Contributor: Josh Hall
Injuries recently forced former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra to reluctantly announce his retirement from MMA at age 39. He had not fought since 2010 where he lost a decision to Chris Lytle at UFC 119, and many fans assumed he had already called it quits long before the announcement. There was very little fanfare, especially for a man that has contributed so much to the combat sports world.
Obviously the crowning achievement in Serra’s career was his shocking UFC 69 victory over Georges St. Pierre to win the UFC welterweight title. His accolades in the combat sports world began far before then, however. Before Serra was pulling off shocking upset KO’s he was always a grappler first. He began training in BJJ in 1990’s under Renzo Gracie, and he showed in competition he was not just good for an American, but good on the world stage.
In 1999 Serra made his first mark in the competitive grappling world, winning the gold medal in BJJ in the 77kg purple belt division at the Pan American Games in Miami. It was a massive achievement for Serra in his first international tournament, defeating 4 Brazilians (2 via submission) en route to the title. He was promoted to the rank of BJJ brown belt by Renzo Gracie on the spot for his accomplishment. At that event, Serra went from an unknown in the grappling world to a force to contend 
with.
It didn’t take long for Serra to strike again in international competition, taking his newly acquired brown belt to the 1999 BJJ World Championships in Brazil. Despite the increase in difficulty of opponents Serra was able to once again bring a gold medal back to the United States. On May 23, 2000, Renzo Gracie promoted him to the rank of black belt in BJJ, making him the first American to achieve the rank under Renzo’s tutelage.
Before heading into the MMA world, Serra found the greatest success of his BJJ career, finishing 2nd in the 76kg black belt division at the 2001 ADCC competition. In his run to the finals Serra not only choked out Takanori Gomi in a display of beautiful grappling, but also defeated Jean Jacque Machado, the 1999 winner and 2000 runner up in the same division. Serra did not end the tourney in defeat, instead stepping down in the finals at the request of Renzo, as he was to face Marcio Feitosa, a top pupil of Master Carlos Gracie Jr. Serra has stated that he was happy to honor Renzo’s request out of respect for his teacher.
He moved into MMA shortly thereafter and immediately began his career by ripping off 4 straight first round submissions, earning him a call from the UFC. Serra was only 9 second from a certain decision victory in his debut against Shonie Carter before being clipped with a spinning backfist and knocked out for his first career loss. He made the drop to 155 pounds in short order and found himself in a number one contender match against BJ Penn. Fans expected a great grappling match given that no two UFC combatants had ever faced off with their credentials, and were off course surprised to see 3 rounds of back and forth stand up action, with Penn winning a close decision.
These sort of near misses seemed like they were going to be the story of Matt Serra’s UFC career, but sometimes things have a funny way of working themselves out. The UFC decided to abandon the LW division, leaving the 5’6″ New Yorker in a tough spot. He moved back up to 170 pounds and was promptly defeated by judo specialist Karo Parisyan, and it looked like there was not going to be a place for Serra at welterweight. He received a reprieve in a call from The Ultimate Fighter, where the UFC had a new experiment to try out for season 4 of the hugely successful reality show.
Serra accepted a spot on TUF: The Comeback, in which failed UFC fighters would get a second chance with the organization, and with title shots going to the winners at 170 and 185 pounds. “The Terror” did not let his small stature get in his way, avenging his first professional loss against Shonie Carter in a surprising run to the finals against Chris “Lights Out” Lytle. In a back and forth, razor thin affair that could have been scored for either man, Serra had his hand raised in a split decision, granting him one of the most improbable title shots in UFC history against virtually unstoppable champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre.
To say St. Pierre was expected to win the fight would be a giant understatement. Oddsmakers had him at -1100 to win, meaning that the fight was more or less a foregone conclusion for the champion. Fans and MMA media alike mocked the title fight, saying it only proved what a bad idea the new TUF gimmick was. UFC 69 in Houston was a mere formality where once 
again Serra was to get close to the mountain again without the big prize to show for it. Except this time was different, and it totally flipped the welterweight division on its head.
I have only had the pleasure to attend one MMA event in person, and I got the unexpected privilege of witnessing an iconic moment in the history of the sport. From the start of the fight GSP seemed confused by Serra’s aggression and he was not able to get the timing down in the striking. When Serra landed his first big blow and GSP wobbled, the immediate reaction in the crowd was that he must have lost his balance. But the punches continued to land, and suddenly the champion was down. Even then it was a matter of not if GSP would get up, but when. The challenger gave him no quarter, however, finally finishing the champion with punishing, clubbing blows from top position. It was the greatest sporting moment I have ever witnessed in person, hands down.
Serra did not keep his title for long, losing it to GSP in a rematch after a long injury layoff. He would sadly never contend for the title again, in fact only fighting 3 more times in his MMA career. Serra finally accomplished one of his goals of punching Matt Hughes in the face, but lost a very controversial split decision to his bitter rival. Fans got to see one last example of the dynamite in Serra’s hands that won him the title against Frank Trigg at UFC 109. Serra absolutely flattened Trigg with a right hand, knocking out “Twinkle Toes” at 2:23 of the first round, winning knockout of the night honors for the second time in his UFC career. At UFC 119 Chris Lytle finally got his revenge against Serra for their TUF finale meeting, defeating the former champion in what would turn out to be his final appearance in the cage as a fighter.
Despite injuries and age finally forcing the former champion to call it quits in the cage, Serra still has a lot to look forward to. He and his wife have 2 children under the age of 5, and his prized pupil Chris Weidman fights Anderson Silva later this year at UFC 163. From the staff here at Undercard Superstar, congrats on a great career and thank you for all that you have given back to combat sports. Well done, sir.
-Josh can be reached at [email protected] or @jhall282.
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