St. Pierre Finds Vindication over Serra
Andy Cotterill Apr 20, 2008
MONTREAL, April 19 -- If there were any doubt who the true UFC
welterweight champion is, Georges St. Pierre
(Pictures) put it to rest Saturday after a
two-round manhandling of Matt
Serra (Pictures) in front of 21,390 screaming fans
in Montreal's Bell Centre.
St. Pierre (16-2) looked hyper-intense during the staredown, leaning toward Serra (9-5) and placing their faces mere inches apart. Once the horn sounded, he almost immediately took the champ to the floor.
From top position St. Pierre landed punches and knees to the body
until Serra gave up his back and attempted to stand. St. Pierre
held him down with elbows, and Serra finally got to his feet. The
respite was brief as St. Pierre, the UFC interim titleholder at 170
pounds, took the New Yorker down again immediately and hit him with
more hard knees to the body.
Serra looked tired after the round while St. Pierre seemed energized. Round two started with St. Pierre catching a kick and taking the fight to the ground once again.
Serra rolled into St. Pierre's half guard, which meant only that he now had to absorb punches instead of knees. The Renzo Gracie (Pictures) black belt tried to escape again by rolling to his stomach, where St. Pierre resumed a barrage of knees to the ribs and punches to the head that forced referee Yves Lavigne to stop the fight with less than 20 seconds left in round two.
"My strategy was to make a physical fight, make him tired as much as I can because I know I have the athleticism," St. Pierre said in the cage after the fight. "So I was trying to mix as much as I could: up, down, up, down. Ground-and pound, not play jiu-jitsu game because jiu-jitsu, that's his strength. So that's how I won the fight: I tired him out and then I took the fight."
After the official announcement, any animosity between St. Pierre and Serra seemed to disappear, as Serra picked up the new champion and carried him on his shoulder across the cage.
Said Serra about St. Pierre's performance: "He felt really good on top. I was trying to get angles. I wanted to work a certain sweep I've been working. But as the fight went on he was slippery, and he started landing good shots as you see."
St. Pierre then bowed to his opponent and told the raucous crowd to take it easy on Serra because he is a gentleman. The Montreal crowd that had been against Serra then broke into cheers for the fighter from Long Island, N.Y., who left the cage with a friendly wave.
Travis Lutter (Pictures) looked good in the first round against Rich Franklin (Pictures), taking the former UFC middleweight champ to the mat and taking his back. The more aggressive Lutter (9-5) eventually mounted Franklin, then switched quickly to an armbar attempt.
With his arm fully extended, Franklin (23-3) rolled his body into the submission, which freed his arm. Back on their feet, Franklin avoided another takedown at the same time as landing strikes to Lutter's head.
Coming out for round two, Lutter was obviously tired. Franklin easily avoided several attempts at his legs by Lutter, who now seemed to be moving through mud.
"We wanted to make sure that every time he took a shot he was paying for it, whether it was with a strike or some sort of conditioning," Franklin said in the cage after the fight.
Franklin backed away, inviting his opponent to join him on his feet and tossed a few punches that Lutter was incapable of avoiding. On his knees, Lutter took an accumulation of punches that forced referee Steve Mazzagatti to halt the bout.
Afterward, Franklin told Sherdog.com that he's aware of his odd position in the UFC middleweight picture in that he's already lost to current champ Anderson Silva twice. A permanent move to 205 is not probable either, though.
"I answered this question pretty much the same way GSP did tonight," Franklin said. "In that if the UFC offered me some sort of 205-pound novelty fight, then perhaps I'll move up to 205 like I did to fight Ken Shamrock (Pictures). But for me to finish out a career at 205 is more than unlikely at this point."
In a fight that some had initially questioned for being on the main card and that ultimately proved nationality doesn't automatically warrant loyalty, American Nathan Quarry (Pictures) earned the respect of the Montreal fans in his three-round sprint after Canadian Kalib Starnes (Pictures).
