Serra versus Hughes: Am I the only one?
Let me preface this by saying that I want to see the rubber match between Matt Hughes and George St. Pierre just as much as the next guy. But to be completely honest, I’d rather see the originally planned Serra vs. Hughes match like we were promised. Why do I want to see it so badly? It’s simple- the test.
Whereas Hughes and Pierre have already been tested throughout their careers which include two previous bouts against each other, Serra remains fairly untested against champion competition aside from his stunning upset victory over GSP. So we know that GSP and Hughes can rock the cage with experience and expertise to match, but can Serra really put on the show he did once upon a time that seems so long ago by now? Was GSP just off his game that night or is Serra really that good? Could Serra survive or even dominate on the ground against a guy like Hughes or Pierre? Can Serra really throw that hard or was it just a lucky punch? And the biggest question, can Matt Serra back up the absurd amount of attitude and smack talk he’s been spouting off for the past year? Who knows. And that’s the problem, now we may never know for sure. Much like a lousy movie plot, Hughes-GSP III leaves more questions than answers.
I Need Closure
Matt Serra wins the welterweight title fair and square and now it’s finally time to defend, so what happens? Serra gets injured, can’t fight in a timely fashion and we luckily get another great fighter to take his place. However as I said earlier these two (Hughes and GSP) just don’t have enough to prove any more. Similar to Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, I really believe that Hughes and Serra have a serious distaste for each other. Sure Ortiz and Shamrock could have fought better matched opponents and put on better shows, but they had a beef and settled it for our entertainment. Closure was received, end of story. But where is the closure with Serra and Hughes? If GSP wins we may never get any closure because Hughes claims he only has 2 or 3 fights left in his career, and those remaining fights will likely not be against Matt Serra. As for Serra, well once he recovers you have to entertain the possibility that he may never be the same fighter ever again. His injury is pretty severe and it could be taking a bigger toll than we’d all like to think. Fact is, even if Hughes is able to fight Serra in the future, Serra might just not be in top form. And lets face it, Matt Serra needs to be in top form to face off against Matt Hughes, I mean who are we kidding?
To sum things up
So the UFC decided to create a buzz between Serra and Hughes and put them on the TUF series, making us wait a hell of a long time to see Serra defend his belt. Fair enough. Obviously the TUF series this year isn’t nearly as good as earlier seasons but I sat through it, was fairly entertained, and now I want my main event match up. I agree I am playing the role of selfish MMA fan since so many believe that GSP vs. Hughes is just as good, if not better than a fight against Serra. And on paper I agree with these people but, while my brain knows that Hughes would probably roll through Serra and should really fight someone like GSP to make for a more impressive battle, I just cant shake the fact that I will not get to see two people settle a score like I thought I would and that, to put it nicely, pisses me off. Absolutely I will be watching GSP vs. Hughes with great anticipation, who wouldn’t? But if we never get to see Serra face off against Hughes….well that’s a disappointment no matter how you slice it.
I can’t agree with you more about this fight not happening. I really wanted Serra to win but the constant “Hughes is a dick” rant is getting very old. Hughes has a large ego as well and this fight would humble both sides. I’m doubtful it will ever happen anymore. GSP is designed to beat wrestlers which puts this fight really up in the air. I think the best we can hope for is a Karo vs Serra rematch much further down the road instead of a Serra/Hughes.
I agree as well. I am a big GSP fan, but Hughes v GSP would’ve happened further down the road anyways. Now it’s a RUSH (no pun intended) for both of them to get ready for the fight.
Although it will certainly be a great fight, I too am disappointed about not being able to see Hughes v Serra. I guess the UFC did a good job of selling that fight to me.
Serra sure does talk a lot of smack…
I think everyone is a little upset about it. Everyone wanted to see it bad. For Hughes fans (like myself) we all wanted to see Serra get his mouth shut by a face first body slam from Hughes. For Serra fans….well…they all wanted to Serra to be tested against someone who is going to bring it everytime and not take fighters lightly like GSP. Whether or not Serra is not 100% down the road and Matt Hughes loses his next 3 fights, I dont care how tainted their careers are, I want to see this fight. If Serra needs to come in with a broken arm, and Hughes needs to come in with a loss to Richie Hightower…..I still want to see this fight!!!!!
I wish that the Serra-Hughes fight was still on. I think it would’ve been a much more exciting fight than people think (read: not Sherk-Franca). I do think that while Serra would have real difficulty wrestling with Hughes or GSP, once the fight hits the mat Serra is light-years ahead of GSP, and would have a technical advantage over Hughes. I don’t know how that would play out with two GNP specialists and a likely strength disadvantage.
well im probably crazy for thinking this…but i dont think serra coulda beat hughes even though i’ve been saying for a long ass time that serra will beat hughes…but if we face facts hughes is jus to dominant of a wrestler to get beat by someone who can only pull of his BJJ…that punch against GSP was definetly a lucky one but GSP let it happen to himself and if he took that fight seriously theres no way he woulda lost…i find this rubber match to be way more intriuging then the serra-hughes fight…both GSP and hughes have a win against eachother even though GSP has dominated every aspect of their fights up until hughes caught him in that arm bar in the first fight….i strongly beleive that GSP is gonna dominate this fight too…cuz the most dangerous fighters all f*** up and come back way stronger…take GSP’s last fight…he out wrestled a wrestler in KOS…im guessin a first round KO for GSP in the first 3 minutes
Does anyone know exactly why the hughes-serra fight was cancelled?
