Matt Serra. How good is/was he?

Well...he did knock out St. Pierre.

 

I'm probably going to take a lot of heat for this comment, but I'll go ahead and say he is like the Gatti of MMA. He's a B level fighter that is always game, win or lose.

:hop

 

I said they are similar to the fact that they are both B level fighters with a **** ton of heart.

GSP's off night was Serra's on night. Such is the way of the fight game. I guess you were comparing Serra's victory against GSP as apposed to Gatti's loss of Mayweather, but GSP wasn't exactly Mayweather in that first fight.

Out of ten fights Serra only beats GSP once. GSP evolved after that loss, and carved himself a game plan, albeit less fan friendly. That game plan is a ***** to beat though.

:hop

 

He was a good fighter, maybe even very good.

He produced some of the best all-round offensive displays of jiu-jitsu ever seen in MMA early in his career (dominating Shonie Carter before getting caught with that spinning backfist), pushed a young BJ Penn all the way to a close decision, won a strong season of The Ultimate Fighter by beating the excellent Chris Lytle in the final, achieved (in my opinion) one of the top three wins in MMA history by destroying a peak GSP, and also registered solid wins over Yves Edwards, Jeff Curran, Ivan Menjivar, Frank Trigg, and I also think he deserved the decision in his grudge match with a past-prime Matt Hughes.

Good, good fighter on his best night.

 

Gotta disagree with the peak.

IMO, peak GSP came after the Serra fight when he just started dominating every minute of every round in every fight.

:hop

 

I guess B is harsh, as he does have some damn good grappling and is a former champion. He has some good wins but some bad losses.

:hop

 

I suppose GSP's absolute zenith was 2008-9, but the Serra fight came sandwiched between GSP's two wins over Hughes, and he was absolutely transcendent in both fights, so it was most definitely a version of GSP who was capable of performing at an extremely, extremely high level.

 

i really rate the hell out of serra and am baffled at the low level of respect he gets.
hes on the downside of his career now but what a fighter.

former world champion grappler
pushed bj pennn one of the greatest lightweights ever to a close decision in their fight.
knocked out st pierre the best welterweight ever close to his prime.
should have a win over an albeit slightly faded hughes if the judges had eyes.
avenged a loss and went on to win a very strong tuf series.
also was a bees dick away from ko'ing a prime karo parysian.

imo serra can hold his head high standing next to anyone.

 

For one night he was the best fighter in the world
Which is more then most people can say

 

I always thought highly of Serra but I always felt he could do better. Had he stayed at 155 he probably wouldve won more big fights but during his Lightweight days I never felt he was aggressive enough he didnt get that until he fought at Welterweight. Good fighter though, real heavy hands and amazing Jiujitsu we never seen it but his Jiujitsu is outstanding watch him in ADCC.

 

I think he's a very good fighter and anyone who says his win against GSP was a fluke is clearly naive and/or hasn't actually seen the fight.