Matt Serra (born June 2, 1974) is an American former professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. He is a former

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...

(UFC) competitor and a former UFC Welterweight Champion. He is the co-star of ''Dana White: Lookin' for a Fight'' and co-host of the official podcast of the UFC, UFC Unfiltered, alongside Jim Norton. Serra defeated Pete Spratt, Shonie Carter and Chris Lytle en route to becoming The Ultimate Fighter 4 Welterweight Tournament Winner. He captured the UFC Welterweight Championship immediately after. Serra also served as the head coach for '' The Ultimate Fighter 6''

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

opposite Matt Hughes, and he is a member of the

UFC Hall of Fame The UFC Hall of Fame is a List of halls and walks of fame, hall of fame which honors mixed martial artists and MMA personalities, established and maintained by the U.S.-based mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). In a ...

. In

grappling Grappling is a fighting technique based on throws, trips, sweeps, clinch fighting, ground fighting and submission holds. Grappling contests often involve takedowns and ground control, and may end when a contestant concedes defeat. Shou ...

, Serra holds a

Silver Medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. Serra began practicing martial arts at an early age, starting with

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Cantonese) or Yong Chun (Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin) (, lit. "singing spring") is a concept-based martial art, a form of Nanquan (martial art), Southern Chinese kung fu, and a close-quarters system of self-defense. It is a martial ...

. In the 1990s, he began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie. In 2000 he became the first American to be promoted to black belt by Gracie. In addition to competitive bouts with

rs Hughes and B.J. Penn, Serra's biggest accomplishment in mixed martial arts came at UFC 69 where he defeated

Georges St-Pierre Georges St-Pierre (; born May 19, 1981), also known by his initials GSP, is a Canadian former professional mixed martial artist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts (MMA) history. St-Pierre was a two-divi ...

in a Knockout of the Night award-winning performance to capture the UFC Welterweight Championship.

Background

Serra was born to an Italian-American family in East Meadow, New York. His father is a retired policeman in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and his late mother was a stay-at-home mom. Serra has an older sister and brother, and two younger brothers. Serra's father was enthusiastic about mixed martial arts, and Matt first began

at an early age. As a teenager he began competing in

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

. Serra went to East Meadow High School, while in high school he enrolled in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

Delayed Entry Program. In 1991 Serra got into a fight with the brother of a former girlfriend during which he bit the other boy’s ear. Serra received a felony charge, later changed to "disfigurement”. His Marines recruiting officer told him that the felony charge would keep him out of the Corps. After joining a Rorian and

Royce Gracie Royce Gracie (; born 12 December 1966) is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist. Gracie gained fame for his success in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a member of the Gracie jiu-jitsu family, a UFC Hall of Famer ...

seminar in

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Waterbury had a population of 114,403 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. The city is southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury i ...

, he decided to learn Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). Serra trained under Craig Kukuk, the first American BJJ black belt, who at the time shared an academy with Renzo Gracie. In 2000 Serra became the first American to receive his BJJ black belt from Renzo Gracie.

Early career

Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling

Serra won first place at the Pan IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship in 1999 and third place at the 2000 World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Brazil, in the brown belt division. Serra competed in the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship choking out Takanori Gomi, winning a decision over Jean Jacques Machado, and placing 2nd in the 66–76 kg division. Serra decided to forfeit the final against his teammate Marcio Feitosa.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Serra was invited to compete in PRIDE 9 against Johil de Oliveira but the bout was called off at the last minute when Oliveira was burned in a pyrotechnics accident backstage. Soon after, Serra began to compete in the UFC where he built up a record of four wins and four losses. One of the losses was a close decision fight with future

Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

and

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

champion B.J. Penn which would have earned him a title shot in the failed Lightweight tournament.

