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Can lightning strike twice: UFC 83 Preview
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Tomorrow night in Montreal, Matt Serra looks to prove that his win over Georges St. Pierre was no fluke, when he faces the French-Canadian for the undisputed welterweight championship at UFC 83: Serra vs. St. Pierre 2.
One year ago, Serra shocked the world when he defeated the then champion St. Pierre at UFC 69. The win propelled Serra, an Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season four winner, into UFC stardom. “The Terror” was slated to defend his title at UFC 79 in December against Matt Hughes. However, Serra injured himself during training and had to bow out.
St. Pierre stepped in for Serra and defeated Hughes, therefore winning the interim welterweight title.
Since his loss to Serra, St. Pierre has been on a tear, winning against Hughes and also against Josh Koscheck at UFC 74. The 26-year-old is one of the top welterweights in the world and has two career losses.
In his 15 career MMA wins, he's also defeated the likes of BJ Penn (current UFC Lightweight champion), Sean Sherk, Karo Parisyan, Frank Trigg and Jason “Mayhem” Miller.
Prior to his win over St. Pierre, Serra defeated Chris Lytle in the welterweight final of the TUF season four finale. Serra has a 9-4 MMA record with wins over WEC fighter Jeff Curran and Elite XC fighter Yves Edwards.
Serra has a lot of work to do if he wants to beat St. Pierre, but never count him out. There's always a chance for another upset.
Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter
Rich “Ace” Franklin makes his return to the eight-sided-cage for the first time since his title loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 77. Franklin will go up against TUF season four Middleweight winner Travis Lutter
Franklin hopes to get back on winning ways and potentially get one more shot at Silva. Franklin has a 22-3 (1 no contest) record. Franklin has defeated many Middleweight fighters such as Yushin Okami, David Loiseau and former UFC Middleweight champion Evan Tanner.
Franklin has lost to Silva twice and would love to get one more shot at the best pound for pound fighter in the world. However, in order to do that, he'll have to go through Lutter, who also lost in his previous fight, which was to Silva.
Lutter lost a non-title fight to Silva at UFC 67, last February. The fight was a non-title fight because Lutter failed to make weight for the bout.
Lutter has a 12-4 MMA record with notable wins over Patrick Cote and Marvin Eastman. “The Serial Killer” hasn't fought in 14 months and will definitely be looking to beat Franklin.
Lutter's best strength is his Jiu-Jitsu and has been training at his gym in Dallas. Franklin is more of a well-rounded fighter, winning 11 fights by knock out and 9 by submission. Franklin works out at Jorge Gurgel's gym in Cincinnati, his hometown. Lutter is definitely a tough opponent for Franklin.
A win for Lutter can potentially get him back in the title picture. The same could be said for Franklin, but he is starting to run out of chances.
UFC 83 will be at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. You can see it live at 10 pm ET, only on PPV. For more information on the event, go to UFC.com
