Once buddies, Matt Serra now wants to retire Matt Hughes at UFC 98 by Jon Lane on Jan 19, 2009 at 2:30 pm ET Matt Serra wears his heart on his sleeve. If he doesn't like you, he won't talk behind your back. He'll say it to your face without thinking twice. That doesn't mean he's a bad or vindictive person. He goes out of his way to prove that perception is far from reality. He's proud of how he's been labeled the underdog his entire MMA career, more so about the crop of fighters he's developing at his Long Island-based Serra Jiu-Jitsu academies and his future as a full-time instructor. When it comes to Matt Hughes, Serra puts on that persona. To put it bluntly, Serra flat out hates Hughes, and neither nine months of inactivity nor 13 months of waiting for what he calls his "legacy fight" has cooled the bad blood between the two that will finally come to a head May 23 in Las Vegas. "The guy's a dick," Serra told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I might cuss once in a while, but I'm not that guy." Time heals all wounds? Yeah, right. The animosity reaches its boiling point at UFC 98, when Serra and Hughes will collide after injuries to both fighters postponed the bout originally scheduled for December 2007. Hughes initially wrote on his Web site he received a call from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva about the bout but added it wasn't 100 percent confirmed. Serra, though, has now confirmed the fight is official. Serra was supposed to defend the welterweight championship, earned with his shocking TKO of Georges St. Pierre, against Hughes at UFC 79 before Serra suffered a herniated disc in his lower back while demonstrating a move to a student. He hoped to get Hughes in January, but Hughes was still rehabbing a partially torn PCL and a completely torn MCL in his left knee sustained during his TKO defeat to Thiago Alves. Silva then targeted March and UFC 96 in Columbus for the bout, but Serra declined with his wife set to give birth to the couple's first child, and that led to the May 23 date at Montreal's Bell Centre. "The most important thing is we got a freaking date," Serra said. "I think this is definitely the biggest fight of my career. Not that I want to give this guy a compliment, but he's a future hall-of-hamer in the fight game. Me taking out Matt Hughes, man that would be a couple of hall-of-hamers I'd have wins over, thinking St. Pierre is headed that route. "Let me go on the record: I can't stand him. I don't like him. There's a lot of pride on the line here." It wasn't always like this. In fact, after Serra lost a split decision to Din Thomas in Atlantic City at UFC 41 in February 2003, he met Hughes at a bar in the Trump Taj Mahal. Hughes approached Serra and struck up a friendship, and he proposed on working with each other to build up respective weaknesses. "I thought he was a good guy," Serra said. Once Serra saw Hughes coach opposite Rich Franklin on "The Ultimate Fighter 2," he noticed something a lot different: his attitude. By the sixth season of the show, Hughes and Serra were opposing coaches, and it left Serra thinking, "What a jerk," he said. "This is no BS," Serra (9-5) said. "I don't like him; he don't like me. I'm going to train and do the right thing with one goal: to decapitate Matt Hughes." Hughes (42-7) steps into the octagon for the first time since the devastating loss to Alves. This will be Serra's first fight since April 19, 2008, when he lost a rematch to St. Pierre and the welterweight crown while suffering an injury to the ulner nerve to his left elbow. Finally healthy, Serra recently completed negotiations on a new multi-fight deal with the UFC and plans on fighting more than once a year. "Right now I'm all good, knock on wood," Serra said. "I want to keep it that way. And I plan on it." But Serra never looks past any fight, especially this one. He believes his guard has improved since the GSP rematch and likes his chances better in a three-round bout. Rather than bide his time, wear out his opponent and then try to put him away, Serra intends to go for the kill immediately. "I thought I was way too reserved (in the second GSP fight), especially with my ju-jitsu game," Serra said. "I'm going to come up with strategies standing up and on the floor. I'm going to be squared away no matter what happens." Hughes hinted at retirement after the Alves fight. Last September, Serra told MMAjunkie.com he plans on making his decision easier. While Hughes has dropped three of his past four fights, Serra is expecting a dangerous rival hellbent on leaving on a high note. Serra is expected to be the underdog, but he's defeated the odds before. And in his world, fighting for pride is more important than becoming a champion. "Do you think he'd be a gracious winner?" Serra said. "I can't have that. I cannot – cannot – lose to this guy, and I know that." Jon Lane is a New York-based sports reporter and an MMAjunkie.com contributor.
Ryan Bader is fighting Carmelo Marrero at Fight Night... Krzysztof Soszynski is fighting Brian Stann at UFC 97. How does that work? Krys gets a tougher opponent for losing?
Neither fight is that easy IMO. Marrero is a solid grappler if I recall correctly. lol feed the TUF guys to the WEC guys and see who's best I guess.
Hope Krzysztof does well. I've met him once and I know a lady that is one of his training classes. He is a pretty cool dude. He has power in his hands, so I think he can stand and trade with Stann. Should be a good fight.
The rumoured Roger Huerta/Sean Sherk bout isn't happening. The UFC hasn't decided what Huerta's last fight will be (yet). Instead we're getting Sean Sherk vs. Frank Edgar, which should be a more even fight, as they are both great wrestlers. Also, this will take place at UFC 98, not 97.
Jon Goulet--surprisingly--isn't going to be able to take his UFC 97 bout with Tamdan McCrory. His knee isn't well enough. Huge disappointment for Goulet I'm sure.
A few wild rumours put out there for UFC 99 in Germany. Mark Coleman vs Mirko Cro-Cop but Mirko doesn't want to drop to 205. That could change if Overeem signs with the UFC Mark Coleman vs Tito Ortiz!!! Apparently Ortiz is popular in Germany and would be a big draw for the UFC there. I assume if Tito talks to the UFC, he'll be talking to Lorenzo Feretta and not Dana.
Why bring Tito back and give him an easy opponent? Just to build him up so he can sign a million-dollar contract with Affliction? I doubt that rumour has legs. I can imagine there are a lot of fighters jumping at the chance to pummel Coleman and up their status.
Some people were pretty upset with Steve "The Robot" Cantwell for gloating after breaking Razak Al-Hassan's arm at UFC Fights for the Troops. Well, if he wins his next fight, he'll have plenty to brag about. Cantwell is rumoured to be facing Luiz Banha Cane at UFC 97. Cane is coming off a TKO win over Sokoudjou and is one of the best strikers in the light heavyweight division.
Bad news for Dustin Hazelett fans, which should mean bad news for everyone: he is injured and will not fight Ben Saunders at UFC 96.
Canadian welterweight TJ Grant has signed a four-fight contract with the UFC and will debut at UFC 97. 12 of Grant's 13 wins have been via submission.
Amir Sadollah has injured himself in training and will not compete at the next Ultimate Fight Night. This is the second time Sadollah has been injured in training and he has yet to compete since winning The Ultimate Fighter Finale.