Quarry (10-2) must have had the patience of a saint. For all three rounds, he chased a quickly retreating Starnes, who seemed to be trying his best to avoid any conflict.
Finally, near the end of the third with the crowd booing their displeasure, Quarry finally stopped his punches long enough to perform a mock run after the still retreating Starnes (8-3-1). The crowd laughed loudly, prompting Quarry to switch from the mock run into a quick walk toward Starnes while wildly flapping one arm left and right.
After the unanimous decision had been read for Quarry, a brief post-fight conflict took place between the camps, but cooler heads soon prevailed.
Michael Bisping (Pictures) made a successful move to middleweight with a first-round stoppage of American Top Team's Charles McCarthy (Pictures). The first half of round one consisted of Bisping throwing punches and knees to the body of the covered McCarthy, who emerged from his cocoon at one point to taunt the Englishman with his chin.
McCarthy, 10-5, got a nice double-leg that enabled him to struggle for an armbar on the Brit. The pre-event hype had McCarthy claiming that he was confident in his ground abilities and that he knew he'd be able to submit Bisping within a minute if the fight hit the floor. But that prediction was baseless, and Bisping (15-1) nerved it out before finally pulling his arm free.
Then Bisping got McCarthy against the cage and unleashed a barrage of punches and knees that dropped him to the mat just as the horn sounded to end round one. With Bisping in his corner, McCarthy remained in pain lying on his side, prompting the referee to halt the match.
"I've always been a middleweight, but I suppose my stubborn manliness, whatever you want to call it, got in the way," he said. "I preferred fighting the bigger guys. This is my natural weight class. I feel great. I didn't have to cut any weight. I didn't put a sweat suit on. I didn't get in the sauna. I didn't do none of that. So I'm excited to see what I can do at 185."
In the first fight of the main card, Canadian Mark Bocek (Pictures) had a good shot at defeating "The Ultimate Fighter" winner Mac Danzig (Pictures) in the first round. Unfortunately for him, once the bout hit the second round, it was all Danzig.
After having controlled position from the top for most of the first, Bocek (5-2) seemed tired compared to the crisp Danzig once the second stanza commenced. Danzig connected solidly with a right knee that dropped Bocek, who got back to his feet just in time to eat another. Danzig got Bocek's back with both hooks sunk in, but Bocek was able to stand back up. Then Bocek shot in with a one-two and a single-leg that Danzig, 18-4-1, stopped followed by a couple of left hands.
To start the third, Bocek's face was so swollen he looked like Rocky from the movie "Mask." The swelling didn't take his game away completely, though. He was able to catch Danzig with a double-leg takedown.
Danzig attempted an elusive gogoplata submission, but Bocek cannily slipped out. After a quick doctor check of a cut on Bocek's face, the fight resumed and Danzig went from mount to back control, where he forced a game Bocek to tap to a rear-naked choke. Afterward the goodhearted Danzig encouraged the crowd to accept that Bocek was a tough and worthy opponent.
Red Deer, Alberta's Jason MacDonald (Pictures) seemed to get the best of Winnipeg, Manitoba's Joe Doerksen (Pictures) at the onset of the only Canadian-versus-Canadian bout of the evening.
MacDonald (20-9) went for an immediate standing guillotine choke that saw his legs wrapped tightly around his foe. The pair dropped with Doerksen, 39-12, on top, where he cinched up a kimura on MacDonald that was so tight the crowd was waiting for the tap. MacDonald toughed it out, however, as well as a second kimura attempt to end the round.
Doerksen missed with a huge overhand right to start the second that allowed MacDonald to rest on top, where he dropped enormous elbows to the head and knocked out Doerksen. After referee Steve Mazzagatti halted the bout, MacDonald paused for a moment, then dropped down a few nasty hammer fists on the face of his unconscious foe.
