UFC 69...Night of Upsets!

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I never thought for a slight moment that GSP would lose to Serra and I was confident that Diego Sanchez would pull the win over Josh Koshcheck in an all out war, but that was hardly the case. This is why I love MMA...you just never know!

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St-Pierre ‘Terror’ized by Serra, Loses Welter CrownBy Thomas Gerbasi

HOUSTON, April 7 – Odds mean nothing. The past means nothing. In mixed martial arts, what matters is what happens when the bell rings. And when the bell rang at the Toyota Center tonight, Matt Serra came to fight. When you do that, good things can happen, and they did for the Long Island native, who stunned the mixed martial arts world with a first round TKO win over Georges St-Pierre to win the UFC Welterweight Championship in the UFC 69 main event tonight.

Serra had earned his title shot by winning season four of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. St-Pierre, in his first fight since taking the 170-pound title from Matt Hughes last November, was expected to roll over his challenger en route to bigger and better things.

It was not to be.

A smiling and relaxed Serra (16-4) showed no fear of the champion as he met him in the middle of the Octagon to start the bout, but St-Pierre was sharp as he shot out kicks and the occasional quick flurry. The challenger responded with kicks of his own to the champion’s legs, but St-Pierre (13-2) appeared to be too fast for his foe, apparently just biding his time until he decided to pounce.

But that’s why they fight the fights, and just as soon as those words were written, Serra threw a looping right hand that grazed the back of St-Pierre’s head, forcing him to lose his balance and stumble twice. It was all the underrated Serra needed, as he swung for the fences and landed on the still recovering champion, who got into deeper and deeper trouble with each shot the New Yorker landed.

Suddenly, St-Pierre was on the mat, and Serra followed him, never letting his hands stop moving until referee John McCarthy pulled him off at the 3:25 mark and declared him the new welterweight champion of the world.

“Tonight I got beat by a better fighter than myself,” said the always gracious St-Pierre. “He beat me fair and square. I’m very sad right now, but I will come back.”

Undoubtedly. But for now, there’s a new boss at 170 pounds.

After the war of words between Josh Koscheck and Diego Sanchez, nothing less than an all-out shootout was expected between the two welterweight standouts. Unfortunately for Sanchez, the best shot he landed on Koscheck was the two-handed shove he delivered during Friday’s weigh-in, as he was unable to mount any offense whatsoever during the real fight en route to a shutout decision loss in a bout that didn’t deliver on the hype, but that did allow Koscheck to gain revenge on the man who beat him during the first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ while also handing the ‘Nightmare’ his first professional defeat.

Scores were 30-27 across the board for Koscheck, who lifts his slate to 11-1; Sanchez drops to 19-1.

Not surprisingly, the longtime rivals refused to touch gloves before the match commenced, and in the early going that course of action continued as Sanchez and Koscheck circled each other warily in the early going, with the only offense coming via kicks by the former standout college wrestler. By the midway point of the opening frame, scattered boos were heard, and Koscheck responded with a hard right to the face as Sanchez missed with all of his offensive attacks. The final minute saw the boos start up again, as neither fighter was willing to commit to an attack that might end with a mistake. Koscheck took that chance though with 30 seconds left, breaking the ice with a hard takedown that also seemed to wake Sanchez up and the two finally started to kick it into gear as the round ended.

It was more of the same in round two, with both fighters gradually upping their work rates. Oddly enough, Koscheck was getting the better of Sanchez in the striking game, something not expected by most pundits. And it was Koscheck’s discipline that was allowing him to stay in the driver’s seat, as his stick and move strategy left Sanchez swatting air with his counterpunches.

With his undefeated record on the verge of going down the drain, Sanchez showed a look of determination on his face as he left his corner for the final round, but showed no sense of urgency in his actions as the two young stars continued to circle, with only sporadic action being the result. With two minutes left, boos again rose up from the crowd, and again it was Koscheck responding with rangefinding shots that were not damaging, but they were scoring points, and for emphasis, as the clock wound down, he smacked the Albuquerque native on the side of the head with a kick, adding insult to injury as the fight ended.

[YellowJacket]

GSP was a huge upset... I had Kos beating Diego...


Oh! and you did see the highlights of UFC 69 on Sportscenter didnt you??

[blm]

GSP was a huge upset... I had Kos beating Diego...


Oh! and you did see the highlights of UFC 69 on Sportscenter didnt you??

No man...I haven't seen anything. I'm downloading the fight.

I really nver saw Serra beating GSP. Everytime I've seen Serra fight he just seemed like such a boring and lethargic fighter. That's great he stepped up his game so much.

[Shibby]

I saw the clip on sports center. That caught me off guard to see UFC on there.

[Lmg2701]

Anywhere to see the highlights online right now for free?

[coffee-guy]

The fact that ESPN covered it on their highlights reel is HUGE - I'm really starting to like/get into this sport and it's cool to see such killer upsets...

[blm]

It's great that a media platform like ESPN has finally recognized mixed martial arts. I love sports, but I've never been fascinated by any other sport the way I am by mma. I've played baseball, football, ran track, and but I never became passionate and truly competive until I wrestled and then evolved into martial arts. I love it...now a sport that I'm passionate about is becoming mainstream.

[hitmansb]

The GSP upset stunned me....this guy TOYED with Matt Hughes for God's sake.

[beefcake]

The GSP upset stunned me....this guy TOYED with Matt Hughes for God's sake.

This makes me wonder if he didn't take a fall on purpose. I bet no one bet on serra and now everyone wishes they did.

[blm]

This makes me wonder if he didn't take a fall on purpose.

I doubt it. Not taking anything away from Serra's victory, but he capitalized when GSP lost his balance from a grazing punch then as he back peddled his leg slipped back damn near in a split. Serra hits hard and thats all it took to get the momentum in his direction.

Serra trained hard for this fight. He even said that he has nver been in the shpae he was for this match. He was sparring up to 80 rounds a day w/mutiple sparring partners rotating in and out mimicking GSP's style.

[YellowJacket]

As a side note, a lot of respect goes to to GSP for the way he's handled the loss... he's almost happy for Serra.... thats something you dont see everyday. Especially after seeing Matt Hughes laugh when GSP was knocked down and TKO'ed. Will someone please knocok Matt Hughes' teeth out?

[beefcake]

As a side note, a lot of respect goes to to GSP for the way he's handled the loss... he's almost happy for Serra.... thats something you dont see everyday. Especially after seeing Matt Hughes laugh when GSP was knocked down and TKO'ed. Will someone please knocok Matt Hughes' teeth out?

Hughes knows gsp is everything he is and everything he's not. He's getting old and probably has realized he can't beat him. They may put hughes up to take the belt from serra, but then gsp will just take it back from him.

[blm]

Hughes knows gsp is everything he is and everything he's not. He's getting old and probably has realized he can't beat him. They may put hughes up to take the belt from serra, but then gsp will just take it back from him.

That's how I see it.

[YellowJacket]

Im not sure Hughes is even the #1 contender at this point.