UFC 83: Georges-St. Pierre Beats Matt Serra for Welterweight Championship

Georges St-Pierre beat Matt Serra for the UFC welterweight title at UFC 83 tonight, thrilling his hometown fans in Montreal with a dominant performance to avenge his knockout loss in 2007.

St-Pierre controlled the fight throughout and won by a second round TKO. Early on he effectively went for takedowns, and as the fight went on he increasingly landed solid strikes. The referee stopped the fight late in the second when they were on the ground and Serra had no answer for St-Pierre's strikes.

Serra entered the Octagon as the champion, although St-Pierre was technically the interim champion because Serra had been out of commission with a back injury. There is now no doubt; St-Pierre is the one and only champion of the welterweight division. Some will also consider him the best fighter in the sport of MMA regardless of weight class.

The crowd was a huge factor in the first UFC card ever in Canada; we noted the crowd as we live blogged both the main event and the undercard.

St-Pierre improves his professional mixed martial arts record to 16-2; Serra falls to 9-5.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

4-20-2008 @ 12:27AM

aaorn W said...

What a joke the Pierre-Serra fight was. Serra = One hit wonder.

4-20-2008 @ 12:35AM

Dave Gabriel said...

I knew GSP would kick Serra all over the octagon.. The first time Cerra won was a FLUKE and he looked so JUICED up he could have beat King Kong.. Welcome back to earth Matt.. Hope you enjoyed your ONE moment with the title.. Because it will never happen again.. Now you should retire you will just go further down from now on..

4-20-2008 @ 1:09AM

rob said...

I dont think the fight was a joke. It just shows St. Pierre is really a bad ass. He is going to be on top for a while.

4-20-2008 @ 1:36AM

PB&J said...

I cannot logically think of anyone in the welterweight division that can beat GSP. I have an idea of a bout that I would think every UFC fan would want to see. The 2 fighters im referring to are one division apart and both hold belts, one of them would have to go in the others division and adjust their weight slightly. Anderson Silva vs. George St. Pierre. Both appear to be unstoppable by anyone in their division and the weight issue would not be that hard to be met by either fighter. Anyone have a prediction of who would win if this were ever to happen?(though I have serious doubt it will)

4-20-2008 @ 1:59AM

Frederick said...

I was there it was incredible.

I want to thank Nate Quarry fr giving is Cap to my son after the fight. and also thank Rich franklin for jumping and giving him a high five after the match

UFC fighters are great people and deserve much respect. Especially class acts like tonight

4-20-2008 @ 2:02AM

Costales said...

GSP dominates. Who's going to beat him at 170? Lutter disappoints out of shape again.

4-20-2008 @ 2:37AM

Tedfio1 said...

The Real JSP is just too much for the 170.lb. division.

The fight was no contest!

4-20-2008 @ 3:27AM

Tex Big Balls said...

It's just too bad Serra's 15 minutes of fame lasted a full calendar year. What a joke. He should apologize to Dana White. GSP has got to be considered the best pound for pound. He has absolutely no weakness. The closest thing to a weakness is he's too nice and respectful.

This was even more one sided than when GSP crushed Hughes the last time around. GSP tossed Serra around like it was a weight mismatch or something. For being a brash loud-mouth throughout the year, Serra looked hopeless and I began to feel sorry for him about 2 minutes into the match. He was thoroughly outclassed.
Like the Joe Rogan-wannabe said, there are wrestlers with higher pedigree and collegiate titles, but nobody can out-wrestle GSP.

4-20-2008 @ 5:18AM

JohnLeo2002 said...

Yeah I have to agree with the rest of you guys, GSP is the closest thing to being a true mix martial artist in this day and age. Great striking ability with both hands and feet,Power & strength and execellent ground fighting skills makes him the total package. Not to say that's he's unbeatable but if you write it down on paper he's easierly one of the best fighters in the world at his weight class period. It what the late Bruce Lee meant about being a true Martial Artist, having the ability to fight on all levels of combat.

4-20-2008 @ 10:35AM

Darin said...

I went 5-5 on that card... GSP WOW thank you for that

4-20-2008 @ 10:52AM

MMAFAN said...

What A Fight, I was there, and everybody in the stands knew how helpless Serra truly was

4-20-2008 @ 11:33AM

BlairHawaii said...

Bring GSP to HNL and fight BJ, youll see who is

the Champion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4-20-2008 @ 11:49AM

ventures360 said...

Random thoughts:

Kalib Starnes needs to find another profession;

GSP is really effing good and he's getting better. He beat Hughes and Serra like an 8th grader vs. 3rd graders--utter and complete domination.

What's even more mind boggling is how he beats world class wrestlers at their own game so badly--bizarre.

Serra was surprisingly gracious in defeat.

If you saw GSP in street clothes in a bar and didn't know who he was, you might think he was a swishy Euroflash punk instead of one of the baddest men on the planet--moral of the story: don't make pre-judgements and try to avoid fights.

Not all French people are soft;

As good as GSP is, he could not hurt any of the Top 50 MMA big men and would get squashed--size matters.

Most MMA fighters are on PED's of some sort--to deny that is a little naive...I might be, too if I were in that business.

4-20-2008 @ 1:12PM

Jason said...

I was actually kind of glad that GSP won because now he will most likely have to fight matt hughes for keep his title which means a knockout by the great matt hughes.

4-20-2008 @ 11:00PM

Ross said...

This journalist,David Smith, has deleted some of the postings that I and my friends have posted.
This guys has no idea what he is writing about. He has no clue about the fighting disciplines, at all.
Just a lousy job

4-20-2008 @ 4:12PM

milton thuroughgood III said...

ROFL @ #14.

Matt Hughes wants no part of St.Pierre. GSP is getting stronger with every match and Hughes is going the wrong direction.

4-21-2008 @ 7:08AM

GSP vs Matt Hughes, part 2 would be lucky to go as long as the GSP/Serra fight, about half way through the 2nd before Hughes tapped out.

4-20-2008 @ 7:03PM

Gary said...

The only fight that was set up by Serra's loss to GSP was a showdown with Hughes vs.Serra. My guess is that Hughes will retire if he beats Serra. A fourth meeting with Hughes vs. GSP would end like the last two.

4-20-2008 @ 10:38PM

Contractkills said...

So many people knock Matt Cerra;weird...and so many are not even remotely close or good enough to enter the octagon themselves let alone have a remote chance in hell against him......BIG MOUTHS !!! Why not give credit where it is due? At least he enters the arena and puts on a good showing;not just with his internet rubbish like i am reading...

Congrats Matt for...1)holding the title and 2)stepping up and not just fighting but enjoying your time there.
To all UFC and MMA practitioners,i dip my hat to all of you,great courage and ability just to make it.

4-21-2008 @ 1:13AM

Tub said...

GSP is the man we all know that and it was just proved again that he is the most bad ass and that no matter what he gonna come back and beat the hell outta u look at his only two losses he came back and was hell bent and stomped both of them into the ground but no disrespect meant to either of the fighters above they are both great competitors

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