By Robert Rousseau
April 20, 2008:
UFC 83 came to us all from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on April 19, 2008. What was in store? A whole lot. First, there was a huge rematch with a surprising amount of bad blood attached between Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra. In addition, the event boasted a fight between Rich Franklin and Travis Lutter.
So, let's get right to it Submit To MMA style.
The Main Event : Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra
Before this highly anticipated match up, Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra got caught up in a war of words. St. Pierre had the following to say regarding what he perceived as the rather angry dialogue. "When you say stuff like that, you know you have to pay for it and I'm gonna make him (Serra) pay April 19th."
"This guy has no idea of how strong I can be or how fast or how powerful I can be," he continued.
Matt Serra, on the other hand, said, "I know this guy is going to have to want to come back and make an example of me, and I'm not going to be made an example of."
With the battle lines drawn, here's how the fight went.
Georges St. Pierre started things off with an immediate takedown. From there, he grounded and pounded his way through the majority of the initial stanza before Matt Serra got to his feet. But soon after, St. Pierre put Serra on his back again and connected with a hard knee to the Long Island native's ribs as the bell sounded.
A clear round for St. Pierre.
The second, unfortunately for Matt Serra, was even tougher on him. Namely, St. Pierre turned up the intensity with his ground and pound work, eventually getting Serra in a position where he was getting kneed repeatedly in the ribs while on all fours. With Serra unable to answer the blows, the referee had to stop the fight.
Georges St. Pierre wins via TKO at 4:45 of round two.
I'm Back Performance of the Night : Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter
"I'm gonna take him down right away," said Lutter before this fight. "I'm gonna take him down and push the action and I'm gonna set a pace that's going to be hard to follow." On the flip side, Franklin sounded rather ominous when he said, "he's not going to want to stand with me."
Well, Travis Lutter did take Franklin down right off the bat as he said he would. Further, he dominated the position battle on the ground initially, taking Franklin's back at one point and mounting him several times. But when Lutter went for the armbar, Ace did an amazing job of escaping.
The round ended with Franklin on his feet as Lutter attempted a single leg takedown. Lutter won the round, but Franklin showed that he wasn't going to be an easy out in any sense.
The second round was very different. Franklin connected with a very hard knee inside early on and then followed things up with a high kick that dizzied his opponent. For the rest of the stanza, he continually pelted his opponent until finishing him later in the round on the ground (ref pulled him off) after a flurry of strikes.
Lutter was very tired at the end of this one. In other words, conditioning was a keyword in this fight.
Rich Franklin wins via TKO at 3:01 of round two.
Breakout Performance of the Night : Mac Danzig vs. Mark Bocek
"First UFC Canada, five hours away from my house; I've got a lot of family, friends, students here- no way I'm letting them down," said Mark Bocek coming in.
On one hand, he didn't let them down as he put it all on the line and demonstrated a tremendous amount of toughness. On the other hand. . .
The first round saw Mark Bocek take his adversary down and control him on the ground for the majority of the stanza. That said, Bocek was unable to do much damage and eventually Danzig turned things around and delivered some nice ground and pound at the tail end of the round. Despite that, Bocek won the first.
The second round was quite different. Namely, Danzig connected with a huge right knee that floored Bocek and from there dominated the action on the canvas in ground and pound fashion. It was a two point kind of round for the former TUF winner.
The third started off with a Bocek takedown. But eventually Danzig kicked his opponent off and got to his feet where he landed a terrific knee in the clinch, opening up a big cut over Bocek's left eye. After the doctors took a look and allowed things to continue, Danzig took Bocek down and did the unthinkable to the BJJ black belt.
He choked him out.
Mac Danzig wins via rear naked choke at 3:48 of round three.
Another TUF Champion drops in weight : Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy
"He's the biggest name worst fighter out there," said Charles McCarthy before the bout. Would he be saying that after the fight?
No.
Basically, this was not a good fight. Charles McCarthy, for some reason, didn't really throw many punches on his feet, allowing Bisping to pick him apart. For a brief moment in the first stanza, McCarthy took his opponent down hard and nearly pulled off an armbar. But once Bisping got out of the move and to his feet it was all over.
Bisping landed a ton of unanswered strikes, and after the bell sounded, McCarthy was unable to continue.
Michael Bisping wins via TKO after round one.
The Whole Night
Georges St. Pierre def. Matt Serra by TKO (Strikes) at 4:45, R2
Rich Franklin def. Travis Lutter by TKO (Strikes) at 3:01, R2
Nate Quarry def. Kalib Starnes by Unanimous Decision, R3
Michael Bisping def. Charles McCarthy by TKO at 5:00, R1
Mac Danzig def. Mark Bocek by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:48, R3
Jason MacDonald def. Joe Doerksen by TKO (Strikes) at 0:56, R2
Jason Day def. Alan Belcher by TKO (Strikes) at 3:58, R1
Demian Maia def. Ed Herman by Submission (Triangle Choke) at 2:27, R2
Rich Clementi def. Sam Stout by Split Decision (29-27, 29-28, 28-29), R3
Cain Velasquez def. Brad Morris by TKO (Strikes) at 2:10, R1
Jonathan Goulet def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka by TKO (Strikes) at 2:07, R1
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