UFC 83
| UFC 83: Serra vs St-Pierre 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | April 19, 2008 | |||
| Venue | Bell Centre | |||
| City | Montreal, Canada | |||
| Attendance | 21,390 | |||
| Total gate | $5,100,000 | |||
| Buyrate | 530,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 83: Serra vs St-Pierre 2 was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The event was held on April 19, 2008, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. UFC 83 was the UFC's first event in Canada.[1] It was headlined by UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra and UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre in a match to unify the championship.
Background
The event on this date was originally scheduled to be called UFC 84,[2] but following the cancellation of a tentatively scheduled March 8, 2008 event in England,[3] the event's title was changed to UFC 83 instead.
Several prominent Canadian fighters were set to compete, including Kalib Starnes, Mark Bocek, Jason MacDonald, Sam Stout, Jason Day and Jonathan Goulet. Patrick Côté[4] was scheduled to fight as well, but was forced to pull out after sustaining an injury in a slip-and-fall accident.
The main event featured a rematch between Matt Serra and Georges St-Pierre from their fight at UFC 69, which Serra had won. The two fighters exchanged harsh words through the media following that fight, which led to the circumstances that surrounded the rematch. St-Pierre cited personal issues for the loss. He said that his father was seriously ill, and that his 17 year old cousin had died in a car accident around the time of the first fight.[5] St-Pierre then claimed that he only accepted the fight with Serra because he thought he could "easily beat this guy."[6] Serra took exception to these comments and responded in a subsequent radio interview by calling St-Pierre a "Frenchy", telling him to "go drink some red wine and go watch a hockey game." [7]
This event also marked the debut of current UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez.
UFC records broken
At the time, UFC 83 officially broke two UFC records.[8] The first record broken was the fastest sellout ever. The UFC sold most of the tickets to UFC Fight Club members in the first 24 hours of the fightclub presale. The rest of the tickets were sold within one minute of the public sale. The second record broken was the UFC attendance record. The 21,390 people that packed the Bell Centre officially broke the former attendance record of 19,049 set at UFC 68 in Columbus, Ohio back in March 2007.
Commentary team
- Mike Goldberg, play by play commentator
- Kenny Florian, color commentator
Results
Preliminary card
- Welterweight bout: Jonathan Goulet vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka
- Goulet defeated Hironaka via TKO (punches) at 2:07 of round 2. This bout aired last on the PPV broadcast following the Serra vs. St-Pierre fight.
- Heavyweight bout: Cain Velasquez vs. Brad Morris
- Velasquez defeated Morris via KO (punches) at 2:10 of round 1.
- Lightweight bout: Sam Stout vs. Rich Clementi
- Clementi defeated Stout via split decision (29–27, 28–29, 29–28).
- Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Ed Herman
- Maia defeated Herman via submission (triangle choke) at 2:27 of round 2.
- Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. Joe Doerksen
- MacDonald defeated Doerkson via TKO (elbows) at 0:56 of round 2.
- Middleweight bout: Jason Day vs. Alan Belcher
- Day defeated Belcher via TKO (punches) at 3:58 of round 1.
Main card
- Lightweight bout: Mark Bocek vs. Mac Danzig
- Danzig defeated Bocek via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:48 of round 3.
- Middleweight bout: Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry
- Quarry defeated Starnes via unanimous decision (30–26, 30–27, 30–24). The third score marks the second-widest point margin in a three-round fight in UFC history, with the record belonging to a bout between Forrest Petz and Sammy Morgan, which was scored 30–23 Petz by one judge.
- Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy
- Bisping defeated McCarthy via TKO (arm injury) at 5:00 of round 1.
- Middleweight bout: Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter
- Franklin defeated Lutter via TKO (punches) at 3:01 of round 2.
- Welterweight Championship unification bout: Matt Serra (c) vs. Georges St-Pierre (ic)
- St-Pierre defeated Serra via TKO (knees) at 4:45 of round 2. to become the undisputed UFC Welterweight Champion.
Bonus awards
At the end of this event, $75,000 was awarded to each of the fighters who received one of these three awards.[9]
- Fight of the Night: Jonathan Goulet vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka
- Knockout of the Night: Jason MacDonald
- Submission of the Night: Demian Maia
Fighter payouts
The Quebec Boxing Council refused to disclose payout details, as is not uncommon for non-US held pay-per-view events.[10]
References
- ↑ Stupp, Dann (January 4, 2008). "Matt Serra Is Willing to Fight Georges St. Pierre in Canada". MMAJunkie.com. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ↑ Stupp, Dann (January 13, 2008). "MMA Executive: Jason MacDonald vs. Joe Doerksen at UFC 84". MMAJunkie.com. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
- ↑ Stupp, Dann (January 29, 2008). "Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin, Clay Guida vs. Samy Schiavo Added to UFC Fight Night 13". MMAJunkie.com. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ↑ "COTE OFF UFC 83 CARD". thefightnetwork.com. February 11, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-02-13. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
- ↑ http://bakal.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/georges-st-pierre-looks-for-redemption-article-tungkol-kay-idol/
- ↑ http://www.mmaringreport.com/text-interviews/text-interviews/georges-st.-pierre-interview.html
- ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=3346125
- ↑ Stupp, Dan (February 8, 2008). "UFC 83 Creates Record Sellout". MMAjunkie.com. Retrieved February 22, 2009.
- ↑ Stupp, Dann (April 20, 2008). "Goulet, Hironaka, MacDonald and Maia earn UFC 83 bonuses". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
- ↑ http://www.mmamania.com/2008/04/28/ufc-83-payouts-and-salaries-for-serra-vs-st-pierre-2/
