Maynard decisions Guida; UFC fans boo dull match

ATLANTIC CITY - Waiting for the decision, Gray Maynard smacked himself on each side of the face a few times to rile up the crowd.

At last, some hitting.

Clay Guida danced and dodged his way around the octagon for five rounds, and it cost him a few thousand fans and points on the scorecard. Maynard beat Guida by split decision to win a lackluster lightweight bout in the main event of the UFC on FX 4 card Friday.

Maynard won 48-47 on two of the scorecards. Guida won the other 48-47.

"That fight sucked," Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White said. "I don't know how to expand on it any more."

Guida repeatedly stalled and gestured toward Maynard, even pointing at his braided hair - doing just about everything but attack. Guida was even warned in the fifth round to pick up a slow pace that had the crowd booing through most of the last two rounds.

"It took me two rounds just to know, 'I think this guy is going to do this the whole fight,' " Maynard said. "I thought Guida was coming to fight. The stuff got old."

Maynard landed a series of rights in the fifth to finally enliven the fight and perhaps tilt the scorecards in his favor.

Maynard rebounded from the first loss of his mixed martial arts career. He had a draw and a loss to Frankie Edgar in his last two fights and called out Edgar again after beating Guida.

Guida said his game plan was to be "unpredictable."

"(Maynard) hits like a Mack truck," Guida said. "I didn't want to be there for too much of it."

In other bouts on the main card, Cub Swanson stopped former "The Ultimate Fighter" winner Ross Pearson via technical knockout in the second round; Brian Ebersole defeated TJ Waldburger by unanimous decision; and Sam Stout topped Spencer Fisher by unanimous decision.

The 12-bout card kicked off a packed weekend for the UFC. White was set to catch a flight to Brazil after the card for UFC 147.

The crowd that started hot for Guida and chanted his name booed the fighters after the first two dull rounds, in which neither fighter attempted a takedown.

One fan shouted, "Do something!" before the start of the third.

Maynard got the hint and attacked, briefly pinning Guida against the cage and smacking him with a right. But the rest of the round saw Guida duck and dodge and prance around the octagon.

The crowd turned on Guida and started a "Maynard" chant without the thumping sounds of punches and kicks to drown them out.

White trashed the fight on Twitter and said he was "booing." He said Maynard should have won by unanimous decision.

Maynard finally gave a jolt to a lackluster fight in the fourth when he extended two middle fingers toward Guida and repeatedly kneed him. They started jawing at each other, and Guida finally tried a takedown. Maynard pounced and turned into a submission choke move until Guida slammed his way free.

Guida ran around the ring in celebration after the bout and patted Maynard on the back. Maynard was agitated by the posturing but all smiles once the decision was announced.

■ NOTE - UFC 147 will air live on pay per view at 7 tonight. The card in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, features a main-event bout between Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin at a catchweight of 190 pounds. Franklin defeated Silva by unanimous decision at UFC 99 in 2009.

The card includes a heavyweight bout between Fabricio Werdum and Mike Russow, along with the middleweight and featherweight finals of the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil."

The preliminary card will air live on FX (Cable 24) at 5 p.m.

Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Adam Hill contributed to this story.