Check out the most riveting coiffing controversy in MMA since Kimbo’s beard: Clay Guida’s hair. Leading up to his fight this coming weekend against Gray Maynard, Maynard’s camp filed an official complaint with the New Jersey Athletic Commission. Their charge: that Clay’s hair “could pose a distraction to their fighter… and that they thought it gave an unfair advantage to their opponent.”

Of course, that’s f*cking moronic on its face. So either Gray Maynard is an even bigger sourpuss than he seems (an impressive feat), or his camp is playing head games with Guida. Literally. Gray himself has come out and claimed he has nothing to do with the request, but you don’t see him going out of his way to restore Clay’s right to follicle freedom, do you?

So now poor Clay won’t get to fight with that greasy mop of hair all in his face. Win for Camp Maynard? It always seemed to me that the hair was more of a disadvantage than anything else. We’ve seen other fighters suffer hairstyle headaches in the cage. Louis Gaudinot’s hippie hair almost cost him his last fight and when KJ Noons rematched Nick Diaz he spent more time fighting with his bangs than with Nick.

Clay has always claimed it doesn’t bother him during fights, but I’ve always wondered if judges see Clay’s hair flying this way and that and figure he’s getting hit more / harder than he actually is. So in a very real sense, Gray’s camp might have just helped Clay Guida out.