I can't remember ever being this excited for a UFC and I am so looking forward to Serra and GSP. Let me just say first that I think GSP is a great fighter, a class act and is great for the sport of MMA.

However I found his comments made in the days and weeks after his loss to Serra to be very revealing. The big issue I have are the excuses: My cousin died, my dad was sick, I had other problems etc. etc.

Well if your cousin died and your dad was sick why not go in there fired up and ready win one for your family? That would have been all the motivation I needed.

As a fan I don't want to hear excuses, who cares that the media kept asking and asking. All Georges had to keep saying was that Serra was the better fighter that night and sometimes you get caught, thats MMA... period. Get back to camp, get your head right and get ready for your next chance.

Another reason why I think Serra can take this fight is that GSP has all the pressure here. He's fighting in his hometown, in his home country, to a record sell out crowd that are all there to see him and ultimately that could be a problem.

Serra on the other hand seems totally relaxed and focused on the task at hand, he's feeding off the boos from the Canadian fans. Even though this is a title defense for him he's taking it all in stride and staying loose.

I really don't think this fight will go close to 5 rounds and I don't think it will be over in the first. My thoughts are that the fight will go to the 3rd and Serra will win by submission possibly a triangle choke or arm bar. Watch for Serra's black belt BJJ experience play a large factor in this fight.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Good news for UFC fight fans yesterday evening, George St.Pierre has agreed to step up and fight Matt Hughes for an interim Welterweight title. I was a little concerned when they made the initial announcement that Serra couldn't fight and no replacement fight was named. I thought they would let Serra heal up and reschedule the fight sometime in 08.

Despite the fact that I was seriously bummed about Serra having to pull out I will say that St. Pierre is an awesome replacement and UFC 79 is going to be an exciting card.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Disappointing news yesterday for Matt Serra fans, Matt apparently suffered a herniated disc in his lower back while training and will not be healthy for his fight on 12-29 against Matt Hughes.

I was so looking forward to this fight too... So far the UFC hasn't made any announcements as to whether that fight will be replaced by bringing 2 new fighters to the card, or moving a pair up from under card to the main event.

While that takes a little of the shine off UFC 79 it should still be a great card with the much anticipated Liddell vs Silva fight.

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Mac Danzig is one cranky, moody guy but you can’t dispute his skills in the octagon, and who knows maybe that sour attitude adds to his skill set. He sure took it to John Kolosci by stuffing every takedown attempt and just whaling away on him the whole time with hard shots to the face and elbows to the ribs. It was just a matter of time before Kolosci couldn’t absorb anymore and gave up his back to Mac’s rear naked choke near the end of round one.

Matt Serra had to have 2 of his guys go over to Hughes’ team since he had so many fighters in the semis. Needless to say he and the team are not happy at all. None of his fighters are jumping up to go over the Hughes team and I think says a lot about Hughes.

Since Serra refuses to pick 2 guys to go over he will leave it up Dana and a coin toss. That toss results in Richie Hightower and Matt Arroyo being sent over to team Hughes.

I can understand Richie wanting to clear the air so to speak with the coaches but leave it up to jackass Hughes to dismiss and wave off their concerns. Plus he walks out of the room without so much as a hand shake, at least his coaches had enough class to acknowledge them. Personally I would have just rolled with the change and tried to learn as much as I could from Matt and his coaches, Hughes might be an ass but he is a pro.

So we’ll see what happens next week in a doubleheader episode…

Thanks to Dan Magnie a member of my Yahoo UFC group for sharing this article on Matt Serra.

Check out Dan's MMA site Colorado Fight Events

Mike
(MMA Fanatic)

Kind of a tame episode this week some of that due to Paul Georgieff getting news from home that his 19 year old cousin had died. I’m glad Dana didn’t make him sweat a choice between being there for his family and competing on the Ultimate Fighter. It was also nice see his team mates there to back him up and offer support.