''The Ultimate Fighter''

In 2006, Serra became a participant on ''The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback'' on SpikeTV. On the show, Serra defeated Pete Spratt and Shonie Carter to reach the finals, his win against Carter avenging his infamous highlight-reel KO loss to Carter at

UFC 31 ''UFC 31: Locked and Loaded '' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey on May 4, 2001. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in the United States, and later ...

. On November 11, 2006, Serra defeated Chris Lytle at ''The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback Finale'' by split decision to become the Ultimate Fighter 4 Welterweight Tournament Champion. His win earned him a guaranteed title shot against

for the UFC Welterweight Championship, as well as a $100,000 contract and $100,000 sponsorship with Xyience.

Winning the welterweight title

Serra fought St-Pierre on April 7, 2007, at UFC 69, and won the UFC Welterweight Championship by TKO via punches at 3:25 in the first round. Prior to the fight Serra was considered a substantial underdog and consequently the fight is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in MMA history. This fight earned him his first '' Knockout of the Night'' award.

''The Ultimate Fighter'' coach

Serra coached season 6 of '' The Ultimate Fighter'' reality show with Matt Hughes. Team Serra finished 6–2 in the first round of fights, winning six consecutive times which gave Serra the right to pick the fights in the second round. However, from then on Serra did not corner a single fighter to victory and saw all his trainees eventually lose out. The finale saw Team Hughes fighters Tommy Speer and Mac Danzig face each other for the title of Ultimate Fighter. Serra said in season 6 of ''The Ultimate Fighter'' that Joe Scarola lost his job at Serra's jiu-jitsu school for quitting ''The Ultimate Fighter'' within the first week of the show. In exchange, Scarola opened his own academy which has created a feud among the two former friends. Relieving Scarola from his duties was difficult for Serra as the two were close friends, with Scarola serving as best man at Serra's wedding. The two coaches were scheduled to face off for the UFC Welterweight Championship after the conclusion of the series at UFC 79. Serra, however, was forced to withdraw from the fight due to a herniated disc in his lower back. The injury became evident when Serra was demonstrating a move to his student and fell to the floor in excruciating pain. In Serra's place,

fought and defeated Hughes for what was then the interim UFC

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

title. This led to Serra holding the welterweight title while St-Pierre held the interim title. After St-Pierre vs Hughes at UFC 79, Serra confirmed to

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

that his back was rapidly improving. He announced that he was scheduled to fight Georges St-Pierre at the first event to take place in Canada, UFC 83. This match would unify the interim and lineal welterweight belts.

Rematch with St-Pierre, fight with Matt Hughes, and retirement

At UFC 83 on April 19, 2008, Serra fought

in a match to determine the undisputed welterweight champion during the UFC's first-ever event in Canada, at the Bell Centre in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Instead of striking, St-Pierre pressed the action early with a takedown and kept mixing up his attack, never allowing Serra the chance to mount a significant offense. In the second round, St-Pierre continued his previous actions, forcing Serra into the turtle position and delivering repeated knees to Serra's midsection. When Serra was unable to improve his position or defend against the strikes, referee Yves Lavigne stopped the fight. Serra suffered a unanimous decision loss to Matt Hughes at UFC 98. Serra hurt Hughes early on in the fight with an inadvertent head-butt and a follow-up flurry of hooks. However, Hughes recovered and went on to win a close decision. This fight earned him a '' Fight of the Night'' award. After the fight Hughes and Serra embraced each other and ended their feud. At

UFC 109 ''UFC 109: Relentless'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on February 6, 2010, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Background A previously rumoured bout between Renzo Gracie and M ...

