5oz’s of Fury: UFC Welterweight Title Turmoil

Columns, News

I know I usually post the 5oz’s of Fury on Monday, but considering all that’s been going on with the UFC Welterweight Title, and the fact that I’ve made no secret out of being a total fanboy for Matt Serra, I felt it only right to move things up a day. That said, what happened to Matt Serra? How is Matt Hughes a…Matt Hughes? Where does Georges St. Pierre come in? Who’s next after the title picture is cleared up? And of course…Rachelle Leah.

Matt Serra Injured: This really sucks. We were all looking forward to enjoying a plate of Buffalo wings at the Hooters in East Meadow and watching Matt Serra put the hurt on Matt Hughes…but alas, we wait. Serra suffered a herniated disc in his back training for the title defense at UFC 79. There’s no word as to how bad it is or how long he’ll be out for, but back injuries are tricky. I’m not a doctor; I don’t even play one on the Internet. But what I do know is that sometimes when you injure your back, there’s a chance of never fully recovering from it. Nate Quarry had a back injury, and it (and the subsequent operation) kept him out of action for close to a year and a half. Anyway, we here at the Strong Island Top Team (i.e. everyone who comes over to use me for my PPV and the Plasmatron 3000 each month for the UFC) wish Matt Serra a speedy recovery.

Matt Hughes Next Opponent: Meet the new opponent, same as the old opponent. The UFC has just announced that Georges St. Pierre will step in to fight Matt Hughes at UFC 79 for the interim welterweight title, and will plan to unify the titles when Serra returns from injury. This makes sense, because GSP was next in line for a title shot (April?) and wasn’t scheduled to fight until then. So it’s GSP vs. Hughes 3 on December 29th.

Hughes is a Dick: Here’s how he responded to news of Serra’s injury: “Before my Royce (Gracie) fight (at UFC 60), I had three bulged discs that I was able to repair enough to fight. As everybody knows, you never go into a fight 100 percent.” It’s always good to see a good Christian role model kick a man when he’s down, and doing so in a mocking tone. I’ll give you ten dollars if you can quote me passage and verse where Jesus says onto the apostles: “I don’t think Judas is faking, but I was able to repair myself well enough to perform the Sermon on the Mount.” Tell me who Matt Hughes is in the story also.

Hughes is a Dick Part Deux: The funny thing is, I was already planning on writing about Hughes being a dick, but with this quote from his UFC.com blog: “This week, Matt Serra decided not to corner any of his team members in their quarterfinal fights against each other. I thought that was a total lack of respect for his fighters and somewhat for the sport…it was very obvious that he did that because he didn’t want to corner against George (Sotiropoulos) or Matt (Arroyo) – his two favorite guys. That just showed a big lack of respect for the other guys that were on his team.” Um, a lack of respect for the sport? Granted I’m a Serra shill, but I though it showed team leadership and was a lot like the unwritten rule how Miletich Fighting Systems (MFS) fighters don’t fight other MFS fighters. Didn’t Jens Pulver do something similar last season, where when two of his guys were fighting each other he didn’t corner either? Isn’t Pulver supposed to be one of Hughes’ boys? But Serra is a bad role model for the sport because he cusses, isn’t he?

Jon Fitch/Josh Koscheck: Once we sort out the interim welterweight title picture, American Kickboxing Academy teammates Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck are rumored to be fighting next at UFC 82 in March (although not against each other). Koscheck is coming off of a loss against (hopefully soon to be interim champion) Georges St. Pierre, and Fitch last defeated Diego Sanchez and is 7-0 in the UFC. No opponents have been named, but both Fitch and other welterweight contender Karo Parisian have expressed an interest to fight each other, and I can easily see the winner of a Fitch/Sanchez fight next in line for a title shot. As for what title it’s for…*shrugs.*

Anyway, now that all that’s been sorted out, here’s Rachelle Leah…