Mac Danzig seems to have a problem with Blake Bowman and the fact that he hasn’t “sacrificed” himself with years of dedication to the sport and is a relative newbie. Why that makes any difference to Mac is beyond me, whether he belongs there or not was not his decision to make, that was done by Dana and the producers. Take comfort from the fact that one, he’s not on your level and two he’s already lost and injured to boot. What threat does he pose to you? Pipe down…..

Plus he was also pissed because his boy Andy Wang lost his fight against Blake’s boy Cole Miller and Blake was commenting on it. I thought Andy was a loser when he appeared on TUF and I wasn’t impressed with him at all.

So Dana will let Paul go home to attend services for his cousin and come back but he has to fight before he leaves. That puts Hughes in a pinch because he has to change his game plan at the last minute and they decide to put him up against Troy Mandaloniz.

I knew this was going to be trouble for Paul even if he wasn’t dealing with a death in the family. Troy has a ton of heart, heavy hands and an intense desire to win his fight. Once the fight starts Troy lands a couple shots and Paul pulls him down into guard.

Once in guard Paul made several good submission attempts including a triangle and a kimura that looked good for a minute until Troy got it loosened up. Troy brought the fight back up to their feet and within 30 seconds landed a couple hard shots and then one right on the button folding Paul up like and accordion.

Not to long after that we got to see Hughes acting like a jerk off. Paul is sitting in a chair in the octagon and Hughes is saying “Standing up with him wasn’t part of the plan, blah blah blah.” Then he was saying the same kind of stuff to his other fighters. How about nice try Paul you gave it your best etc etc. Dick….

However Matt Serra came up to him and gave him a pat on the shoulder and some words of encouragement like the class act he is.

Looks like next week Matt Hughes will again take the loss out on his team instead of looking in the mirror where the problem really lies.

Well it went down much like I thought it would Joey Scarola couldn’t take the cameras couldn’t take being away from his girlfriend of 6 months so he bailed. Matt Serra did everything he could to try and convince him otherwise and so did Dana White but he quit anyway.

Now you know that Joey wanted to be in the UFC bad, I’m sure he begged Matt Serra to get him on the show and in turn Matt put in the good word for Joey with Dana. For him to then turn into a whiny ass quitter is so lame and pathetic I can hardly find the words to describe it.

Matt even told Joey, “Look if you leave you are going home to no job because I can’t have quitters teaching at my school” and he’s totally right. After seeing this show who would want to get involved with Serra’s school when they may end up being taught by a quitter. Dana went even further when he said if you walk out that door you will never be in the UFC.

Trashing a tight friendship with Matt and blowing ANY opportunity with the UFC seemed to be of no concern to Joey who only wanted to go home to his girls and lick his wounds…. Well you got plenty of time now loser.

Enough of that….

It was a quick fight at the end of the show last night after Billy Miles succumbed to first time Octagon pressures and let himself get locked into a John Kolosci standing guillotine choke. Billy seems like a good guy with the right skills and I think he’ll bounce back once he gets another shot probably on a UFN under card.

Next week looks interesting with Dorian Price’s aggressive antics towards the TUF film crew possibly getting him booted from the show. Until then…

On September 1st I got a chance to meet UFC Champ Matt Serra at the New York State Fair in Syracuse. I'm originally from there and live in Raleigh NC now but I had planned a vacation to see some family when a friend told me he would be there.

Needless to say I'm pretty stoked as I love the UFC and I also like Matt, not to mention this is the first UFC fighter I've ever met in person. My wife and I got there 15 mins early and were the 3rd people in line.

So Matt gets there and says hello to everyone (about 30 people by this time). He was very friendly and approachable and spent a few moments with each fan for pictures, autographed photos and few words. It was the highlight of my vacation. By the way the UFC belts are heavy, each of the pieces you see on there are what seem to be solid brass, very solid.



The pics above are of me and my wife and the ones below are of a couple other people that were in line.