, Serra defeated Frank Trigg via KO (punches) at 2:23 of the first round, awarding him Knockout of the Night Honors. Serra was rumored to be headlining UFC Fight Night 22 on April 17, 2010, versus Mike Swick, but the fight was turned down by Swick due to an arm injury. At UFC 119 Serra fought Chris Lytle on September 25, 2010. Serra lost the fight via unanimous decision. In an interview with Ariel Helwani at UFC 131 Serra addressed when or if he would be fighting in the UFC in the foreseeable future. Between the birth of his second child and the rigors of training (Serra himself confirmed that he weighed somewhere around 200 lbs. at interview time), he likened his current situation to that of

Rocky Balboa Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name the Italian Stallion) is a fictional character and the titular protagonist of the ''Rocky'' franchise. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in eight of ...

in the sixth film of the series, saying that he still "had some stuff in the basement". On May 22, 2013, Serra retired from MMA, stating he would only return to MMA again to fight at an event held at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

''UFC Unfiltered''

As of June 2016, Serra currently hosts the official UFC podcast ''UFC Unfiltered'' with comedian Jim Norton as co-host.

UFC Hall of Fame

On the 5th July 2018 Matt Serra was inducted into the

Class of 2018 in the pioneer wing.

Personal life

Matt and his wife Ann were married on May 26, 2007. The couple have two daughters born in February 2009 and April 2011. Serra co-owns a Brazilian jiu-jitsu school in

Huntington, New York Huntington is one of ten Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States. The town's population was 204,127 at the time of the 2020 census, making it the 11 ...

. He currently trains with Ray Longo and trains fighters such as former UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman, former UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling, Gian Villante, Pete Sell, Luke Cummo, and The Ultimate Fighter: Live Finalist Al Iaquinta. They fight under the Serra-Longo Fight Team. After being absent from Aljamain Sterling's corner for UFC 259, Serra announced that he would be retiring from

cornerman In combat sports, a cornerman, or second, is a coach or trainer assisting a fighter during a bout. The cornerman is forbidden to instruct and must remain outside the combat area during the round. In the break, they are permitted to enter the r ...

duties moving forward, although he would still remain as head coach for Serra-Longo Fight Team.

Instructor lineage

Jigoro Kano → Mitsuyo Maeda → Carlos Gracie, Sr. → Helio Gracie → Rolls Gracie → Carlos Gracie, Jr. → Renzo Gracie → Matt Serra

Championships and achievements

Mixed martial arts

(Pioneer wing, Class of 2018) ** UFC Welterweight Championship (One time) *** First fighter to win both a ''The Ultimate Fighter'' Tournament and UFC Championship ** The Ultimate Fighter 4 Welterweight Tournament Winner ** Fight of the Night (One time) vs. Matt Hughes ** Knockout of the Night (Two times) vs.

1 and Frank Trigg ** UFC Encyclopedia Awards *** Fight of the Night (One time) **UFC.com Awards ***2007: Upset of the Year , Ranked #5 Knockout of the Year & Ranked #9 Fighter of the Year *

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

** 2000s Upset of the Decade vs.

** 2000s Cinderella Story of the Decade vs.

Bleacher Report ''Bleacher Report'' (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sports and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. ''Bleacher Report'' was acquired by Time Warner's Turner B ...

** 2000s Upset of the Decade vs.

Fight Matrix Fight Matrix is a mixed martial arts ranking system portal. It is one of the sport's most recognized ranking websites. Software According to website, "The rankings on this site are software generated, produced by a proprietary engine (CIRRS � ...

** Most Noteworthy Match of Year (2007) vs.

** Most Noteworthy Upset of Year (2007) vs.

* Yahoo! Sports ** Upset of the Decade Runner-up vs.

Grappling credentials

* ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship ** 2000 ADCC Tournament Trials: Champion ** 2001 ADCC 77 kg: Silver Medalist *** Record of opponents: *** Won: Takanori Gomi (sub), Jean Jacques Machado (pts), Leonardo Silva Dos Santos (sub) *** Lost: Marcio Feitosa (forfeit) * International Pro-Ams ** 2000 Black Belt 77 kg (No-Gi): Silver Medalist * World Jiu-Jitsu Championship ** 2000 Brown Belt Medio: Bronze Medalist * Pan-American Championships ** 1999 Purple Belt Medio: Gold Medalist

