Georges St Pierre

The Evolution of Georges St. Pierre

At 12:27 AM EST, the evolution was complete.

One year removed from his original upset loss to Matt Serra, Georges St. Pierre was finally able to avenge the defeat, dominating Serra on the mat over two rounds en route to regaining his UFC welterweight title in UFC 83’s historic main event Saturday night.

History has shown that if there’s any fighter out there that has the ability to bounce back from a loss and become better than ever, St. Pierre is one of them.

After spoiling an early welterweight title opportunity against idol Matt Hughes, St. Pierre rebounded by going on one of the most impressive winning streaks to date in terms of opponent-quality. Consecutive wins over Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn, and then Hughes again were no fluke.

St. Pierre said that the loss to Serra was the best thing that ever happened to him. Then again, he also said that about his loss to Hughes years back. However the Montreal native has been right so far as both losses ultimately propelled his career and skill-level to new heights.

More important is the fact that St. Pierre’s climbing knowledge of the fight game was likely the real reason as to why he turned in such a dominating performance against Serra.

“My plan going into the fight was to put him on his back and work some ground and pound,” St. Pierre said at the post-fight press conference for UFC 83. “I wanted to stay on top and constantly pressure him. I wanted to be relentless. I thought that Serra giving up his back might have been an attempt to turn the fight into a jiu-jitsu match. Matt’s a world-champion grappler, I wasn’t going to buy into his game.”

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Hometown Hero: St. Pierre Stops Serra in Montreal

One year removed from his original upset loss to Matt Serra, Georges St. Pierre was finally able to avenge the defeat, dominating Serra on the mat over two rounds en route to regaining his UFC welterweight title in UFC 83’s historic main event.

The raucous crowd packed inside Montreal, Quebec’s Bell Centre saw St. Pierre surprise many in the opening seconds of the fight as he opted to take Serra down. After being on the receiving end of an array of strikes, Serra eventually worked his way back to his feet before finding himself on his back once again.

Any chances for another first-round Serra knockout were spoiled in a big way. With a mouse forming under Serra’s right eye, the Long Island native came out from his corner looking to throw down at the start of the second round. St. Pierre unfortunately had a different idea.

St. Pierre scored yet another early takedown. Serra mounted a bit of offense once the fight hit the feet, connecting with a head kick. However with fatigue setting in, Serra was unable to capitalize, allowing St. Pierre to land a handful of stiff jabs before shooting in for a takedown.

Once on the mat, St. Pierre unleashed a barrage of unanswered punches and knees to the body that forced Serra to cover up and referee Yves Lavigne to ultimately stop the fight, handing St. Pierre the title that he likely should have never lost in the first place.

“My strategy going in was to make it a physical fight,” St. Pierre said in his post-fight interview with Kenny Florian, who filled in for usual color commentator Joe Rogan. “I wanted to make him tired as much as I could because I know have the conditioning. I was trying to mix it up as much as I could.”

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UFC 83: Serra vs. St. Pierre II Weigh-In Results

The official weigh-in results for tomorrow night’s UFC 83: Serra vs. St. Pierre II show are below. All fighters successfully made weight.

The event will be headlined by current welterweight champions Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra unifying their belts in a main event rematch of their fight at UFC 69: Shootout last year, where Serra stopped St. Pierre with strikes to win the UFC welterweight title.

Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin will also be in action, taking on the middleweight winner of the fourth season of “The Ultimate Fighter, Travis Lutter. Additional main card bouts include Nate Quarry vs. Kalib Starnes, Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy, and Mac Danzig vs. Mark Bocek.

Main Card:

Matt Serra (169.5 lbs) vs. Georges St. Pierre (169.5 lbs)
Rich Franklin (185.5 lbs) vs. Travis Lutter (185 lbs)
Nate Quarry (185.5 lbs) vs. Kalib Starnes (186 lbs)
Michael Bisping (185.5 lbs) vs. Charles McCarthy (186 lbs)
Mac Danzig (154.5 lbs) vs. Mark Bocek (154.5 lbs)

Preliminary Bouts:

Jason MacDonald (185 lbs) vs. Joe Doerksen (184.5 lbs)
Sam Stout (155.5 lbs) vs. Rich Clementi (155 lbs)
Ed Herman (185.5 lbs) vs. Demian Maia (184.5 lbs)
Jonathan Goulet (169.5 lbs) vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka (170 lbs)
Alan Belcher (185 lbs) vs. Jason Day (183.5 lbs)
Cain Velasquez (235.5 lbs) vs. Brad Morris (225.5 lbs)

Screenshots from this afternoon’s weigh-ins featuring St. Pierre and Serra are after the jump, courtesy of Yahoo! Sports.