Aside from the first 30 seconds of the bout, in which Alan Belcher (Pictures) took him to the floor from the clinch, Jason Day (Pictures) made the most of his UFC debut by controlling the pace of the entire fight.
From his back Day employed a nice rubber guard, holding onto his own foot to keep pressure on the back of Belcher's head while he struck upward effectively with elbows. Once on their feet, Day slammed Belcher (12-5) with three successive right elbows to the jaw that saw him cover up and retreat. The merciless Day (17-5) stalked the retreating Belcher and landed countless blows until referee Dan Miragliotta put an end to it.
"Everybody always underestimates my standup," Day told Sherdog.com. "I wasn't lying. … I knew the weaknesses he had, and I exposed him and it worked out in my favor."
Brazilian jiu-jitsu phenom Demian Maia (Pictures) defended a first round storm by Ed Herman (Pictures) to catch the TUF alumnus in a nicely sunk triangle choke in the second to win their match. After succumbing to the same choke to Jason MacDonald (Pictures) in 2006, Herman lamented that he tapped "like a bitch." This time however, Herman (14-5) ended up asleep to the pressure exerted by Maia, who moved his record to 7-0.
Rich Clementi (Pictures) and Sam Stout (Pictures) put on a stand-up war that had the Montreal crowd on their feet for much of the 15 minutes their bout lasted. The final result was a split decision that no one could argue, as Clementi (31-12-1) edged out Stout (13-4-1) in all categories by the narrowest of margins.
Cain Velasquez (Pictures) made the most out of his UFC debut by dominating a game Brad Morris for the entire length of their two-minute bout. Velasquez (3-0) started the end for Morris (9-3) with a knee-uppercut combo that dropped his Aussie foe.
Jonathan Goulet (Pictures) didn't disappoint the partisan crowd, as the young French-Canadian walked to the cage in a Montreal Canadiens jersey and weathered an early onslaught from Kuniyoshi Hironaka (Pictures) for the win.
Goulet (22-9, 1 NC) was in serious trouble at the end of the first with Hironaka (11-5) on top pounding away. The second round was different as Goulet caught his Japanese opponent with a nice one-two combo that dropped him to the matt, prompting referee Dan Miragliotta to halt the contest at 2:07 of the second.
St. Pierre (16-2) looked hyper-intense during the staredown, leaning toward Serra (9-5) and placing their faces mere inches apart. Once the horn sounded, he almost immediately took the champ to the floor.
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Serra looked tired after the round while St. Pierre seemed energized. Round two started with St. Pierre catching a kick and taking the fight to the ground once again.
Serra got just a bit of offense as he grazed the French-Canadian
with a head kick. However, St. Pierre responded with some crisp
jabs followed by another takedown that allowed the Montreal fighter
to connect with more vicious knees to Serra's ribs.
Serra rolled into St. Pierre's half guard, which meant only that he now had to absorb punches instead of knees. The Renzo Gracie (Pictures) black belt tried to escape again by rolling to his stomach, where St. Pierre resumed a barrage of knees to the ribs and punches to the head that forced referee Yves Lavigne to stop the fight with less than 20 seconds left in round two.
"My strategy was to make a physical fight, make him tired as much as I can because I know I have the athleticism," St. Pierre said in the cage after the fight. "So I was trying to mix as much as I could: up, down, up, down. Ground-and pound, not play jiu-jitsu game because jiu-jitsu, that's his strength. So that's how I won the fight: I tired him out and then I took the fight."
After the official announcement, any animosity between St. Pierre and Serra seemed to disappear, as Serra picked up the new champion and carried him on his shoulder across the cage.
Said Serra about St. Pierre's performance: "He felt really good on top. I was trying to get angles. I wanted to work a certain sweep I've been working. But as the fight went on he was slippery, and he started landing good shots as you see."
St. Pierre then bowed to his opponent and told the raucous crowd to take it easy on Serra because he is a gentleman. The Montreal crowd that had been against Serra then broke into cheers for the fighter from Long Island, N.Y., who left the cage with a friendly wave.
