"The King is (Re)Born"

UFC 83
St. Pierre vs. Serra - TKO R2 M4

The first round opened with the deafening cheers of fans filling Montreal’s sold out Bell Centre being rallied ever louder as their native son almost instantly scored a massive takedown on the defending champion. Without hesitation St. Pierre began chipping away at his opponent with elbows and over-powering him on the ground. As the round progressed you could tell “Rush” had something to prove. Just as he had out wrestled Hughes and Koscheck it seemed as though he wanted to “out jiu-jitsu” Serra. When the fight got back to the feet mid-way through the round “The ” was sure to stay inside, trying to cut GSP’s 8 inch reach advantage. With another take down the Canadian showed he didn’t want to risk a repeat of the two’s last meeting. Serra gained some ground as he landed elbows from the bottom, but it wasn’t enough to defend against the challenger’s battering. Near the end of the first round St. Pierre caught Serra with left hook creating a mouse under his right eye.

During the minute between rounds Serra already looked defeated. The passion was gone from his eyes. It appeared the fight was over before the second round began. Ever the fighter though he came out ready to bang. Just as the first round had started the second round lead with Montreal’s native son quickly taking the American back to the mat. Over powering the older, smaller opponent, St. Pierre had an answer for Serra’s every move. “The ” scrambled back to his feet only to be taken down again. Met with a constant attack of knees and punches the New Yorker could do little to combat the barrage. The mouse St. Pierre had placed under Serra’s right eye in the first round was quickly swelling larger and was now coupled with a ballooning left eyebrow. Fueled by Serra’s pre-fight verbal jabs GSP unloaded a flurry of knees to Serra’s undefended body in an effort to end the fight. Referee Yves Lavigne called a stop to the fight with 15 seconds left in the round. As announcer Bruce Buffer was declaring the official winner the crowd drowned him out with cheers for their beloved title holder. Georges St. Pierre had successfully won back his title in front of 21,000+ of his biggest supporters. In an attempt to describe the crowd’s response the still-aw-struck champion simply stated “it was the most beautiful day of my life. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s amazing. Thank you Montreal!”

With the question of “Who is the real champion?” answered the post fight press conference opened new queries. Dana White, UFC President, made remarks that GSP might be making the move to 185lbs to face current champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva. In what some are saying could be a bigger, better match up than any UFC fight to date (Liddell-Silva & Silva-Henderson included) everyone is anticipating what will happen next. Not to cut off current welter weights, White also predicted Jon Fitch will most likely be GSP’s next title defense.