The UFC sent out an e-mail today reminding us all to watch Countdown to UFC 83, which premieres tonight at 11 p.m. ET/PT on SpikeTV, and will focus on the welterweight title match between GSP and Matt Serra, as well as the middleweight feature between Rich Franklin and Travis Lutter. Below is the show’s official preview clip.

We’re very curious to see the differences in the headliners’ training camps. Will days spent tossing around Luke Cummo and Pete Sell in Long Island really be adequate preparation for Serra to face GSP, who has been training with stars like Denis Kang, Nate Marqurdt, Keith Jardine, and Rashad Evans? Should GSP have been training against guys who are actually Serra’s size, rather than guys two weight classes above him? I mean, rolling with Jardine and Evans is impressive and all, but how much practical application does that have? I’m just saying, St. Pierre’s going to be way out of his element when Serra somersaults through his legs then leaps, chimp-like, on top of his shoulders. And then the crowd lets out that collective “Awwwwww!”, which totally throws you off your game? You can’t train for these things…

(“Adrian!”)

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Brian Knapp

Matt Serra had never finished a fight with his fists until April 7, 2007. Talk about perfect timing. On that night, Serra shook the mixed martial arts world to its foundation, as he overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to topple a man who had been universally received as the planet’s premiere 170-pound fighter.

A full year has passed since the 33-year-old Long Island, N.Y., native clubbed Georges St. Pierre and stopped the favored French Canadian by first-round TKO to capture the welterweight championship at UFC 69 in Houston. Goliath had met his match inside the hallowed Octagon, and the sport sat in stunned silence.

With less than a week to go before their rematch at UFC 83 on Saturday night at Montreal’s Bell Centre, pundits lend little credence to Serra’s flawless performance 12 months ago. Many consider it a fluke, a stroke of luck, a hiccup in the space-time continuum. A coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter and a back injury have kept Serra out of the eight-sided cage since his historic upset, and St. Pierre has been nothing shy of impeccable in back-to-back wins over welterweight contender Josh Koscheck and future Hall-of-Famer Matt Hughes. Serra’s odds are long, but he embraces them nonetheless.

“They can look at it any way they want,” he says. “I know I’m the underdog, and I feel very comfortable in that role.”

St. Pierre, the thoroughbred who had all but cleaned out the UFC’s 170-pound division, never got out of the gate the first time the two met. Rocked repeatedly by Serra’s heavy hands, he wound up on his back, where he ate punches in jackhammer-like succession and was unable to mount a defense. Even so, Serra’s respect for St. Pierre’s physical capabilities runs deep.

“He’s dangerous on all fronts,” Serra says. “Georges is very well-rounded. He’s got very good wrestling besides the striking. Standing up, off my back … everywhere, basically, I have to be on my A-game.”

Having long compared himself to the lead character in the Rocky series, Serra figures to be confronted by the most hostile of crowds as he ventures into St. Pierre’s backyard in Montreal. His support will likely be limited to his cornermen.

“I don’t expect to get cheered walking out,” Serra says. “It’s not a problem. I think I’m finally going to feel what Tim Sylvia feels when he fights anywhere.”

In advance of the May 31st debut of EliteXC’s Saturday Night Fights, CBS has enlisted referee Herb Dean as well as star fighters Nick Diaz and Jake Shields to make a video focusing on what you won’t be seeing during the broadcast. Watch as Diaz demonstrates a textbook soccer kick and piledriver, while Shields contributes a downward elbow and some fence-grabbing. As the announcer says, “Now you’re ready for ‘CBS Saturday Night Fights’.” If you say so, buddy! More must-see videos after the jump.

Georges St. Pierre on moving up to middleweight to fight Anderson Silva:

“I’ve been thinking about it. It’s going to depend on the scenario. I have a lot of training partners at 185 and my weight class is 170…if one day, I have the opportunity, the way is clear, and I did everything I had to do in my division, of course I will (fight Silva).”

Rush vs. Spider would be a fantastic fight, but by the time GSP cleans out the welterweight division, Silva will already be at 205 making Rampage and Wanderlei his bitches.

Quote of the Day Runner-Up — Matt Serra to the people of Montreal:

“So boo me. Boo me you drunks!”

Oh come on, Matt, have some class. Is that what Rocky said to the Russians?

