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Georges St. Pierre Defeats Matt Serra at UFC 83
Montreal's Georges St. Pierre celebrated after defeating Long Island's Matt Serra with a 2nd round TKO at the Bell Centre. That crowd set an all-time attendance record for UFC in its first show in Canada. St. Pierre stayed mostly on top of Serra for 2 rounds and earned the welterweight championship with a referee stoppage win at 4:43 of the 2nd round.
"It was amazing, the most beautiful day of my life, I can't believe it," said St. Pierre after becoming a 2 time champion. "It was for me a chance to win the title in front of my people. I can't wish for a better scenario."
St. Pierre displayed his impressive combination of technique, power and speed that makes him one of the top fighters in the world. The end came when St. Pierre had Serra on his knees against the fence. Serra continued rolling into different positions but was unable to get free from his opponent. St. Pierre threw a series of punches and hard knees to the Serra's body, causing the referee to call an end to the fight.
"It's never a good feeling," Serra said. "This game has such extreme highs and lows. I haven't had a fight stopped since Shonie Carter in 2001. So obviously I'm not happy."
Serra is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor on Long Island, NY. Fighting in Canada put him in hostile territory from the beginning. Besides having family, friends and nearly 20 of his students at the event, the cheers for St. Pierre overwhelmed everything, even the post fight Octagon interviews.
When Serra was asked if the crowd favoring his opponent got to him. "No, not at all," Serra replied. "I'm actually pretty cool with that. My head is pretty good with that stuff. I was hoping he'd get tired of hitting me. Every time I rolled, he'd answer with a strike. He was the better man tonight."
St. Pierre learning from his last fight with Serra, and started quickly. During their last fight, Serra knocked out St. Pierre and took him down early. Serra was able to stay guarded and survive the first round but was unable to hold St. Pierre back during the second round. Serra did his best to spin out of bad positions. However, St. Pierre landed devastating knees to Serra's ribs near the end of the 2nd round when the referee stepped in and stopped the fight. All Serra could do was curl up like a turtle.
Serra was originally supposed to have the rematch with St. Pierre last December. However, during a training session in November, Serra herniated two discs in his back and the fight postponing the fight. St. Pierre fought Matt Hughes instead that December for the interim welterweight title. When St. Pierre won that fight, he put it in his closet, believing it meant nothing until he defeated Serra. Now, he can add another belt to his collection as he holds the title of undisputed champion.
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