UFC Fight Night 40 Preview

Tatsuya Kawajiri has not lost a fight in three years. | Photo: Taro Irei/Sherdog.com

Featherweights

Tatsuya Kawajiri (33-7-2, 1-0 UFC) vs. Clay Guida (30-14, 10-8 UFC)

The Matchup: Moments after his second-round submission victory over Sean Soriano at UFC Fight Night 34, Kawajiri asked for a stronger opponent in his next outing. The Japanese standout received his wish in Guida, who figures to provide a far more difficult test. “Crusher” had his way against his short-notice foe in January. He took down Soriano at will, achieved dominant positions, landed ground-and-pound and hunted for submissions before securing the tapout with a rear-naked choke. In short, it was vintage Kawajiri.

Implementing a similar game plan against Guida will be more challenging, as the Jackson-Wink MMA product prefers to force the issue with relentless pace, pressure and wrestling. When he is unable to land takedowns and work from top position, things can get ugly in a hurry. Guida’s standup is based on awkward movement and sporadic punching combinations. While his striking is not especially accurate or powerful, his unusual rhythm can make it difficult to land consistent offense against him. Depending on the matchup, Guida is capable of producing memorable, high-energy wars -- see bouts with Tyson Griffin, Benson Henderson and Diego Sanchez, to name a few -- or cringe-worthy affairs such as his forgettable encounter with Gray Maynard in June 2012.

“The Carpenter” is coming off the first knockout loss of his 44-bout career against Chad Mendes at UFC 164. It will be worth watching to see what kind of effect that has on the usually durable Chicago native going forward. Fortunately for Guida, Kawajiri is not known for his standup prowess. The former Shooto champion’s forte is his punishing ground-and-pound. Kawajiri is 5-0 since dropping to featherweight, as his physicality seems to have translated well into a smaller weight class. In addition to landing forceful punches and hammerfists from above, Kawajiri is aggressive in his pursuit of dominant positions and submissions.

A big key for Kawajiri will be his ability to keep up with Guida’s pace. As much criticism as Guida has received of late, his style can be frustrating to handle, especially if Kawajiri is not able to implement his wrestling as much as he would like.

The Pick: In his prime, perhaps Kawajiri takes this. Guida has faced the tougher competition of late, and he will prove difficult to control for extended periods of time. In a back-and-forth affair, Guida ekes out a narrow decision.

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