#4 Will- I couldnt disagree more with you about Hughes having a being worse technically on the ground then Serra. BJJ vs wrestling…. Ill take BJJ anyday….but Hughes is a little different. Watch the Hughes vs Gracie fight. Everyone knows Gracie is a genious on the ground….Hughes Ground n Pounded him. BJ Penn….the dude is freakish!! He did beat Hughes once….then Hughes GNPd him. Hughes brute strength and his BJJ defense is far better than Serra’s anything on the ground. If I gave anything to Serra….and it could go either way…but his standup might be a little better than Hughes, and thats a big question mark.
I am confused on the pre-views its says that Hughes and GSP are having a championship bout what happend to Serra having the belt? Please let me know. Thanks
FixXer - I think you need to take an objective look at Royce’s jiu-jitsu and reevaluate your opinion… He is a legend without a doubt, but it is because of the era he fought in. Royce never placed at a single important jiu-jitsu tourney and does not really possess high-level BJJ: You won’t see any real jiu-jitsu guys flocking to a Royce seminar. Meanwhile Serra won the Pan-ams, at the time the only other American to win was BJ, and his jiu-jitsu really is amazing. Hughes has developed a great no-gi game, but he relies quite a bit on athleticism and had real trouble getting anything done against Lytle, whose solid jiu-jitsu is nowhere near the level of Serra’s. To be honest I would bet on Hughes to win a fight with Serra, but it wouldn’t come by submission. I think people outside of the jiu-jitsu subculture who’ve watched a couple Serra fights on UFC Unleashed have no idea just how good his BJJ is.
Anyway Hughes is probably my favorite fighter of all-time, but after what GSP did to Koscheck I just can’t figure out what kind of gameplan he is going to use. Dirty boxing? I mean GSP straight up blew Koscheck’s doors off multiple times and whizzered out of one of the deepest high singles I’ve ever seen… against a guy that on paper is the finest folkstyle wrestler to ever set foot in the octagon
I agree that Serras BJJ is great…and its good that we agree on one thing. Matt Hughes is both of our favorite fighter. haha. Well im pretty hi on Pat Miletich but Hughes is right there with him.
I wasnt saying that Serras BJJ is bad though..I just meant that I dont think he holds an advantage on the ground. I dont really like Serra so my opinion may be kinda biased too. I guess I keep looking back to the Shonie Carter loss…I know it was standup knockout..but its Shonie carter haha.
When Sera hurt his Back after all the hype months leading up to dec. 29, I was DISAPOINTED. I can only afford to go to vegas once or twice a year to watch a fight. And I felt a bit jipped, not to take away from Chuck or Wanderlei, there is something exciting about a title fight.
But when GSP stepped in, I was even more excited. This fight, In my opinion is far more exciting and will be more fun to watch. GSP was training with Rashad Evans and is always in great shape. A great fight is expected. Its the end of the year fight and the Sera Vs. Hughs is still being debated regarding the quality of Sera. Its sad that all the HYPE was for nothing, two fighters who dont like each other is always fun to watch regardless of talent,but lets face it,now we have two of the most dominating fighters of yesterday, today, and tommorow throwing down again.
Sera I think would of lost, he hasnt been a dominating fighter in his career like HUGHS or GSP. Hes a great BJJ but that alone doesnt win fights. Does he truly have that much power or did GSP just beat himself?
I cant wait!!!!! Its a great way to end the year!
how can people think serra is faking? he is not trying to dodge the fight… he has something he wants to prove… no one gives him a chance in the fight, so loosing it doesnt matter that bad. here is the truth. serra is a great bjj practitioner and an above average mixed martial artist, do i think he has more talent than a gsp or hughes no… but he is close enough to and has enough heart to beat each of them 40% of the time. dont underestimate this guy.
but you cant be disapointed with this card at all… ufc fans are going to be amazed by sokodjou and liddell v silva is going to tear the house down
I think it is a great card, one of the best that I’ve seen in a long time, but the Hughes/Serra fight did have a lot of hype surrounding it, and now we might have to wait for Serra/GSP in June, and Hughes/some other random person, then the Serra/Hughes fight could happen near the end of next year. This is all based on GSP winning which I expect, but who knows? If that is the case, there will be far less people interested in seeing Serra/Hughes. Maybe I cheer for Hughes, just so I can see Hughes/Serra sooner. Nah.
To second Chairman’s original thought, they did a great job of selling Serra/Hughes as is shown by how many people are disappointed. I love GSP but I’d still rather be seeing Serra. That said I’m not turning my nose up at GSP/Hughes.
