• UFC on FX 4

Maynard edges Guida at UFC on FX 4

Gray Maynard's workrate was enough to earn him victory over Clay Guida © Getty Images

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Gray Maynard cemented his position as one of the leading lightweights with a tight win over Clay Guida at UFC on FX 4 in New Jersey.

Guida attempted to keep Maynard at arm's length with his constant movement but it was not enough as two judges scored it 48-47 for Maynard with the third judge being 48-47 in Guida's favour.

In truth, neither man covered himself in glory throughout the five rounds, with Guida warned for avoiding the fight, while Maynard was seen pulling Guida's hair on occasions.

The moment of the fight arrived in round four when Maynard, clearly frustrated, dropped his hands and allowed Guida to land flush on three occasions, eventually beckoning him into an attempted double-leg takedown that almost allowed Maynard to finish the fight with a guillotine attempt.

Maynard was unimpressed with Guida's tactics, saying: "I thought Guida was coming to fight. I came to fight. I came to prove I can go a hard five."

Maynard's win went some way to easing the pain of his loss to Frankie Edgar last year, but he wants the chance to erase the memory with a rematch.

"I want Frankie Edgar, if he takes care of business with Henderson," Maynard said.

Elsewhere, England's Ross Pearson will be kicking himself after throwing away a winning position to suffer a second-round TKO loss to Cub Swanson. Pearson was the stronger man and - having edged the opening stanza - clearly was the dominant man in the second, before he ran right into a combination from Swanson who dropped his foe at 4.14 of the second stanza.

UFC on FX 4 results:
Gray Maynard bt Clay Guida via split decision (48-47 47-48 48-47)
Sam Stout bt Spencer Fisher via unanimous decision (30-27 30-27 30-27)
Brian Ebersole bt TJ Waldburger via unanimous decision (29-28 29-28 29-28)
Cub Swanson bt Ross Pearson via TKO at 4.14 of round two
Ricardo Lamas bt Hatsu Hioki via unanimous decision (29-28 29-28 29-28)
Ramsey Nijem bt CJ Keith via TKO at 2.29 of round one
Rick Story bt Brock Jardine via unanimous decision (30-27 30-27 30-27)
Steven Siler bt Joey Gambino via guillotine choke at 2.47 of round one
Chris Camozzi bt Nick Catone via TKO at 1.51 of round three
Matt Brown bt Luis Ramos via TKO at 4.20 of round two

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