The inevitable happened two weeks ago in Montreal. Georges St. Pierre won back his UFC welterweight strap in his hometown, overwhelming Matt Serra by TKO in the second round. It wasn’t even close. St. Pierre avenged his upset loss to Serra in April 2007 and ran his MMA record to 16-2.

There’s more where that came from. St. Pierre will be 27 years old on May 19 and has many more years of learning ahead of him. The time he’s put in the gym at Greg Jackson’s Gaidojutsu facility in New Mexico has only made GSP more lethal. He stunned Serra with his versatility, going for takedowns instead of relying on his vaunted striking skills.

The champ’s next opponent is expected to be Jon Fitch; that’s not expected to be much of a contest. “St. Pierre will just maul him, easy,” Karo Parisyan told Brawl Sports last month. Perhaps a middleweight fight with Anderson Silva is in order.

Get all your MMA lines at the Bodog Sportsbook.

The heavy favorite to win back the UFC welterweight title, French Canadian Georges “Rush” St. Pierre finished the fight with a series of punches and huge knees to Matt Serra’s body at 4:44 of the second round in front of a North American MMA record crowd of 21,390 at the Bell Centre.

St. Pierre (15-2, 10-2 UFC) won back the UFC welterweight title belt he lost to Serra last year at UFC 69 in Houston. But the big winner on the night was UFC president Dana White, who was not only impressed with GSP’s fight but also with Canada’s love affair with mixed martial arts.

“He looked like the real Georges St. Pierre tonight. He came out on a mission and implemented his game plan. Serra said you’ve never seen anyone beat me up in 8½ years — he got beat up tonight. I’d call Georges pound-for-pound No. 2 in the world (behind UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva).”

UFC 83 went down as the biggest fight and fastest sellout in UFC history. And Georges St-Pierre looked every bit the new Canadian hero.

“He should be on the cover of a Wheaties box here in Canada,” added White.

There are many moments that have defined the former, and currently interim, welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. His losses as well as wins that have shaped this mixed martial art great.

His fight against his octagon hero Matt Hughes in Oct. of 2004 UFC 50 was a fight where people questioned his resolve. In the first round GSP was doing pretty good until Hughes was able to lock in an armbar with seconds left in the opening frame. GSP immediately tapped unknowing that in seconds he would have got a reprieve. It was a decision he regretted almost instantly.

After this loss, St-Pierre came back to prove that he was a stronger mental player against the UFC 58 fight against BJ Penn. GSP commented on the fight saying “You can be as skillful as you want, but if you don’t have the mental toughness, you’re not going to go anywhere, and in our sport, sooner or later, you’ll need that to win a fight.”

A few years later in Nov. 2006 at the UFC 65 St.-Pierre got his second shot at Hughes. GSP won the match giving Hughes a kick to the head in round two. It was the result that St-Pierre wanted.

It wasn’t until UFC 74 that GSP had probably the most important fight in his career. It was rumored that he had talent but didn’t have want it took to be something great. During this fight against Josh Koscheck dominating him and showed people that you can’t keep a good man down.

Finally at UFC 79 St-Pierre met Hughes again stepping in for Serra on short notice. This was a gutsy move. If he lost, he would be losing the trilogy again the future Hall of Famer and giving up a guaranteed title shot in 2008. GSP was even sharper and more dominant than he was in his second fight against Hughes. This was the moment he re-established himself as one of the sport’s best, pound for pound.

Next month’s UFC 83 event is not your typical MMA show. It’s the promotion’s maiden voyage into Canada; seven of the 11 matches on the card will feature Canadian content, led by the main event pitting Georges St. Pierre against Matt Serra for the undisputed Welterweight title.

The relative lack of star power on the undercard leaves just five of the 11 fights up on the betting board, and none of those five figures to be a close contest. But the interest in the main event dwarfs all other concerns. St. Pierre (-450) is the heavy favorite on his home soil of Montreal. However, Serra is a compelling value pick at +300, having already beaten GSP for the Welterweight crown one year ago.

Sharp MMA bettors are already fully aware how proficient the fighters coming out of The Ultimate Fighter reality series have been. Graduates include Serra, Keith Jardine, Diego Sanchez, Josh Koscheck and Forrest Griffin. GSP, garde-toi.

Montreal is currently up to its baguette in snow. But it’ll be a hot night at the Bell Center come Apr. 19, when the UFC holds its first pay-per-view on Canadian soil. The main event pits Georges St. Pierre, born just south of Montreal in the village of Saint-Isidore, against Matt Serra for the undisputed Welterweight title.

St. Pierre (15-2 lifetime) is the prohibitive favorite at –450, with Serra at +300. This is the second go-around for these two fighters; one year ago at UFC 69, Serra took the strap from GSP as a +1100 underdog. St. Pierre blamed the loss on personal problems, overhauled his staff, and has since out-wrestled former NCAA champion Josh Koscheck and forced Matt Hughes to submit.

Serra (9-4) never got to defend his title after suffering a herniated disc. He claims to be at full strength, but can he stop GSP’s quest for revenge after a year away from the octagon? Snow telling.

UFC 83 in beautiful Montreal  is coming up next month. The main event of this nine-bout card: Matt Serra versus local boy Georges St. Pierre for the Undisputed Welterweight championship.

From a betting perspective, Serra is absolutely the right choice at +300. He was an even better choice at +1100 when he beat St. Pierre for the title one year ago at UFC 69. But I am fully expecting St. Pierre (-450) to get his pound of flesh in front of a capacity Bell Centre crowd.

This is UFC’s first event in Canada, a country with a considerable appetite for combat sports. UFC 83 sold out the 21,000-seat venue faster than a St. Pierre superman punch. The place will erupt if and when GSP regains his Welterweight crown. Perhaps the UFC will put the cherry on top by introducing Fedor Emelianenko and Randy Couture to the crowd…

Canadian UFC “Interim” Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre is Set to Fight Matt Serra in Montreal

Canadian MMA fans have been waiting a long time for this and with a fight date now official, it looks like Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes will meet for the UFC welterweight championship title on April 19, 2008 at Montreal’s Bell Centre. UFC president Dana White has a strong feeling that this could be the biggest fight in the history of the UFC.

St. Pierre and Serra have met before in a title fight. At the time, St.Pierre was a heavy favourite, but lost by knockout when Serra sent him packing with a right hand punch to the jaw. Back then folks were saying it was a lucky hit, but Serra begs to differ.

“When people say I hit him with a lucky punch, I say, `Who did you think I was intending to hit?’” he said. “If you beat the man, you’re the man. And I didn’t just beat him. I beat him down. Looks like I’m going to have to do it again to get some respect.”

Times have changed for both fighters, however. Serra skipped out on his last fight (scheduled for Dec. 29) against Matt Hughes on account of two herniated discs in his spine. St.Pierre was later pulled in to replace Serra and won the match by submission. With a sports psychologist on his training staff, St. Pierre is confident he can take Serra to the mat and win.

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