I too was so looking forward to watching Matt Hughes cave Sera’s face in.. him sqwaking his high pitched gay ass voice in pain from the GnP.. after of course the traditional stratosphere aerial slam..
I am upset that this fight took so long.. poor GSP makes a mistake and has to wait over a year to reclaim his crown..
I hope GSP wins.. then pummels Serra then Highes pummels him.. and maybe even Mac Danzig.. beats on him too for his first fight on a main card in the UFC..
I will conquer with the gentlemen that said Serra’s BJJ is excellent.. but not as good as BJ Penn’s and Penn got GnP’d by Hughes.. I expect the same but worse for Serra..
I will travel to Montreal to watch GSP regain his sparkling belt.. since I am in the North East.. I think it will be a KO by spinning back fist too..
I wanted to see Serra/Hughes for 2 reasons; 1) They hate each other plus the belt’s on the line - formula for potential great match and 2) I really want the Serra/Hughes/GSP to be done with as soon as possible, in order to get some deserving talent a title shot (Fitch for example).
If GSP wins, it means pushing Hughes/Serra further back since Serra has to have a chance at becoming undisputed champion (rematch w/GSP before Hughes). The other problem, is it now potentially becomes a 3 round match instead of the 5 we would have gotten in Dec (if Hughes wins, then it’s for 5 rounds and the fight happens sooner).
The longer Serra is out, the less heat they will have. They will be able to rekindle it, but not to its current rate.
I’m a huge GSP fan, but I’d still rather have seen Serra/Hughes in December.
A few have mentioned Hughes-Penn 2 as an example of how Hughes can GnP a great BJJ guy (suggesting he would do the same to Serra). First off, Penn absolutely owned Hughes in their first fight. Hughes did zero and was choked out. In their second fight, Hughes lost rounds 1 and 2 and was effectively saved by the bell from an armbar/triangle choke. Penn cracked a rib at the end of the 2nd and couldn’t do anything in the third round. Not exactly lighting the world afire with his GnP was Hughes. Another mentioned that it was debatable whether Serra has better stand-up. It is not debatable. Hughes has the worst stand-up of any top guy in MMA. Serra just KO’d GSP and dropped Karo in their fight. Not saying Serra was a lock to beat Hughes, but he presents some things Hughes could have a lot difficulty with. Hughes has gotten by for a long time on great strength and solid wrestling. But I think his era is over.
I really wish this fight was going to happen because of the fact that it would answer a lot of questions. I do think Hughes has great GnP but a fighter like BJ Penn/GSP that has great takedown defense really gives Hughes issues. I don’t think Matt Serra has the ability like BJ to keep Hughes from taking him down. BJ is also extremely difficult to keep down. I haven’t seen too much from Serra on being able to reverse a dominant person like Hughes. I also think if it’s a five rounder that Hughes would be the fresher of the two in the latter round. I definitely don’t want to see them fight in a three round war. It’d be one big hugging match from both sides. I want GSP to win but I also want a five round fight between Serra and Hughes. Guess we can’t have everything we want in life.
Serra is not in the same league as Hughes. He talks a good game but when the bell sounded he hid like a frightened child. He loses a lot of credability for talking all that smack and not backing it up.
James, I’ll have to agree to disagree. Serra wasn’t in the “same class” as GSP, GSP totally owned Hughes, therefore Hughes will totally destroy Serra (if A=B, then B=umm..C?). Serra possesses arguably the best J-Jistu in the 170 division and has a punchers chance while standing (see GSP).
I don’t understand the “bell sounded he hid like a frightened chile” comment. He has a legit injury and can’t fight, end of story. He didn’t dodge Hughes and will fight him, albeit later than we’d like. Hughes very well may win that fight, I won’t dispute that. I just don’t see how you can say he lost “a lot of credibility” when he’s injured. I haven’t heard anyone accuse Serra of ducking a fight, including Hughes himself, so again I take exception to your statement.
Serra is clearly not ducking Hughes. The injury is the worst thing that could possibly happen to his career right now. You could tell he was chomping at the bit to get at Hughes. I have no doubt that in Serra’s mind he feels he can beat Hughes. If and when they fight, I would still give Hughes a very slight edge, provided Serra’s injury is a non-factor. The only mistake I think Serra has made has been talking so such smack about Hughes. I think Serra should have stuck to the humility of the guy who was happy to get his shot and made the Rocky-like most of it. That’s the kind of guy you want to root for, even if you like the guy he’s fighting. But Serra as a wise-ass, constantly spouting off on how much he hates Hughes, lessens him a bit in my eyes. I still want him to do well, but talking **** goes against the grain of what makes somebody a truly great martial artist. You don’t see someone like Couture mocking his opponents. He respects the guys he fights. He never has anything bad to say about them. And because of that he’s one of most respected guys in the sport. Serra’s mouth is, I think, setting him up to be a flash in the pan. And that’s unfortunate, because I think he’s got what it takes to be a top fighter,