Here’s a fun fact: Matt Serra’s Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale match against Chris Lytle (11/11/06) was his sixth-consecutive pro fight to end in a decision. “The Terror” went 3-3 during that stretch, suffering notable losses to B.J. Penn and Karo Parisyan, but turned his career around by edging out Lytle in a split decision — in which two of the judges scored it 30-27 for Serra and the other scored it an equally plausible 30-27 for Lytle — and earning his title shot.

If you have nine minutes free, check out this video preview of the two headlining fights at UFC 83 on April 19th: Serra vs. St. Pierre 2 and Franklin vs. Lutter. In a recent CagePotato poll, 82% of you thought St. Pierre will win the main event (a full 60% had him winning specifically by KO/TKO), though we’re pulling for our New York homeboy to keep the belt in the States.

I don’t think I’ve sat through a fight-flick since Ong-Bak (Jaa ftw!), but this is straight-up historic — Jackie and Jet on the same set, battling for cinematic kung-fu dominance. The Forbidden Kingdom hits theaters on April 18th, but you can get a taste right now by watching the fight scene above and the official trailer here.

More must-see video goodness after the jump.

– Watch More Funny Videos

Oh this? It’s just me hangin’ out at a 7/11 on the OSU campus in Columbus with my buddy, UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra. Pretty average Saturday night, really.

Alright, let me explain. You want the long version? Good.

The hierarchy of hatred in Columbus, Ohio, seems to go like this:

1) The University of Michigan, particularly its football team and its mascot, the wolverine.
2) New Yorkers.
3) All other non-Ohio residents.

As a U of Michigan grad who’s lived in New York for the last 5+ years, I could feel their eyes as soon as I stopped into Tommy’s Pizza to take a piss. It wasn’t paranoia; they knew. I got a sense of what it must feel like for a Crip to walk through a Blood neighborhood. That’s both an apt metaphor and a totally lazy one, as most people on the Ohio State campus — where I booked my hotel, mainly out of curiosity — were flying Blood-like colors yesterday. Literally everyone under the age of 25 and over the age of 50 was decked out in Ohio State sweatshirts, jackets, hats, whatever. It turns out that the Ohio State Wrestling Championships were that weekend — fitting, since former OSU wrestling champ Mark Coleman was going to be inducted in the UFC’s Hall of Fame that night — and the sporting types of Columbus were showing their support. So here I come into Tommy’s with my black pea-coat and reptilian loafers (already I was thinking afterparty), and my big Jew nose, reeking of Ann Arbor pheromones. Forks hits plates, a record scratched.

(Poutine: French for “Devil’s Diarrhea.”)

In a press conference held yesterday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Dana White confirmed that Patrick “The Predator” Cote will be joining the card of UFC 83 — currently titled “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2″ — against an opponent to be named later. With Cote’s addition, the official UFC 83 lineup looks like this:

MAIN CARD
Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre (welterweight championship match)
Travis Lutter vs. Rich Franklin (middleweights)
Charles McCarthy vs. Michael Bisping (middleweights)
Nate Quarry vs. Kalib Starnes (middleweights)
Mark Bocek vs. Mac Danzig (lightweights)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Ed Herman vs. Demian Maia (middleweights)
Joe Doerksen vs. Jason MacDonald (middleweights)
Rich Clementi vs. Sam Stout (lightweights)
Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Jonathan Goulet (welterweights)
Patrick Cote vs. TBA (middleweights)

Out of the 19 (so far) scheduled fighters, eight are Canadian — St. Pierre, Starnes, Bocek, Doerksen, MacDonald, Stout, Goulet, and Cote. And man that’s a lot of 185-pounders. Unfortunately, many Canuck fight fans might be left out in the cold. As of yesterday, UFC Fight Club members had already purchased more than 13,000 tickets in the 21,273-seat Bell Centre; tickets don’t go on sale to the general public until Thursday. Maybe there will be some seats left in the nosebleeds by then, but if you’re planning on attending, there may be a scalper in your future.

He wouldn’t be the first one to be a champion in more than one division. But three? That would put Georges St. Pierre, the UFC’s interim welterweight champ, into a completely different sphere. And he wants to do so after completely dominating the welterweight division, according to an article over at Sherdog. GSP has been around the sport since 2002 and has been more than impressive against the dudes he’s beaten.

