Matt Serra

Matthew John "The Terror" Serra is a professional mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He was born on June 2, 1974 in East Meadow, New York.

Serra began his mixed martial arts career in 1999, where he defeated Graham Lewis at Vengeance at the Vanderbilt 6. He made his UFC debut on May 4, 2001 where he suffered his first professional loss at the hands of Shonie Carter.

On November 11, 2006 at the The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale, Serra defeated Chris Lytle to become the The Ultimate Fighter welterweight champion. Then on his next match at  UFC 69: Shootout, he defeated Georges St. Pierre to become the UFC Welterweight champion, despite being the substantial underdog. However, Serra would lose the title in a rematch with St. Pierre a year later.

Matt won first place at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Pan American games in 1999. Serra won third place at the 1999 World Championships in Brazil as a brown belt. Continuing his Martial Arts career, he competed in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship choking out Takanori Gomi, winning a decision over Jean-Jacques Machado, and placing 2nd in the 66-76kg division. 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, Matt began to compete in the UFC organization where he built up a record of four wins and four losses.

The Ultimate Fighter

Matt later became a participant in 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. On November 11, 2006, Serra defeated Chris Lytle by split decision to become the Ultimate Fighter 4 Welterweight Tournament Champion.

His win earned him a guaranteed title shot against Georges St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship, as well as a $100,000 contract and $100,000 sponsorship with Xyience.


Winning the Title

Serra fought St. Pierre on April 7, 2007, and won the UFC Welterweight title via TKO at 3:25 of the first round. Prior to the fight, Serra was considered a substantial underdog.


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 didn't corner a single fighter to victory and saw all his guys eventually lose out. The finale saw Team Hughes fighters Tommy Speer and Mac Danzig face each other for the title of Ultimate Fighter.

Matt Serra said in season 6 of The Ultimate Fighter reality show 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 title at the conclusion of the series on 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, Georges St. Pierre fought and defeated Matt Hughes for what was now the interim UFC welterweight 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 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 regular welterweight belts.


Rematch with St-Pierre and Fight with Matt Hughes

At UFC 83 on April 19, 2008, Serra fought Georges St.-Pierre in a match to determine the undisputed welterweight championship during the UFC's first-ever event in Canada, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. 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. Though St-Pierre demoralized Serra in the ring he was gracious to his defeated opponent and asked the crowd to restrain themselves and show Serra some respect to which the crowd cheered Serra. Serra in turn bowed graciously before St-Pierre.

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 followed by some heavy punches, however after a very competitive fight, that saw Serra rally late, Hughes was awarded a narrow decision victory. After the fight Serra and Hughes embraced each other and ended their feud.

Serra and his team have confirmed that he is set to fight former 2 time welterweight title challenger Frank Trigg.

Serra was born to an Italian-American family and currently resides in East Meadow, New York. Matt and his wife Ann were married on May 26, 2007. The couple had their first child, a daughter named Angelina, on February 11, 2009. Matt owns and operates the Serra Jitsu schools, one in Huntington, NY and the other in East Meadow, NY.

Serra and his brother Nick, run two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools at local strip malls in East Meadow, New York and Huntington, New York. Serra currently trains with Ray Longo and trains fighters including, George Sotiropoulos, Pete Sell and Luke Cummo. They fight under the Serra/Longo Competition Team.