Clay Guida “Kind of Hung Up The [MMA] Gloves” heading into RAF 6
Clay Guida is one of the more revered, respected MMA fighters of the last 20-plus years, but he is donning the singlet once again at RAF 6 and does so on February 28th. ‘The Carpenter’ will clash with Keelon Jimison, and when addressing how he is doing heading into this unique contest for Real American Freestyle, Guida said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Dylan, I’m doing very well. Thank you so much for the awesome intro. I really appreciate that. [laughs] Yeah, it’s hard to believe, man. You said yeah, 20 years, man, or 20 plus years. It doesn’t seem that long. It goes by quick. Yeah, it’s pretty cool to be able to kind of; I say my career’s kind of come full circle. You know, we started wrestling at a young age, then I wrestled in college, then transitioned to MMA.”
“For some of those that know or don’t know, we kind of hung up the gloves, in 2025. Now we picked up our wrestling shoes again here in 2026 or at the end of 2025. Now heading into our second RAF event coming Saturday night live from Tempe, Arizona. Man, it’s going to be awesome.”
Some were unsure if there was a return plan to MMA for Guida after being released by the UFC after a lengthy tenure. When asked if he was formally hanging up the gloves and just putting on the wrestling singlet now, Guida stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Sure. You know, I’m not completely against having another fight. Just it probably wouldn’t be under the UFC banner unfortunately. Loved competing for them, you know, it was amazing, but you know how it is. You got to fight your way back in there as well, you know what I mean, to get back under contract with them.”
“Which is deservedly so and that’s how it should be. But yeah, if there was a fight that made sense against a formidable opponent and timing wise, yeah, I’m definitely not against it. But in the meantime, we’ve been having a lot of fun getting back to our wrestling roots and yeah, being back in the wrestling gym, man. It’s been awesome.”
Clay Guida says RAF “gives [wrestlers] that arena to live out their childhood dreams”
RAF has been giving professional opportunities where wrestlers with a great amateur wrestling base don’t have to go right into MMA to make some cash. When touching upon what Real American Freestyle is doing to create more pathways for quality wrestlers to express their craft on a professional athletics level, Guida quipped [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Absolutely. To me, that’s the bigger picture in this. For these young up and comers, for the sport of wrestling, for men and women, it gives them another avenue. Because here’s the deal, not everybody wants to go get in a cage and get punched and kicked in the head to make a living, to have fun, for whatever. Not everybody wants to go into professional wrestling and go jump off a 4 foot top rope and get landed on or land on someone that’s 250 or 300 lbs, you know, a giant athlete.”
“So, that’s not for everybody. On the same token too, not everyone’s going to be an Olympian. Or be an Olympic gold medalist or medalist and be able to maybe make a living off of their name, their endorsements, their performance, and things like that, too.”
“So RAF has really been that avenue, been that platform for athletes like myself and other up-and-coming wrestlers or other established wrestlers that want to still compete professionally but not in a certain arena. So this gives them that arena to live out their childhood dreams and say, “Hey, I’m a professional wrestler, you know.”