The piece references GSP’s win over Pete Spratt in 2003 as the beginning of the welterweight’s climb. This got him into the UFC, where – after two wins – he lost his first fight, a submission to Matt Hughes. We’ve since heard Georges explain – several times – that he had already lost in his mind before the fight even started. Maybe he should have listened to his opponent’s advice. Regardless, St. Pierre won their second (and third) meeting, only to immediately lose the belt to Matt Serra – who he will meet again in April.

GSP is in the Centennial State right now working with Nathan Marquardt to help the fighter train for his fight with Jeremy Horn at UFC 81. After kicking the shit out of Matt Hughes, St. Pierre remains a little too humble:

“Hughes is an amazing fighter,” he said. “I just had a good night that night, and he had a bad night.”

“If we fight again, I don’t think he’s going to beat me, but he will probably come closer. Maybe he had a bad day — it’s a matter of circumstances as well.”

Oh please. Just admit you kicked his ass and would do it again and again.

Answering yesterday’s call for first-hand stories about the UFC 79 viewing party at Madison Square Garden, a CagePotato reader named Serafin wrote in with the following:

“I was at the MSG show for UFC 79. I gotta say that although the place was empty as sh*t, the crowd that was there (guessing about 700 at most and that can be a bit generous as I don’t know for sure what the numbers were) was hyped up at seeing Matt Serra and Forrest Griffin. Everybody seemed to have enjoyed themselves and were badgering all the fighters with questions about when the UFC is going to do a show at The Garden. A lot of people just dont seem to understand the politics and craptastic attempts of the NY State Athletic Comission to keep MMA out of this part of the northeast. Funny, cause when you really look at things….Jersey has been having shows for quite a while and it’s where we got a chance to see Frankie Ed…..ok I take that back. Not a great point but a point nonetheless.”

So to summarize: Good times, but even less-attended than earlier reports suggesting that 1,000 people would show up. Damn, with those numbers they should have just reserved a block of tables at ESPN Zone and held the party there. Anyway, big ups to Serafin. If you have any follow-up questions, leave ‘em in the comments section and we’ll try to squeeze more info out of the dude.

NBCSports’ Mike Chiappetta reports that Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre will meet again in April. The welterweight match-up will be about a year after GSP lost to the now inflated Serra. As you may recall, Serra was to defend his belt against Matt Hughes at the recent UFC 79, but had to drop out due to injury. GSP promptly jumped at the chance to take on Hughes for a third time, beating him easily for the interim (aka, bullshit) welterweight title. Serra said his back is getting better and he’ll be ready in April.

The April event – possibly to be on the 19th – will be in Montreal, the first UFC event to be held in Canada.

“Matt Serra’s condition improved greatly over the past week. The week before he was in intense pain. This week he was still having trouble walking. While watching a training session, he almost considered going to the mat to demonstrate a technique, but then decided it probably wouldn’t be the smartest thing. He hasn’t been able to do any training and is probably more than 200 pounds.”

As you recall, Serra had some pretty extensive damage done to his back while training to step into the cage with Matt Hughes at UFC 79: Nemesis on December 29th. He’s now slated to meet the fighter who walks away with the win when Hughes meets Georges St. Pierre in the replacement match. This was supposed to go down in 2008, but with Serra ballooned up to 200+, we’re not looking for it to happen too early in the new year. Coming back from an injury like that is tough enough, but Dude, push yourself away from the dinner table after your 5th helping of yams. Yeah, we understand the way you guys fluctuate in weight and we’re not claiming to be training experts. What we do know is we want to see your next fight as soon as possible, so lay off the cheesecake and grab a diet soda. You’ve got LBs to shed.

(Source: MMA Fighting via Break.com)

The lovesick ex-Ultimate Fighter contestant — and best man at Matt Serra’s wedding — is opening his own Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy. Also, him and Serra are still tight. Just thought you’d like to know…

How quickly the game changes. Despite all his efforts in reminding his team to breathe, Matt Serra’s two remaining fighters were eliminated on last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter. As Matt Serra himself might say, “Ouch!” Let’s take it from the top…

The episode opens tragically, with Matt Arroyo suffering a rib injury while practicing with Richie useless motherfucking Hightower. He tries to work through it, but the pain convinces him to see the doctor; the prognosis is a small crack in the rib and deep bruising. The doctor doesn’t actually forbid him from fighting, but Arroyo knows that he wouldn’t be able to get through two rounds against Mac Danzig in the shape he’s in, so he takes himself out of the competition. Dana White, who has maybe never fought with a broken rib before, pressures Arroyo into fighting hurt (“words cannot fuckin’ describe what you’re giving up”), and basically calls him a filthy quitter, but Arroyo makes the right choice and stays sidelined, which means a replacement has to be found.

