Matt Serra Withdraws from UFC 79
UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra (9-4, 6-4 UFC) has been forced to withdraw from his December 29th bout with former champion Matt Hughes (41-5, 15-3 UFC) due to a herniated disc in his lower back suffered in training earlier this week.
The average recovery time for an injury of this type is approximately 6 weeks and the pain is too severe to train through. Serra, who has been Welterweight Champion since April, was due to make his first defence of the title against The Ultimate Fighter 6 rival Hughes but now that this fight has been shelved it leaves UFC matchmaker Joe Silva with a headache with a main event slot to fill for UFC 79 with only 5 weeks to go until the event.
It appears unlikely that Matt Hughes will face a replacement fighter, as he has stated that he only two or three fights left in his career and it’s doubtful whether he’d want to compete in a fight that isn’t for the Welterweight Championship.
UPDATE: There are conflicting reports as to the severity of Serra’s injury. Initially it had been assumed the injury would take no longer than 6 to 8 weeks to heal, but if surgery is required he could be out of action for a considerably longer period of time. Tim Sylvia, who suffered a similar injury, was out of action for about 7 months post surgery.
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man that sucks the big one…i was looking forward to serra smashing matt hughes…atleast the main event can be wanderlei vs chuck…seeing how it could have easily headlined its own event
man whats up with the UFC.. all champs are out of commission right now except anderson silva..
This sucks! Matt Serra was going to smash Hughes.
i cant believe this.. this is bull .. i was looking forward to this fight.. i think hughes vs gsp for interm belt..
This is very disappointing. Takes a lot of steam out of the TUF show, though I will still watch it. I just creates more “what if’s” for the UFC and the fans. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the show’s ratings and the PPV in December.
This was the fight that i wanted to se all year the only one better would be who ever won and GSP would fight them oh well hughes would have kiiled him anyways
The last thing the UFC needs is to continue to delay the progress of the WW division. GSP has been on hold for TUF to air and the finale. This will back us up even more and will further/hurt/frustrate the other top WW talent that deserve a chance at getting into the title mix.
HW – questions regarding Couture holding up division
WW – now on hold due to Serra’s injury
LW – Sherk suspended and BJ/Stevenson doing the interim thing
I was looking forward to this more than Chuck/Wandy. That being said, and knowing Hughes won’t fight unless it’s for the belt, what fight would you like to see added regardless of division (taking into account committed fights and injuries)?
I think that Mirko vs Arlovski makes a lot of sense as a replacement fight. Or Matt Hamill v Josh Koscheck, but that one doesn’t seem to sparkle quite as much as a potential fight between Arlovski & CroCop. Plus, that fight would continue the Pride v UFC theme that is already there with the Chuck and Wanderlei fight.
I too was looking forward to the Serra vs. Hughes fight with great anticipation. I was hoping to see Serra pull off another great upset. I love Serra; that guy is the man.
John Balfe, I am down for an Arlovski vs. Cro Cop fight. I highly doubt that we will see a Koscheck vs. Hamill fight, since one is a Light Heavyweight and the other is a Welterweight. Also Koscheck is being rumored to be on the UFC 82 card.
Now the UFC has to change their commercial for UFC 79; now they have to hype up the Liddell vs. Silva match even more.
hahaha…..ask any true any mma fan which fight they were looking forward to more…the ww showdown or the wandy vs chuck (finally)…i think u’ll be quite surprised that everyone would rather see the wandy vs chuck fight…..kris..theres ur new poll see how many people jus might agree wit me and ask which fight they would rather see…jus ma opinion
Red,
You’re absolutely right. I wasn’t thinking about the weight difference, just the comparable wrestling skills. That fight will never happen. My mistake.
John, I’d love to see Andre vs Cro Cop. Perhaps Dana could expedite his contract. New Year’s was to be one of their biggest cards of the year and he needs to do something quick especially on the heels of a lackluster November PPV card.
Ravine, a year or 2 ago I’d have totally agreed on the Liddell/Wandy fight but honestly I was looking more forward to the title match. I’ll still be watching no matter what they do and I have a hunch Liddell loses 3 in a row.
i agree wanderlei…first round KO
they should have Penn vs. Hughs
have penn vs. hughes. that’s who BJ would like to fight more than anyone. would push stevenson out of a fight. but you could through another big name fight on that card. could replace that fight with a number of possiblities (depending on individual availability). Have stevenson vs. huerta/guida winner, mirko vs. arvloski, or have another big 205 lb. fight. There’s still alot of good matchups in those weights.