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The Wait Was Worth It

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s quest to finally hold an event in Canada was long and hard.

Rumblings of the organization planning to finally make the trek up north first started in late 2006. UFC President Dana White frequently mentioned in the media that he planned to take the promotion to Montreal for a show in April 2007 but the card was ultimately called off months prior due to unknown circumstances.

Then came a set date in October of last year. White claimed that Montreal native Georges St. Pierre wouldn’t be part of the event but the organization would have at least made it to Canada, perhaps using a smaller debut show to set up a larger event in the future.

Everything seemed set in stone. However the Montreal Canadiens’ schedule provided too many obstacles to overcome and White and company were back to square one, ultimately choosing Cincinnati, Ohio as the site for Rich Franklin’s rematch with Anderson Silva last year.

Yet through it all, the UFC finally made it, and the wait was certainly worth it.

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Serra Ready to Enter Hostile Territory

Matt Serra did it once and he’ll attempt to do it again.

One year removed from the last time he shocked the world by upsetting Georges St. Pierre and becoming the first alumnus of “The Ultimate Fighter” to win a title in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Serra will face St. Pierre for the second time in his first title defense after coming back from injury.

However Serra’s chance to quiet those who claim his previous win over St. Pierre was a fluke will come in a different arena this time, St. Pierre’s hometown of Montreal.

“I don’t expect to get cheered walking to the Octagon. It’s fine,” Serra said during a recent conference call with the media. “I think I’m finally going to feel what Tim Sylvia feels everytime he goes anywhere to fight. People say this is going to be like Rocky IV and I’d say it’s kind of like that. I’m into movies like that but at the end of the day it’s me and Georges in the cage and no one else.”

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Countdown Is on for Canada’s First UFC Event

TORONTO – All eyes will be on the Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday, April 19 at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT when UFC 83: Countdown Canada previews the first ever Ultimate Fighting card held north of the border on Rogers Sportsnet.

Starting on Wednesday, April 16, R.J. Broadhead and “Showdown” Joe Ferraro will file reports on Sportsnet Connected with the latest updates from Montreal. On fight night, they will be reporting live from the Bell Centre offering exclusive analysis, features and special guests.

Sportsnet’s coverage of the biggest event in UFC history will set-up the rematch between current champion Matt “The Terror” Serra and interim champion and Quebec native Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, who will battle for the unified Welterweight championship.

UFC 83: Countdown Canada will take viewers behind-the-scenes and into the lives of Ultimate Fighters, featuring a sit-down interview with St-Pierre in which he breaks down his defeat at the hands of Serra at UFC 69. St-Pierre is only the second Canadian to ever hold a UFC championship. Newmarket, Ontario’s Carlos “The Ronin” Newton was Canada’s first and he warns viewers that Serra will pose a significant challenge for GSP.

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UFC 83 Trash Talk Recap

While UFC 83 is now only less than a week away, the trash-talking between some of the fighters competing on the card has been going on for weeks now. James Brydon of Rogers Sportsnet has a full recap of the verbal pre-fight exchanges. He covers three of the more-vocal matchups that will go down on Saturday.

It’s interesting that a usually quiet “Captain Miserable” Charles McCarthy was first to speak up when it came to opponent Michael Bisping, however it might the only way McCarthy will be able to gain any kind of early advantage going into the fight, especially against someone as confident as Bisping.

In my opinion, it’s definitely Bisping’s fight to lose and I don’t see that coming even close to happening. McCarthy’s one-dimensional skill set was exposed against Pete Sell on “The Ultimate Fighter 4” and unless he’s improved ten-fold since then, he’s going to have an even worse time against Bisping.

Jason MacDonald wasn’t too keen on fighting Joe Doerksen after already beating him back in 2005, but thanks to Doerksen’s blog comments in recent weeks, I’m sure MacDonald mindset going into the fight has done a nice 180.

