Serra Pulls Out Of UFC 79

Due to herniated discs from a training injury, Matt Serra has been forced to pull out of his upcoming bout with former champ Matt Hughes.

Serra was involved in a routine training regiment when he fell to the floor in pain. Later MRIs revealed the herniated discs in his lower back.

“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” said Serra. “I’ve never had a back injury before; I could hardly get off of the MRI table. There is no way I can train through this, and I’m devastated, especially because this was such an important fight. I was looking forward to fighting Matt Hughes. All my training was going phenomenally until Monday – All I can do now is to get better and to fight again as soon as possible.”

Hopefully, White will book a Welterweight contender against Hughes as to keep Hughes busy and not diminish the excellent star quality of this December card. If I were White, I would consider holding Hughes-St. Pierre III now, with the winner receiving a title shot. Hughes and St. Pierre will fight each other again soon enough, so it could make sense to get it out of the way now.

St. Pierre would be more likely to support this plan than Hughes due to the fact that if Hughes is victorious, Georges is still owed a shot at Serra, and therefore, wouldn't be permanently cut out of the title picture. If St. Pierre is victorious in the third bout with Hughes, it would likely spell the end of Matt Hughes' title contendership.

More than likely, however, White and Joe Silva will opt to either have Hughes fight in a tune up bout, or simply not fight at all.