Travis Lutter (Pictures) looked good in the first round against Rich Franklin (Pictures), taking the former UFC middleweight champ to the mat and taking his back. The more aggressive Lutter (9-5) eventually mounted Franklin, then switched quickly to an armbar attempt.
With his arm fully extended, Franklin (23-3) rolled his body into the submission, which freed his arm. Back on their feet, Franklin avoided another takedown at the same time as landing strikes to Lutter's head.
Coming out for round two, Lutter was obviously tired. Franklin easily avoided several attempts at his legs by Lutter, who now seemed to be moving through mud.
"We wanted to make sure that every time he took a shot he was paying for it, whether it was with a strike or some sort of conditioning," Franklin said in the cage after the fight.
Franklin backed away, inviting his opponent to join him on his feet and tossed a few punches that Lutter was incapable of avoiding. On his knees, Lutter took an accumulation of punches that forced referee Steve Mazzagatti to halt the bout.
Afterward, Franklin told Sherdog.com that he's aware of his odd position in the UFC middleweight picture in that he's already lost to current champ Anderson Silva twice. A permanent move to 205 is not probable either, though.
"I answered this question pretty much the same way GSP did tonight," Franklin said. "In that if the UFC offered me some sort of 205-pound novelty fight, then perhaps I'll move up to 205 like I did to fight Ken Shamrock (Pictures). But for me to finish out a career at 205 is more than unlikely at this point."
In a fight that some had initially questioned for being on the main card and that ultimately proved nationality doesn't automatically warrant loyalty, American Nathan Quarry (Pictures) earned the respect of the Montreal fans in his three-round sprint after Canadian Kalib Starnes (Pictures).
Quarry (10-2) must have had the patience of a saint. For all three rounds, he chased a quickly retreating Starnes, who seemed to be trying his best to avoid any conflict.
Finally, near the end of the third with the crowd booing their displeasure, Quarry finally stopped his punches long enough to perform a mock run after the still retreating Starnes (8-3-1). The crowd laughed loudly, prompting Quarry to switch from the mock run into a quick walk toward Starnes while wildly flapping one arm left and right.
After the unanimous decision had been read for Quarry, a brief post-fight conflict took place between the camps, but cooler heads soon prevailed.
Michael Bisping (Pictures) made a successful move to middleweight with a first-round stoppage of American Top Team's Charles McCarthy (Pictures). The first half of round one consisted of Bisping throwing punches and knees to the body of the covered McCarthy, who emerged from his cocoon at one point to taunt the Englishman with his chin.
McCarthy, 10-5, got a nice double-leg that enabled him to struggle for an armbar on the Brit. The pre-event hype had McCarthy claiming that he was confident in his ground abilities and that he knew he'd be able to submit Bisping within a minute if the fight hit the floor. But that prediction was baseless, and Bisping (15-1) nerved it out before finally pulling his arm free.
Then Bisping got McCarthy against the cage and unleashed a barrage of punches and knees that dropped him to the mat just as the horn sounded to end round one. With Bisping in his corner, McCarthy remained in pain lying on his side, prompting the referee to halt the match.
"I've always been a middleweight, but I suppose my stubborn manliness, whatever you want to call it, got in the way," he said. "I preferred fighting the bigger guys. This is my natural weight class. I feel great. I didn't have to cut any weight. I didn't put a sweat suit on. I didn't get in the sauna. I didn't do none of that. So I'm excited to see what I can do at 185."
In the first fight of the main card, Canadian Mark Bocek (Pictures) had a good shot at defeating "The Ultimate Fighter" winner Mac Danzig (Pictures) in the first round. Unfortunately for him, once the bout hit the second round, it was all Danzig.
