Georges St Pierre vs Matt Serra Odds, Betting Lines and Predictions

J.D Driscoll - March 27th, 2008 .

The UFC is coming to Canada for UFC 83 Georges St Pierre vs Matt Serra 2. One year ago, Matt Serra (9-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) shocked the MMA world and the odds makers by defeating overwhelming favorite Georges St Pierre (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) for the UFC Welterweight Championship. Serra’s victory as the 8/1 underdog was the 2nd biggest upset in UFC history, only being surpassed by Joe Lauzon victory over Jens Pulver at UFC 63. St-Pierre enters the Octagon as the Interim Welterweight Champion to face the man who took his title, this time in his home province of Quebec and once again as the odds on favorite with the bookmakers after his demolition of Matt Hughes. Below are the latest Georges St Pierre Matt Serra Odds.

Latest Betting Lines: Matt Serra (+385) vs Georges St Pierre (-450)
Check out the latest betting odds for this match up at BodogLife. (If you’re in Canada or Europe we recommend PinnacleSports.)

After his loss to Serra, GSP had rededicated himself to training and appeared to raise his game another a few notches as evidenced by his victories over Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes while Serra was sidelined by a back injury in December and the TUF 6 reality TV show.

St Pierre will enter the Bell Centre to 22,000 parochial GSP fans. Home advantage is usually the first thing to consider when handicapping any other sport however its easy to forget its significance in MMA simply because most UFC bouts are fought in neutral territory. An extremely one sided crowd is a rare spectacle in the UFC. There is no doubt the atmosphere will have an effect on Serra considering that he’s had only one title fight in his career, therefore has never gone beyond the 3rd round in any of his fights and hasn’t fought in almost a year.

St Pierre is one of the few fighters that is extremely well rounded, without any clear weakness, he has trained in all disciplines and is just as comfortable on the ground as he is standing. He is tremendously athletic and very quick. Having added wrestling to his MMA arsenal its easy too see why so many see him as the top pound for pound fighter in world. However I don’t think we’ll take this fight to the ground like he did against Hughes and Koscheck. Serra’s jujitsu is simply to good to take that risk. He’ll keep this fight standing and fight Serra where he has the biggest advantage. Stopping the man who stopped him, via TKO or knock out would mean so much more, especially after Serra’s pre fight comments.

Don’t let the odds or his lacklustre 6-4 record fool you, Matt Serra is in the top five welterweights in the UFC right now. He has had some fantastic results however he has been inconsistent in the past. Looking at his resume, a victory over GSP is his crowing achievement but if you look deeper he has had a number of great performances against top 5 welterweight completion including going the distance with BJ Penn and Karo Parisian, incidentally two fighters GSP defeated by decision. His Jiu-Jitsu is incredible however his has had trouble displaying his BJJ game against the welterweights due to their size and strength. His only submission victory in the UFC coming in 2002. Out of 6 UFC victories, 4 have been decision. Lighting does not strike at same place twice, Serra will not stand with GSP, he’ll take every opportunity to take this fight to the ground to either submit him or get a decision victory.

The two fighters have three common opponents. Their results are not too dissimilar. Both defeated Canadian fighter Ivan Menjivar, GSP winning via TKO, Serra earning a decision . Both fighters went the distance in their bouts with Karo Parisyan, GSP dominated on route to his unanimous decision while Serra lost his bout but came very close to knocking out Parisian in the first round. Their last common opponent was interim UFC light weight champion BJ Penn. Both fighters entered this bout as underdogs. Matt Serra lost a unanimous decision in 2002, while GSP earned a very close decision after losing the first round, a decision that could have very easily gone Penns way.

GSP vs Serra Predictions and Picks: While I believe this will be a close fight and still consider Serra a little underrated in this fight again, I don’t have it in me to bet against GSP in front of his home crowd and the unusually long layoff for Serra has me questioning his conditioning and mental state. I see this fight going into the latter rounds and either ending in unanimous GSP decision or a late stoppage. It’s a no play for me. As always check out the latest betting odds for this match up at BodogLife. (If you’re in Canada or Europe we recommend PinnacleSports.)

 

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4 comments | Add One

1. 1 Joe Lauzon vs Kenny Florian Odds, Predictions and Picks - 03/31/2008 at 11:03 pm

    

   [...] 83 is up next. Check out J.D’s predictions and preview of the Matt Serra George St Pierre match [...]

    

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2. 2 anonm - 04/3/2008 at 10:08 pm

    

   GSP by TKO, it will not go beyond round 3.

    

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3. 3 UFC 83 Predictions and Picks - 04/17/2008 at 1:42 pm

    

   [...] Complete preview of the Serra vs St Perrie match-up. [...]

    

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4. 4 UFC 83 Odds and Betting Lines - 04/17/2008 at 6:32 pm

    

   [...] sure to check out J.D Driscoll’s complete coverage of UFC 83 including his analysis of Serra vs Pierre 2 and his complete picks and predictions for the [...]

    

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