Matt Serra

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.

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

Matt Serra (born June 2, 1974) is an American former professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner.

He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (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 opposite Matt Hughes, and he is a member of the UFC Hall of Fame.

In grappling, Serra holds a Silver Medal in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.

Serra began practicing martial arts at an early age, starting with Wing Chun.

In the 1990s, he began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie.

In 1991 Serra got into a fight with the brother of a former girlfriend during which he bit the other boy’s ear.

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.

In 2000 he became the first American to be promoted to black belt by Gracie.

In addition to competitive bouts with UFC Hall of Famers Hughes and B.J. Penn, Serra's biggest accomplishment in mixed martial arts came at UFC 69 where he defeated Georges St-Pierre in a Knockout of the Night award-winning performance to capture the UFC Welterweight Championship.

Serra was born to an Italian-American family in East Meadow, New York.

His father is a retired policeman in New York City 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 Wing Chun at an early age.

As a teenager he began competing in wrestling.

Serra went to East Meadow High School, while in high school he enrolled in the United States Marine Corps Delayed Entry Program.

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 seminar in Waterbury, Connecticut, 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.

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.

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

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.

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.