After having controlled position from the top for most of the first, Bocek (5-2) seemed tired compared to the crisp Danzig once the second stanza commenced. Danzig connected solidly with a right knee that dropped Bocek, who got back to his feet just in time to eat another. Danzig got Bocek's back with both hooks sunk in, but Bocek was able to stand back up. Then Bocek shot in with a one-two and a single-leg that Danzig, 18-4-1, stopped followed by a couple of left hands.
To start the third, Bocek's face was so swollen he looked like Rocky from the movie "Mask." The swelling didn't take his game away completely, though. He was able to catch Danzig with a double-leg takedown.
Danzig attempted an elusive gogoplata submission, but Bocek cannily slipped out. After a quick doctor check of a cut on Bocek's face, the fight resumed and Danzig went from mount to back control, where he forced a game Bocek to tap to a rear-naked choke. Afterward the goodhearted Danzig encouraged the crowd to accept that Bocek was a tough and worthy opponent.
Red Deer, Alberta's Jason MacDonald (Pictures) seemed to get the best of Winnipeg, Manitoba's Joe Doerksen (Pictures) at the onset of the only Canadian-versus-Canadian bout of the evening.
MacDonald (20-9) went for an immediate standing guillotine choke that saw his legs wrapped tightly around his foe. The pair dropped with Doerksen, 39-12, on top, where he cinched up a kimura on MacDonald that was so tight the crowd was waiting for the tap. MacDonald toughed it out, however, as well as a second kimura attempt to end the round.
Doerksen missed with a huge overhand right to start the second that allowed MacDonald to rest on top, where he dropped enormous elbows to the head and knocked out Doerksen. After referee Steve Mazzagatti halted the bout, MacDonald paused for a moment, then dropped down a few nasty hammer fists on the face of his unconscious foe.
Aside from the first 30 seconds of the bout, in which Alan Belcher (Pictures) took him to the floor from the clinch, Jason Day (Pictures) made the most of his UFC debut by controlling the pace of the entire fight.
From his back Day employed a nice rubber guard, holding onto his own foot to keep pressure on the back of Belcher's head while he struck upward effectively with elbows. Once on their feet, Day slammed Belcher (12-5) with three successive right elbows to the jaw that saw him cover up and retreat. The merciless Day (17-5) stalked the retreating Belcher and landed countless blows until referee Dan Miragliotta put an end to it.
"Everybody always underestimates my standup," Day told Sherdog.com. "I wasn't lying. … I knew the weaknesses he had, and I exposed him and it worked out in my favor."
Brazilian jiu-jitsu phenom Demian Maia (Pictures) defended a first round storm by Ed Herman (Pictures) to catch the TUF alumnus in a nicely sunk triangle choke in the second to win their match. After succumbing to the same choke to Jason MacDonald (Pictures) in 2006, Herman lamented that he tapped "like a bitch." This time however, Herman (14-5) ended up asleep to the pressure exerted by Maia, who moved his record to 7-0.
Rich Clementi (Pictures) and Sam Stout (Pictures) put on a stand-up war that had the Montreal crowd on their feet for much of the 15 minutes their bout lasted. The final result was a split decision that no one could argue, as Clementi (31-12-1) edged out Stout (13-4-1) in all categories by the narrowest of margins.
Cain Velasquez (Pictures) made the most out of his UFC debut by dominating a game Brad Morris for the entire length of their two-minute bout. Velasquez (3-0) started the end for Morris (9-3) with a knee-uppercut combo that dropped his Aussie foe.
Jonathan Goulet (Pictures) didn't disappoint the partisan crowd, as the young French-Canadian walked to the cage in a Montreal Canadiens jersey and weathered an early onslaught from Kuniyoshi Hironaka (Pictures) for the win.
Goulet (22-9, 1 NC) was in serious trouble at the end of the first with Hironaka (11-5) on top pounding away. The second round was different as Goulet caught his Japanese opponent with a nice one-two combo that dropped him to the matt, prompting referee Dan Miragliotta to halt the contest at 2:07 of the second.
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