Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre Rematch in April

Once again I find myself in a very uncomfortable situation. I barely lived through the last confrontation between Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre in April 2007, and now on April 19, 2008 there will be a rematch to live through.

I felt it was an awful predicament when Serra ended up having to fight St. Pierre rather than Matt Hughes the first time. Both Serra and St. Pierre had something to prove against Hughes and seemed more aligned in their feelings and goals—silencing a loud mouthed bully—than they had in fighting each other.

I would have been happier if they both had the chance to fight Hughes because, unlike the Hughes camp, I feel that Matt Serra could not only hold his own with Hughes, but could have beaten him just as easily as St. Pierre did. 

Although they do not look like equals when standing side by side, Serra and St. Pierre are very similar. They both have degrees in Gracie Brazilian Jui Jitsu, have trained with great boxing coaches, can deliver devastating punches, and have trained with great dedication for their sport.

St. Pierre has been wise to train with a variety of opponents and Serra, as an instructor who alternates between his two schools and has access to many different opponents, has an advantage over fighters who train with a limited number of partners within the same camp.

Physically they are different. Serra is like a fire hydrant—short, compact, stocky. Definitely someone it would hurt to run into.  St. Pierre is taller and built like a thoroughbred racehorse. He has speed, agility, and grace. Both men have great endurance and the ability to go for five rounds of punishment in the octagon.

Mentally they are both very determined men with scores to settle. Serra was branded by Hughes, who is certainly no towering giant himself (5' 9"), as being a "little" man at 5'6" with a "little man complex." Perhaps Hughes himself is an expert at this as he tries to verbally whittle his opponents down to his size.

Serra claims he enjoys being the underdog and that certainly was the case when he last met St. Pierre and surprised everyone but himself with a speedy victory against his heavily favored opponent. I do not believe Serra's win was a fluke, and as much as he may hate to admit it, I do believe St. Pierre under-rated him. Why he should be ashamed to admit this, I don't know because he was certainly among good company.

St. Pierre appeared very at ease discussing Serra at the recent press conference in Montreal. Later on in a less formal interview where they were sitting side by side, his body language showed him as being less at ease and looking almost embarrassed by his nearness to the man he soon will fight.

Why should this be? My own opinion is that St. Pierre admires Matt Serra for being an honest man who calls it like it is, and is therefore somewhat of an oddity in the type of fighters he is used to fighting—great trash talkers and punk-like in their attitudes.

St. Pierre is about to fight an honorable man who is quite outside his experience. His idol Matt Hughes went out of his way to malign and belittle him before and after their first fights. Serra befriended Georges on Tuf 4 and put himself in the roll of being Matt Hughes' antagonist, which continued during the Tuf 6 show and turned a lot of people against him for being so outspoken about his dislike of Hughes.

Naturally only time will tell who will prevail at the showdown in April, but for me, either way it will not be a joyous outcome.  I admire both men and regret that fate has put them in this position. They both will remain my heroes and favorite fighters regardless of the outcome.

Personally, if I were Matt Hughes, I would find a place to hide because Matt Serra will surely be looking to fight him in the future. It is just a matter of time.