Earlier last week, Matt Serra suffered a herniated disc that forced him to cancel his fight with Matt Hughes, scheduled for December 29, 2007. Serra was training hardcore as he prepared to defend his welterweight title for the very first time in his UFC career, but things happened during training and Serra suffered a very delicate injury on his back. Unfortunately, Serra’s recovery time is still unknown and because of this, Dana White has decided to make this upcoming 5-round match between George St. Pierre and Matt Hughes an interim welterweight title bout.
Here’s a snip from Dana White:
“Obviously, the loss of Matt Serra was brutal, but the great thing
about the UFC is that we can put together great fights like
Hughes-St-Pierre at a moment’s notice and bounce right back…I have the utmost respect for both Hughes and St-Pierre for stepping up
for this fight, and not only are the fans going to see two of the
greatest welterweights of all-time settle their score in a rubber
match, but they are going to do it in a five-round interim title
fight, and the winner is going to face off next year against Matt Serra
for the undisputed title."
George St. Pierre lost his belt to Matt Serra at UFC 69 via TKO-strikes in the first round. Due to this, GSP decided to train extra harder for his following fight with Josh Koscheck. He came into the octagon looking like a more stronger and more focused GSP we had ever seen before. He overpowered Josh Koscheck throughout all 3 rounds and won via a unanimous decision.
Matt Hughes is also coming back into the octagon with a unanimous decision win over Chris Lytle at UFC 68. Hughes looks forward to fighting GSP once again and here’s what he had to say (taken from his website):
“I’ve asked for this to be for an interim title, and if Matt Serra
can’t fight in a year, then this would just be the title fight…But I don’t know if that is going to happen right now. I will keep you all posted."
This upcoming bout will be their third fight against each other. Matt Hughes won the first fight at UFC 50 in October of 2004. In their second fight (2 years later), GSP won by way of TKO-strikes at UFC 65 on November of 2006. Their third match will definitely be the must-see fight of the year as they will look to settle the score once and for all. The UFC 79-Nemesis fight card won’t be bad fight card afterall with a fighter like GSP coming in to replace the current welterweight champion, Matt Serra.
For more information on UFC 79:Nemesis and its fight card, click here
