Brick City Boxing

By: Michael Gawler

Matt Hughes VS Georges St-Pierre III set for UFC 79 Nemesis Main Event for the UFC Interim Welter Weight Championship!

News broke early Friday morning that UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra would not be able to defend his title at the upcoming event. Serra, whom defeated GSP at UFC 69 to become champion, has a herniated disk in his lower back forcing him to back out of his title defense against former long time champion Matt Hughes.

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Hughes and Serra recently coached fighters on the set of UFC’s popular reality show “The Ultimate Fighter” in an attempt to build interest and drama to their pending fight. Then, during a grappling training session, Matt Serra collapsed in pain and was forced to pull out of the card. With less than 5 weeks away this injury could not have come at a more critical time. After a few rumored replacement fighters were talked about (John Fitch, Thiago Alves, & Josh Koscheck) a new fight was confirmed.

Depending on what story you choose to believe, both Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre claim they asked for this fight from UFC President, Dana White. White has already promised both fighters a Championship fight for their next contest. The winner of Hughes VS Serra would have traveled to Canada to defend against GSP in early 2008. Keeping true to his promise, White has decided to make this fight for the interim Championship with the winner meeting Serra upon his return.

This will be the third fight between these two fighters each with a win over the other.