Comments on: Serra versus Hughes: Am I the only one?

By: RevJames

RevJames — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:44:01 +0000

Serra is clearly not ducking Hughes. The injury is the worst thing that could possibly happen to his career right now. You could tell he was chomping at the bit to get at Hughes. I have no doubt that in Serra’s mind he feels he can beat Hughes. If and when they fight, I would still give Hughes a very slight edge, provided Serra’s injury is a non-factor. The only mistake I think Serra has made has been talking so such smack about Hughes. I think Serra should have stuck to the humility of the guy who was happy to get his shot and made the Rocky-like most of it. That’s the kind of guy you want to root for, even if you like the guy he’s fighting. But Serra as a wise-ass, constantly spouting off on how much he hates Hughes, lessens him a bit in my eyes. I still want him to do well, but talking **** goes against the grain of what makes somebody a truly great martial artist. You don’t see someone like Couture mocking his opponents. He respects the guys he fights. He never has anything bad to say about them. And because of that he’s one of most respected guys in the sport. Serra’s mouth is, I think, setting him up to be a flash in the pan. And that’s unfortunate, because I think he’s got what it takes to be a top fighter,

By: Vampslayr

Vampslayr — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:37:44 +0000

James, I’ll have to agree to disagree. Serra wasn’t in the “same class” as GSP, GSP totally owned Hughes, therefore Hughes will totally destroy Serra (if A=B, then B=umm..C?). Serra possesses arguably the best J-Jistu in the 170 division and has a punchers chance while standing (see GSP).

I don’t understand the “bell sounded he hid like a frightened chile” comment. He has a legit injury and can’t fight, end of story. He didn’t dodge Hughes and will fight him, albeit later than we’d like. Hughes very well may win that fight, I won’t dispute that. I just don’t see how you can say he lost “a lot of credibility” when he’s injured. I haven’t heard anyone accuse Serra of ducking a fight, including Hughes himself, so again I take exception to your statement.

By: James Hargraves

James Hargraves — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:22:02 +0000

Serra is not in the same league as Hughes. He talks a good game but when the bell sounded he hid like a frightened child. He loses a lot of credability for talking all that smack and not backing it up.

By: Johnny

Johnny — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:36:44 +0000

I really wish this fight was going to happen because of the fact that it would answer a lot of questions. I do think Hughes has great GnP but a fighter like BJ Penn/GSP that has great takedown defense really gives Hughes issues. I don’t think Matt Serra has the ability like BJ to keep Hughes from taking him down. BJ is also extremely difficult to keep down. I haven’t seen too much from Serra on being able to reverse a dominant person like Hughes. I also think if it’s a five rounder that Hughes would be the fresher of the two in the latter round. I definitely don’t want to see them fight in a three round war. It’d be one big hugging match from both sides. I want GSP to win but I also want a five round fight between Serra and Hughes. Guess we can’t have everything we want in life.

By: RevJames

RevJames — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:03:10 +0000

A few have mentioned Hughes-Penn 2 as an example of how Hughes can GnP a great BJJ guy (suggesting he would do the same to Serra). First off, Penn absolutely owned Hughes in their first fight. Hughes did zero and was choked out. In their second fight, Hughes lost rounds 1 and 2 and was effectively saved by the bell from an armbar/triangle choke. Penn cracked a rib at the end of the 2nd and couldn’t do anything in the third round. Not exactly lighting the world afire with his GnP was Hughes. Another mentioned that it was debatable whether Serra has better stand-up. It is not debatable. Hughes has the worst stand-up of any top guy in MMA. Serra just KO’d GSP and dropped Karo in their fight. Not saying Serra was a lock to beat Hughes, but he presents some things Hughes could have a lot difficulty with. Hughes has gotten by for a long time on great strength and solid wrestling. But I think his era is over.

By: Vampslayr

Vampslayr — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:02:22 +0000

I wanted to see Serra/Hughes for 2 reasons; 1) They hate each other plus the belt’s on the line – formula for potential great match and 2) I really want the Serra/Hughes/GSP to be done with as soon as possible, in order to get some deserving talent a title shot (Fitch for example).

If GSP wins, it means pushing Hughes/Serra further back since Serra has to have a chance at becoming undisputed champion (rematch w/GSP before Hughes). The other problem, is it now potentially becomes a 3 round match instead of the 5 we would have gotten in Dec (if Hughes wins, then it’s for 5 rounds and the fight happens sooner).

The longer Serra is out, the less heat they will have. They will be able to rekindle it, but not to its current rate.

I’m a huge GSP fan, but I’d still rather have seen Serra/Hughes in December.

By: Orlandomac

Orlandomac — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:30:27 +0000

I too was so looking forward to watching Matt Hughes cave Sera’s face in.. him sqwaking his high pitched gay ass voice in pain from the GnP.. after of course the traditional stratosphere aerial slam..

I am upset that this fight took so long.. poor GSP makes a mistake and has to wait over a year to reclaim his crown..

I hope GSP wins.. then pummels Serra then Highes pummels him.. and maybe even Mac Danzig.. beats on him too for his first fight on a main card in the UFC..

I will conquer with the gentlemen that said Serra’s BJJ is excellent.. but not as good as BJ Penn’s and Penn got GnP’d by Hughes.. I expect the same but worse for Serra..

I will travel to Montreal to watch GSP regain his sparkling belt.. since I am in the North East.. I think it will be a KO by spinning back fist too..

By: DrBdan

DrBdan — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:54:41 +0000

To second Chairman’s original thought, they did a great job of selling Serra/Hughes as is shown by how many people are disappointed. I love GSP but I’d still rather be seeing Serra. That said I’m not turning my nose up at GSP/Hughes.

By: holy_dave

holy_dave — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:39:24 +0000

I think it is a great card, one of the best that I’ve seen in a long time, but the Hughes/Serra fight did have a lot of hype surrounding it, and now we might have to wait for Serra/GSP in June, and Hughes/some other random person, then the Serra/Hughes fight could happen near the end of next year. This is all based on GSP winning which I expect, but who knows? If that is the case, there will be far less people interested in seeing Serra/Hughes. Maybe I cheer for Hughes, just so I can see Hughes/Serra sooner. Nah.

By: zero

zero — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:08:24 +0000

but you cant be disapointed with this card at all… ufc fans are going to be amazed by sokodjou and liddell v silva is going to tear the house down