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 11–7 , Chris Lytle , Decision (unanimous) , UFC 119 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 11–6 , Frank Trigg , KO (punches) ,

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:23 ,

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–6 , Matt Hughes , Decision (unanimous) , UFC 98 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–5 ,

, TKO (knees to the body and punches) , UFC 83 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:45 ,

, Quebec, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 10–4 ,

, TKO (punches) , UFC 69 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:25 ,

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 9–4 , Chris Lytle , Decision (split) , The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback Finale , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, Exhibition , Shonie Carter , Decision (unanimous) , rowspan=2, The Ultimate Fighter 4 , (airdate) , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , rowspan=2, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States , , - , Win , align=center, Exhibition , Pete Spratt , TKO (submission to punches) , (airdate) , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:26 , , - , Loss , align=center, 8–4 , Karo Parisyan , Decision (unanimous) , UFC 53 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 8–3 ,

Ivan Menjivar Ivan Menjivar (born May 30, 1982) is a Salvadorean-Canadian retired mixed martial artist who formerly fought in the featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Menjivar was born in La Paz, El Salvador, in 1982. Fl ...

, Decision (unanimous) ,

UFC 48 ''UFC 48: Payback'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 19, 2004, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States, and was late ...

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 7–3 , Jeff Curran , Decision (unanimous) , UFC 46 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 6–3 , Din Thomas , Decision (split) , UFC 41 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 6–2 , B.J. Penn , Decision (unanimous) , UFC 39 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Uncasville, Connecticut, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 6–1 , Kelly Dullanty , Submission (triangle choke) , UFC 36 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:58 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 5–1 , Yves Edwards , Decision (majority) , UFC 33 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 4–1 , Shonie Carter , KO (spinning back fist) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 4:51 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Greg Melisi , Submission (armbar) , VATV 11 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:46 , Plainview, New York, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Jeff Telvi , Submission (guillotine choke) , VATV 7 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:30 , Plainview, New York, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Graham Lewis , Submission (armbar) , VATV 6 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:04 , Plainview, New York, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Khamzat Vitaev , Submission (rear-naked choke) , VATV 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:36 , Plainview, New York, United States ,

Vale Tudo rules

, Win , align=center, 2–0 , Scott Schultz , Submission (armbar) , New York Regional , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:35 ,

Manhattan, New York Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Bob Smith , Decision (unanimous) , Bama Fight Night 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 10:00 , Bayside Academy of Martial Arts in Elizabeth, New Jersey,

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

ADCC submission grappling record

* Serra lost to Feitosa in what appeared to be a very controversial decision. It was tradition when two practitioners from the same school meet each other in a tournament, the lower ranking student in that school's hierarchy will generally forfeit the match out of respect.

Pay-per-view bouts

{, class="wikitable sortable" !No !Event !Fight !Date !Venue !City !PPV buys , - , 1. , UFC 69 , St-Pierre vs. Serra , 7 April 2007 , Toyota Center ,

, 400,000 , - , 2. , UFC 83 , St-Pierre vs. Serra 2 , 19 April 2008 , Bell Centre ,

Montreal, Quebec, Canada Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, 530,000 , - , 3. , UFC 98 , Hughes vs. Serra (CO) , 23 May 2009 ,

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena within the MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Grand resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The venue opened on December 31, 1993, with a concert by Barbra Streisand, and s ...

, 635,000 , - ! colspan="6" , Total sales ! 1,565,000

References

External links

Official UFC Profile

Matt Serra profile

Official site

Matt Serra and Long Island in the UFC
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Serra, Matt The Ultimate Fighter winners American male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists from New York (state) Living people American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Ultimate Fighting Championship champions Welterweight mixed martial artists American people of Italian descent 1974 births People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu People from East Meadow, New York Sportspeople from Massapequa, New York Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters American Wing Chun practitioners Mixed martial artists utilizing Wing Chun Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu East Meadow High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen