Anticipated Rematch Goes to St. Pierre

Canadian Fighter Overpowers Serra

When Matt Serra won the crown on the reality show "Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback," he earned a title shot against Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre in April 2007.

Given just about no chance to win, Serra did -- and by first-round TKO no less. But last night at the Bell Center in Montreal, in the much-anticipated rematch that headlined UFC 83 and marked the mixed martial arts circuit's debut in Canada, Serra got another dose of reality.

With the largest live crowd (21,500) in UFC's 15-year history rooting on hometown fighter St. Pierre, the 26-year-old did not let the partisan crowd down. St. Pierre, who had his first MMA amateur bout at 16, regained the belt he lost to Serra with a TKO at 4 minutes 45 seconds of the second round. In so doing, he shed the interim champion status he had held since UFC 79 in December.

Serra planned on defending his title against Matt Hughes in UFC 79, but a back injury suffered in training forced him to pull out, and St. Pierre stepped in. His win over Hughes that night gave him the interim title.

Last night, Serra, seven years older and five inches shorter than St. Pierre, had to wonder whether that herniated disk injury was fully healed -- and how it affected him.

St. Pierre had an eight-inch reach advantage, but it didn't matter. He took down Serra three seconds into the fight. Obviously respecting the punching power of Serra, St. Pierre had Serra on the canvas for the first four minutes of the fight.

Ten seconds into the second round, St. Pierre took down Serra again. He landed several blows to the head, but it was repeated knees to Serra's ribs late in the round that eventually ended the bout.

"My strategy was to make it a physical fight and make him tired as much as I can, because he has athleticism," St. Pierre said.

Serra was unable to land the devastating right hand that he did in their first bout.

"He felt good on top, I was trying to get angles," Serra said. "As the fight went on, he was slippery and started to land certain shots. But I'll be back."

St. Pierre, who made his UFC debut in January 2004, now holds the welterweight title for the second time. He first won the belt at UFC 65 in 2006, also against Hughes. St. Pierre improved to 16-2 overall, 10-2 in UFC bouts.

For Long Island, N.Y., native Serra, a Brazilian jujitsu expert who owns a training academy there, this was his first fight since his "Shock the World" upset of St. Pierre 53 weeks ago. His record fell to 16-5 overall, 6-5 in UFC bouts. Serra was the first American to be awarded a Brazilian jujitsu black belt under legendary teacher Renzo Gracie.

In the main undercard, former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin (23-3) stopped Travis Luttter (9-5) with a second-round TKO, setting up a possible third bout with the current champ, Anderson Silva.