There's a familiar line in an old country-music-classic from the 90's called 'The Dance' that asks the listener,"For a moment wasn't I the king?"
For UFC welterweight cagefighter Matthew John Serra, also known as Matt 'The Terror' Serra, that dance, and that moment, came to it's fruition in the spring of 2007, at UFC 69.
That is when, in Houston, Texas, the 37-year-old, East Meadow, New Yorker became only the second man to ever defeat the mighty Georges St.Pierre—pummeling the former 170-pound mainstay into the canvas and becoming the new UFC Welterweight Champion.
That's not the important or most historic part of this narrative however, it was Serra's Modus operandi, and method of execution which stands out in the minds of most fans.
It is a classic Blitzkrieg style attack, and the stuff that unforgettable-fights are made of.
While recently perusing You Tube for some historic fight footage I ran across the actual video of the fight. And, like fine wine, it seems to only get better with age.
St. Pierre may have been expecting Serra, who's a brilliant ground specialist and Gracie-trained-black belt in ju jujitsu to take him to the ground. ..But if he was, then he was sadly mistaken.
Serra clearly had only one thing in mind on that night, which was to take St. Pierre's head off. And with Joe Frazier-type right and left-hooks to the French-Canadian's cranium, he nearly did just that.
Serra hasn't fought since the autumn of 2010 at UFC 119 -- a loss to Chris Lytle -- but now a successful business man who runs his own training center, and with a growing family at home, it's no wonder.
It isn't clear, at the present time, whether The Terror will ever-again return to the UFC Octagon.
Serra was quick to give credit, not to himself, but to those around him. The-Terror seemed eternally grateful to his incredible team, Ray Longo, and Renzo Gracie. That's a sign of genuine humility. The sign of a great Champion.
"But if I'd only known how the king would fall
And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end, the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance."~GB
