This is the tale of a "little man," by height he was not blessed,
Life did not go the way he planned, that was to be his test.
He found his joy in teaching others martial arts;
Being a mentor to his students was closest to his heart.
Along the way he met his wife—a real Italian girl,
Ann was to be his greatest prize, and set his heart a whirl.
He fought one day and beat a man, a proud Canadian
Who was the UFC Welterweight champ who'd beaten many men.
But on that April 7th night in the year 2007,
Matt Serra was the fighter who was surely blessed by heaven;
He had overcome tremendous odds and yet,
Very few who viewed the event were pleased by the upset.
"A fluke" they cried, and booed at him, "It was just a lucky punch!"
No bets were placed on him because no one had a hunch.
No respect, for all looked down on him, well shame on all of them!
He had won the fight and proven that God loved this 'little man!'
3 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Ann Dain about 1 year ago
Dorothy, I was tickled that you responded to my story on Clarence Thatch. It is certainly my privilege to know him. I just was scrolling through your articles and loved your poem on Matt Serra. I also had interviewed him a couple of months ago and found him charming, approachable and candid. The Clarence Thatch was the first of my interviews that I had posted on BleacherReports but I think now that I will go into my recent archives and post others. It is wonderful to be in a community of like-minded writers and readers! Thank you for the positive feedback. Ann
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Dorothy Willis about 1 year ago
Ann, It is great to find someone who can admire Matt Serra instead of running him down. To me he seems to have an enormous amount of character and personality packed into his 5' 6" stature. People don't seem to realise that being so ctitical of him also diminishes Georges St. Pierre, whom he beat. I would love to see you write an interview of Matt. He has, unfortunately, received so much negative press due to all the hype around his feud with Hughes that I believe he is completely misunderstood. If I could choose a coach for my grandson it would be Matt Serra. Maybe my having been housebound with MS has made me sentimental, but when GSP and Serra fought I thought it would be very hard for Georges to fight hard against Serra who had befriended him against Hughes' bullying comments (both about Georges personally and also about their mutual idol Royce Gracie). I hated that fight because I like both of them so much and hated that they had to be put in such an adversarial position as that. Who ever you write about next, I will look forward to reading your work. Good luck, and thank you fo your comment.
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TheToddfather about 1 year ago
Great poem. I love Matt, and he certainly beat the odds that night. All I can say is, he better keep praying, cause my gut tells me he won't repeat that victory. You never know. Georges is my favourite fighter on Earth, and I'm Canadian, so you know who I'm rooting for, but I have nothing against Serra. And if anyone in the UFC is going to topple my GSP, Serra would be my choice. Humble and respectful, but bad-ass and fearless. I love BJ Penn too. That's the match I want to see again, GSP vs BJ.
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