six fights in a row and emerging as a top contender at 145lbs. But he hasn’t been beating top-ranked fighters and if he wants to get the title shot that he so highly covets, he’ll have to take out someone in the top 10, which is exactly what Guida is. Known for his grinding style, Guida has looked pretty solid overall at 145lbs, winning decisions over Hatsu Hioki and Tatsuya Kawajiri and only losing to No. 1 contender Chad Mendes. Although I do think Guida is on the downside of his career, he is coming off a surprisingly-good performance against Kawajiri last month and it’s a win that in my opinion showed that he still has a lot left in the tank. The thing I like most about this fight is that Bermudez has been using his strength and power wrestling to win the majority of his fights against weaker fighters, but going up against Guida, who is one of the strongest blankets in the division in Guida, it will be really interesting to see how his wrestling stacks up, and if he can’t take him down, I’m curious to see how his striking works against a guy with a proven iron chin in Guida. As far as the line for this fight goes, it will likely be a pretty competitive line when it opens, but I think based on his youth and his momentum one would have to favor Bermudez in this fight. Obviously he’s far from a perfect fighter and he has definitely shown some flaws in his striking and submission defence, but I think at this point in his career he’s the better mixed martial artist and I do think he should get the W here. But then again, it’s hard to ever count out a veteran like Guida out of any fight.
