Houston, Texas, April 7, 2007
Ultimate Fighting Championship World Welterweight Title
Matt Serra def. Georges St-Pierre by TKO at 3:25 of round 1
- Matt "The Terror" Serra promised a shock result and he
delivered. He even explained how prior to taking the welterweight
title away from Montreal's Georges St. Pierre on Saturday night at
UFC 69: Shootout. "There's nobody unstoppable in MMA (mixed
martial arts). There's so many ways to win and lose," he told
reporters in a conference call last Monday. "You know, someone
zigged when they should have zagged and the fight could be
over." That's exactly what happened Saturday night before a
crowd of 15,269 at the Toyota Center. Midway through the first
round, Serra (16-4) caught St. Pierre with a right hook, stunning
the 170-pound champion. St. Pierre (13-2) said later the blow had
caught him on the carotid artery. The 25-year-old Canadian fell
backwards. He got up and tried to buy some time by attempting
to taking Serra down. But the 32-year-old jiu-jitsu black belt from
Long Island, N.Y., refused to get tangled, maintained his space
and kept throwing. The champion went down and Serra fired
punches from above until referee (Big) John McCarthy stopped it
at 3:25 of the first round.