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Two main events, one title fight headlined this UFC fightcard.

The Ultimate Fighter coaches Matt Hughes and Matt Serra were supposed to fight for the UFC Welterweight title but, due to a shoulder injury, Serra had to drop out of the fight. Georges St. Pierre (GSP), hungry to regain his title that he had lost to Serra, eagerly agreed to step up and fight Hughes for the interim title, and the rights to fight Serra for redemption in the near future.

Crowd favorite GSP came out looking in tip top shape, despite having only thirty days to prepare for this fight. GSP proceeded to dominate Hughes in every aspect of the fight, controlling Hughes who could do nothing but try to defend. Clearly outclassed, Hughes was submitted with an arm bar in the second round. I must admit, it was pretty amusing to see Hughes, redfaced, yelling, “TAP! TAP! TAP!”, in a verbal tapout.

In a surprising and classy move, GSP refused to accept the interim title, stating that Serra had previously won the title from him fair and square. GSP will continue to view Serra as the Welterweight champ until their rematch where he will earn back his title belt in the octagon. “It’s a good honor, but Matt Serra is the target,” said GSP of his interim title win. “Until I get my belt back, I’m not gonna consider myself a real champion.”

Hughes was gracious in defeat and offered no excuses, recognizing GSP as the superior fighter. “I came in 120% and really trained hard for this fight and had a great gameplan. Georges is the better fighter.”

After losing his last two matches, Chuck Liddell was fighting for his survival in the UFC against Pride legend Wanderlei Silva. With his career on the line, Liddell was up against a formidable opponent with the same heavy-handed striking style as himself.

As predicted, these two stood toe to toe and traded some heavy strikes, with Liddell landed the majority. Silva is one tough cookie though, even as his face started falling apart he still stayed up to strike right back. In a surprise move, Liddell fought smart and began to make some take-downs to win a point game after realizing that Silva wasn’t going to go down. Liddell ended up winning a unanimous decision after all three, five-minute rounds.

Another fight worth mentioning was Nate Mohr Vs. Manny Gamburyan. I believe Gamburyan would have won his season of The Ultimate Fighter had he not gotten injured. He reminds me of a little spirited bulldog, but chock full of skill and technique. Watch for him fight his way up the ranks if he stays uninjured. I think Gamburyan broke Mohr’s leg, it didn’t look so good in the replay. Ouch, Gamburyan wins with a submission leg-lock that hopefully won’t end Mohr’s UFC career.

Here are the full fight card results:

Posted on December 30th, 2007 by Leo
Filed under: Lucid Thoughts