Saturday, January 5, 2008

St. Pierre-Serra To Headline UFC 83

Montreal will not just hold their first UFC event in April -- they'll host their first title fight too, according to Mike Chiappetta at NBCSports.com.

Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre will meet for the UFC welterweight title during an April event in Montreal, Serra confirmed to NBCSports.com on Friday.

The 33-year-old UFC welterweight champion upset St. Pierre for the title with a first-round TKO in April 2007, and had been scheduled to defend his crown against Matt Hughes in Decmeber. But following the escalation of their rivalry during the filming of the most recent Ultimate Fighter season, Serra suffered a herniated disc, forcing him to pull out of their scheduled UFC 79 match.

St. Pierre stepped in to replace Serra, and outclassed the former champion, finishing him with a second-round armbar to become the interim champion. After the match, St. Pierre noted that he wouldn't consider himself the true champion until he beat Serra.

The Long Island native told NBCSports.com's John Moody that his back has been rapidly improving and is excited about defending the championship, albeit in St. Pierre's hometown.

The event will be the first that the UFC holds in Canada, and is tentatively scheduled for April 19 at the Bell Centre.

1 Comment:

Anonymous said...

Serra is going to lose badly this time, much worse that hughes.