I wouldn’t be suprised to see couture vs nogeura on new years, randy always seems to pull hem out of a jam
All sorts of disappointed….thats pretty much sums it up.
at least ufc had 3 main event caliber fights. this bumps soku-machida into a co main event. still pretty damn good. i agree vampslayr with the hughes-serra fight being as big as wandy-chuck or even bigger. i have been going off on this topic saying serra isn’t among the top ww’s in the ufc and i couldn’t wait for hughes to prove me right. gsp might have to fight instead of wait now. i think we would have seen gsp-fitch for the title later in 08 no doubt. might as well put these guys against each other in febuary or march. it’s to long to have 2 of your top fighters sitting on the sidelines waiting for other fights to happen. a loss to either guy won’t drop them out of the top 4 or 5 ww’s anyways.
Hughs would have won the fight anyway
Unreal! Oh well, still a good card. I am with Vampslayer again. I was more into seeing Chuck/Wandy when they were both unstoppable. Now that they both have losses, it doesn’t have the same aura about it. I am still jacked to see Wandy knock Chuck on his ass, but it would have been a bigger selling fight 2-3 years ago. I am also looking forward to Machida/Sokodoujo. Soko is going to cause some SERIOUS problems for some light heavys, and don’t be surprised to see him fight Rampage in the near future.
it’s going to be hard getting 2 top level fighters in the same weight class to step up and fight on late notice. i’m thinking ufc might be able to get at least one top guy to step and then go from there. might not be a top notch opponent but there will at least be another big name on the card. hopefully it’s arlovski.
Penn vs Hughes won’t happen (IMO). With Hughes stating he only has a few fights left, Dana will be more inclined to do what Hughes wants (have a chance at regaining the WW title) than give into BJ’s wishes (a rubber match w/Hughes). It’s still a fight I’d love to see happen, but doubt will since there’s no belt on the line.
Couture vs Nog is not out of realm of possibility but I don’t know Randy’s training schedule right now since he was out of the country filming.
GSP will remain on the sidelines to await Serra/Hughes winner. The only exception is a card in Montreal.
John – I’m going to have to disagree with your prediction. I really like Serra in another upset.
Machida/Sokodoujo should without a doubt be an exciting fight. The problem is not as many people will buy the PPV based on them as a co-main event as opposed to a Couture/Nog or Arlovski/Mirko fight.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Dana is on his phone as we speak to Couture himself or to Andrei’s agent.
I don’t think Couture is cleared to fight until around February due to the broken arm sustained against Gonzaga.
Put the title up for grabs….he hasnt fought since April.
GSP Vs. Hughes for interim belt.. winner fights serra when he’s healthy. How bout that joe rogan vs. wesley snipes fight I was hearing about for so long that seems to not ever surface.. Ha Ha
Sean, the only problem with that scenario is that it possibly eliminates the chance of the Hughes vs Serra match for the title, which was the whole point of them coaching against each other. Serra vs Hughes would still be a big fight, but the UFC will want that to be a title fight.
[...] Thiago Alves were potential replacements to face Matt Hughes at UFC 79 following Matt Serra’s withdrawal from the card. While Alves remains a possibility Fitch will be unavailable to take the fight. [MMA [...]
4 – kickinthehead – good call on GSP vs Hughes for interim title
26- sean – I stand corrected. I guess Hughes vs Serra will be huge no matter if it’s for the title or not. Apparently the UFC agrees.
The UFC gave GSP a break prior to UFC 69 after his injury, why not give Serra a break for after UFC 79 ? Complete BS on behalf of the UFC!!
…An interim title match is not playing fair cards for Matt Serra. UFC got that one wrong, bigtime !
Howie, there are reports circulating that Serra “may” require surgery and “may” be out of competitive action for up to a year. If that is the case, that “could” have the belt not being defended for upwards of 1 1/2 years.
Serra would still come into a fight with whoever is champion when he’s healthy (hopefully sooner than later) and would still have a rematch with both GSP and Hughes (even if neither are champ when he’s healthy…ie Fitch becomes champion during his layoff).
If in fact Serra will be on the shelf for an extended period of time, I fully agree with their decision. There are too many talented and deserving fighters who are worthy of a title shot in 2008. Not doing an “interim title match” means putting off deserving title matches next year while we all wait for Serra to return. If in fact Serra is able to return in a few months, then he automatically gets a match with the winner (GSP/Hughes).
Howie, I respectfully disagree with the notion that the UFC is being unfair to Serra. If they didn’t do this scenario, he may feel pressured to come back too soon and not be at 100%. This allows him as much time as needed to fully recover and we’ll see the best Matt Serra when he returns.
you are kidding me. I was wanting to see this fight so bad, i know serra would roll right thru hughes and no one belives me…. i guess more than the fight i want to see the shock, i hear hughes is going to fight st. pierre