UFC 83

UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2

A poster or logo for UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2.
Information
Promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship
Date April 19, 2008
Venue Bell Centre
City Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Attendance 21,390
Total gate $5,100,000
Buyrate 530,000
Event chronology

UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Lauzon UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2 UFC 84: Ill Will

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.

Background

The event on this date was originally scheduled to be called UFC 84,[1] but following the cancellation of a tentatively scheduled March 8, 2008 event in England,[2] the event's title was changed to UFC 83 instead.

The card was headlined by UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra and UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre in a match to unify the championship. It was a rematch 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.[3] St-Pierre then claimed that he only accepted the fight with Serra because he thought he could "easily beat this guy."[4] 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." [5]

This event was the company's first event in Canada.[6] Several prominent Canadian MMA fighters competed on this card, including Kalib Starnes, Mark Bocek, Jason MacDonald, Sam Stout, and Jonathan Goulet. Patrick Côté was originally scheduled to fight on this card as well against Alan Belcher, but was forced to pull out after sustaining a non-fighting related injury and replaced by Jason Day.[7]

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 who packed the Bell Centre officially broke the former attendance record of 19,049 set at UFC 68 in Columbus, Ohio back in March 2007.

Results

Main card (PPV)
Weight class Method Round Time Notes
Welterweight Georges St-Pierre (ic) def. Matt Serra (c) TKO (knees to the body) 2 4:45 [lower-alpha 1]
Middleweight Rich Franklin def. Travis Lutter TKO (punches) 2 3:01
Middleweight Nate Quarry def. Kalib Starnes Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–27, 30–24) 3 5:00
Middleweight Michael Bisping def. Charles McCarthy TKO (arm injury) 1 5:00
Lightweight Mac Danzig def. Mark Bocek Submission (rear-naked choke) 3 3:48
Preliminary card
Middleweight Jason Day def. Alan Belcher TKO (punches) 1 3:58
Middleweight Jason MacDonald def. Joe Doerksen TKO (elbows) 2 0:56
Middleweight Demian Maia def. Ed Herman Technical Submission (mounted triangle choke) 2 2:27
Lightweight Rich Clementi def. Sam Stout Decision (split) (29–27, 28–29, 29–28) 3 5:00
Heavyweight Cain Velasquez def. Brad Morris TKO (punches) 1 2:10
Welterweight Jonathan Goulet def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka TKO (punches) 2 2:07
  1. Unification of the UFC Welterweight & UFC Interim Welterweight championships.

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]

Fighter payouts

The Quebec Boxing Council refused to disclose payout details, as is not uncommon for non-US held pay-per-view events.[10]

See also

References

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