It’s a shame that a bout between two of Canada’s most high-profile fighters has been relegated to the undercard. Hopefully the bad blood between the two translates into an exciting fight that may have a chance of sneaking onto the PPV broadcast.

Unless you live under a rock, you know that Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra don’t like each other. Especially after this beauty from Serra on last week’s pre-fight conference call:

“Drink your red wine, Frenchy, go to your hockey game and shut up.”

St. Pierre claimed that Serra crossed the line with that one. I love Serra’s Long Island attitude but tradtionally-speaking (Trigg, Sherk, Hughes II), a pissed off GSP isn’t exactly the guy he wants to go against.

GSP: “I Would Fight Anderson Silva”

If you’re like me, the thought of a potential showdown between Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre would usually conjure up the feeling of a dream fight that would be one of the biggest in the history of mixed martial arts but would ultimately not take place for one reason or another. However this one feels a little different.

We’ve already seen that Silva isn’t afraid to go after the big-time fight. After all, we’re only a week removed from UFC President Dana White reportedly preventing a much-anticipated and likely history-making boxing match between Silva and former pound-for-pound phenom Roy Jones Jr.

A different kind of fight that White has been keen to though is between Silva and St. Pierre. Provided St. Pierre avenges his last loss to Matt Serra next weekend, the two kings of their respective divisions are quickly running out of legit contenders to test their skills against.

But even more key to a fight actually being put together is both fighters wanting to do it. I think we can already assume that Silva will be game. Is St. Pierre? According to his comments from today’s UFC 83 pre-fight conference call, there’s no doubt.

From MMA Weekly:

“I’ve been thinking about it. It’s going to depend on the scenario. I have a lot of training partners at 185 and my weight class is 170. I would never get into the way of one of my training partners,” he stated. “I would never fight somebody I train with. But if one day, I have the opportunity, the way is clear, and I did everything I had to do in my division, of course I will (fight Silva).”

A fight between the two probably wouldn’t happen until next year. Silva has Okami next and then who knows. St. Pierre would have Fitch and Alves to a lesser extent. In order for the fight to have that “superfight” feel, both would have to win their next couple of fights. If both perform to their potential, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

St. Pierre, UFC Set to Invade Canada

After years of waiting, the Ultimate Fighting Championship finally made their first trek up to Canada official when they announced UFC 83: St. Pierre vs Serra II during a press conference earlier today at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada earlier this morning.

In attendance at the press conference were UFC President Dana White and current welterweight champions Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra who will unify their belts in a main event rematch of their fight at UFC 69: Shootout last year, where Serra stopped St. Pierre with strikes to win the UFC welterweight title.

“I’m actually excited to go to Canada and fight St-Pierre in his hometown,” Serra said at the press conference earlier today. “I think this puts more pressure on him than it does me. I know he’s going to come at me hard, but I’m ready for that and I’m preparing for a great fight. I know that’s what I would do if a guy knocked me out like that. But I plan on staying the champ and taking my belt back home to Long Island.”

St. Pierre, a native of Montreal, will be fighting in front of his hometown under the UFC banner for the first time in his career. After originally speculating that St. Pierre would not be ready in time for the event due to his bout against Matt Hughes in December, St. Pierre came away with the interim welterweight belt relatively unscathed, allowing him to partake in the historic event.

“I am at the same point as I was last year when I fought Matt Serra, except this time I am fighting as the contender not the champion,” said St-Pierre. “It’s a dream come true to have this historic UFC event in Canada, I’ve waited my whole life for this opportunity, and especially fighting for – and winning – the world title in front of my people.”

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Rematch à Montréal

The UFC will appeal to the locals when Georges St. Pierre takes on Matt Serra for the welterweight title in April, when the UFC goes to Montreal, the organization’s first visit to Canada according to Mike Chiappetta of NBCSports.com.

GSP was TKO’d by Serra this past April to win the welterweight championship.

The Montreal Canadiens are currently in a playoff position, but there’s still half of the NHL season left.  If the Habs do make the playoffs, the entire city will most likely be in a frenzy, and having GSP on the card should ensure there’s a good turnout for the event and decent media coverage.

Hat tip to Cage Potato.