Serra vs BJ at WW in future?

http://www.mmamania.com/2010/2/10/1304231/bj-wants-to-return-to-welterweight
If Penn manages to outlast "The Answer," which isn't a knock on Edgar to suggest that he will, "The Prodigy" has already vocalized his intentions of eventually returning to the UFC's 170-pound division.

Perhaps sooner rather than later.

While the prospect of "Penn vs. St. Pierre 3" elicits a collective groan from much of the mixed martial arts fan base, keep in mind that this is the same promotion that had no problem booking a third dance between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz.

Dana White is open to the idea of the Hawaiian getting another crack at welterweight success, but even he acknowledges that Penn is going to have to work his way back into the upper echelon of 170-pound fighters to even be considered for a title shot.

To do that, he's got to win -- and win big. There are a couple of exciting match-ups that come to mind, including a brouhaha with Thiago Alves, but what about a rematch with Matt Serra?

Following "The Terror's" UFC 109 win over Frank Trigg, Serra striking guru Ray Longo tells Fight Magazine that it's practically a no-brainer.



"I'd love to see (Serra) fight BJ Penn if BJ wanted to come up in weight because obviously Serra can't get any lower. But I thought they had a great fight, I think it's an interesting fight because BJ will stand there with him I think. And they're both not going to go anywhere standing up now. Matt didn't really have the stand-up when he fought him the first time and the ground thing would be exciting. I think that's a really good fight and I'd like to see Matt now stay with the marquee names and some big fights."

I think penn would pick him apart with his reach. penn can handle one good shot from serra and get out and as far as the ground goes I think penn has the upper hand and better flexibility. penn by 2nd round sub or stoppage.

now penn vs the pitbull is a hell of a match up imo and would prove where penn is in the 170 lb div.

It could actually be a good move. Assuming, He beats Edgar, BJ can take a fight or two at WW, meanwhile, Gomi/Kenny and Maynard/________(Joe Daddy, Griffin, Sherk, Whoever?) can have a little eliminator to see who will fight BJ for the LW title later in the year.

I heard this matchup discussed on Beatdown radio. I don't know how interested BJ would be in this matchup because Serra isn't at the top of the WW division but personally I think it would be a good match for him. He can get his feet wet at WW and go into his next fight there more acclimated to the weight class and more comfortable against a bigger opponent.

He needs to work his way through the weight class before getting another shot at GSP, though.

I don't think he should get to fight GSP again without at least two good WW wins. I would qualify Serra as being one of those, given he did what BJ couldn't regardless of lucky his TKO of GSP was. after that, Kos Fitch, Alves, Thiago or maybe even hughes would be good for him before talk of GSP.

Ya this is a great tune up fight at WW. I like it.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Ya this is a great tune up fight at WW. I like it.

I agree it will either push Serra up close to another title shot or push BJ into title contention. Either way the winner could be 1 fight away from a title.

Yo if Serra wins this fight he earns a shot imo.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yo if Serra wins this fight he earns a shot imo.

I don't have a problem with that. I actually like that better.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yo if Serra wins this fight he earns a shot imo.

Nah, for either guy it should be this plus one. Too many guys are getting shots at GSP without 1st taking on the #1 & #2 contendor. Serra just got off a 2 fight slide.

captain organic wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yo if Serra wins this fight he earns a shot imo.

Nah, for either guy it should be this plus one. Too many guys are getting shots at GSP without 1st taking on the #1 & #2 contendor. Serra just got off a 2 fight slide.

agreed. Either should have to fight and beat a top 5 WW to get the shot.

captain organic wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yo if Serra wins this fight he earns a shot imo.

Nah, for either guy it should be this plus one. Too many guys are getting shots at GSP without 1st taking on the #1 & #2 contendor. Serra just got off a 2 fight slide.

I disagree, it is different with Serra since he was the champ. It's not like Hardy getting a rushed shot, Serra is a proven vet who was the last title holder. He has a 1-1 record with the current champ. Beating BJ grants him round 3 IMO.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Yo if Serra wins this fight he earns a shot imo.

Beating Trigg and the LW champ is earning another title shot at WW? No way.

Even if he did get another shot he would just get taken down and beat up again. The first fight was a fluke because GSP thought he could out strike him. Both Serra and BJ did good in their first fight against GSP because GSP tried to strike with them. That wont happen ever again.

I agree that BJ needs to earn another title shot by getting some good welterweight wins under his belt.

If Serra were to beat Penn he would definitely be first in line for a title shot. He's the last guy to beat GSP anyway and if he was coming off a win over a top 4 P4P guy he would be the #1 contender. This would all happen down the line anyway after GSP is done with Hardy and one other challenger (probably Kos) and everyone else at the top of that division he's already dominated anyway

bobbitt15 wrote:

If Serra were to beat Penn he would definitely be first in line for a title shot. He's the last guy to beat GSP anyway and if he was coming off a win over a top 4 P4P guy he would be the #1 contender. This would all happen down the line anyway after GSP is done with Hardy and one other challenger (probably Kos) and everyone else at the top of that division he's already dominated anyway

This.

All this talk that Serra or Penn should have to earn their way to the title by beating a bunch of other clowns GSP has also destroyed just as easily as he did in his last fight with either of these two is pretty goofy considering Penn and Serra have also had the most success of anyone at WW besides Hughes against him, and are both former WW champions. Former champs, rivals, champs of other weight classes and big stars get to leap frog shit. This is why Randy Couture has title shot after title shot coming directly off loses.

It also ignores that ground-game-less 2008-9 cage rage imports are being lined up one after the other to face GSP with wins over world beaters like Mike Swick and Koscheck, should Daley win.

I would rather see BJ vs Winner of Hughes/Renzo because Hughes beat Serra. The first BJ/Serra fight was pretty good though