Dana and Matt Serra interview War Machine, Troy, and Richie to see if they’d step in against Mac. The guys want absolutely nothing to do with him. Richie is concerned about dropping 20 pounds in three days; I’m just as concerned that he apparently gained 20 pounds in three days. Anyway, as we all knew would happen, Smilin’ John Kolosci rolls in, pleads for the fight against Mac, and he gets it.

This doesn’t sit well at all with Mac, who looks nervous for the first time all season. “I beat this guy decisively, and he gets another chance to fight me, and if he beats me he’s in the finals?” he asks. Mac starts worrying about getting caught with a shot from Kolosci, who, as Mac points out, has by now “figured out what not to do” against him.

Then there’s this awful commercial for Wahl beard trimmers, co-starring Andre Arlovski:

— According to The Fight Network, veteran UFC ref “Big” John McCarthy will be making an “important announcement regarding his future” during a teleconference on Friday morning. John, please don’t walk away from the Octagon — now is the time when we need you the most.

— Tim Sylvia will be fighting at UFC 81, against a fighter who hasn’t been named yet. If the match isn’t against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the vacant heavyweight title, UFC 81 would be the fourth-consecutive pay-per-view UFC event without a championship fight.

— Sean Sherk won’t fight in the state of California ever again. BJ Penn won’t fight Sean Sherk anywhere.

— Matt Serra will be hosting a viewing party for UFC 79 at Madison Square Garden. UFC fan club members can purchase tickets starting tomorrow, UFC.com newsletter subscribers can buy ‘em starting Friday (with the pre-sale password “SERRA”), and the general public can pick up what’s left on Sunday. The price is $30 for a general admission ticket, or $25 if you order before 12/22 — a small price to pay for the opportunity to start chants of “BRIDGE AND TUNNEL!” as soon as Serra shows up to sign autographs. With MMA competitions banned in New York state, watching a jumbotron surrounded by drunk meatheads is as good as it gets!

The UFC digs the gems out of the year that was(n’t), starting at 9 p.m. ET/PT. If you want to save yourself some time, just watch the clip below — it won’t get any better than this.

(Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre, UFC 69, 4/7/07)

Man, I can’t leave you people alone for two seconds…

While some of us were enjoying a few days off the grid during the Thanksgiving holiday, the UFC was busy releasing the most disappointing news in recent memory — followed by the most exciting. On Thanksgiving day, Dana White announced that Matt Serra has withdrawn from UFC 79 due to a back injury sustained during a routine training session in his Long Island gym. According to Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer, Serra suffered a herniated disc on Monday while working out with Matt Arroyo (who knocked off Troy “Rude Boy” Mandaloniz on Wednesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter). Writes Meltzer:

It was serious to the point he had to practically be carried to the hospital. And after an MRI, he had to practically be carried off the table. He didn’t tell anyone about it, hoping it would heal. He went to the chiropractor to see if he could make it better, and ended up hurting even worse. The doctors told him there was no way he could fight on Dec. 29, so he canceled yesterday. Matt Hughes was told this morning and naturally noted he had three bulging discs when he fought Royce Gracie. But said he believes Serra is really hurt…Serra’s doctors haven’t even given him an estimate of when he’ll be ready [to fight again].

After the anticlimactic shitshow that was UFC 78, this was the worst possible thing that could have happened to the organization. The Hughes/Serra feud — which the UFC has spent so much energy and resources hyping up for their meeting on December 29 — will go unresolved, and the pay-per-view event that was supposed to get the UFC back in fans’ good graces suddenly lost its main attraction. Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, and Thiago Alves were discussed as possible replacements for Matt Serra, but without a championship belt on the line, “Nemesis” would likely play out like UFC 78.2.0. Of course, MMA diehards are still salivating for Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva, but since both fighters lost their last two bouts, there isn’t much riding on the outcome. And of course, Serra’s injury has sucked all the tension out of the remaining episodes of The Ultimate Fighter.

But then, in the horizon, a savior appeared.

In last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, the quarterfinal matches were announced, Mac Danzig upsets the entire animal kingdom, Ray Longo turns out to be one of those guys who pronounces “penalized” as “peenalized,” and Jon Kolosci goes out like a punk. Read on, if you dare…