Looking back was the serra win over st pierre really that big of an upset?

[Shoguns Prodigy**]

It would of almost been equivalent to Mighty Mouse losing to Tim elliot.

 

[aashmore]

It upset everyone because GSP was never as fun after that fight

 

[kevinramsdell]

people greatly underrate serra here of course. that said, it was obviously a huge upset given how good gsp was and was viewed at the time.

lol not saying Serra wasn't a talented fighter, but he was more of a good grappler. He was a short & stocky WW that couldn't stay at LW very long and had an 11-7 career record. Winning TUF against a bunch of other vets was probably his prime and the upset of GSP was nothing more than a fluke. That is what's so cool about fighting, one punch can change anything. But I definitely wouldn't say he was overrated by any means.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

I mean for sure it was a big upset but i get the sense people gere treat it like it was a usman vs cm punk type of upset. Matt was a solid fighter, not great but really his win was no fluke he did have the skills to do that it was just unlikely

To my knowledge he had never hurt someone standing before. He had certainly never beaten a top welterweight in any manner whatsoever. He got the title shot as a gimmick and otherwise never would have sniffed one. When they rematched GSP completely smashed him. To be one of the least heralded title challengers in history, up against one of the most dominant champions in history, and to knock him out in the first round, is pretty extraordinary.

Imagine if Antonio Carlos Jr. won TUF right now and knocked out Adesanya, and then Adesanya went on the defend the belt 8 more times or something. That’s the level of upset we’re talking about.

 

[laleggenda27]

1. GSP was a -1300 favorite going into that fight.
2. Serra was a career lightweight.
3. Going into that fight, Serra had zero (t)ko wins in his career.
4. GSP had just beaten Sherk, BJ, and Hughes, who were all much better than Serra.

Does that answer your question?

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

GSP was a -1300 favorite, which is huge. Usman would be like -100000 against CM Punk,

Yea I think Punk lacks the minimum punching power or submission skills necessary to win that fight even if he was given 1,000 chances. Usman might literally have to sprint forward and fall directly into the path of the most powerful knee Punk is capable of throwing to even get rocked.

Serra wasn’t all that good but it wasn’t unthinkable that GSP might slip on a banana peel and land in a tight guillotine or something.

 

[91 seconds]

Serra acted more shocked than anyone lol.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Pillow-fisted, one-eyed, over the hill, damaged goods Bisping who was ranked something like 13 at the time and had already been dominated by Rockhold KO'ed him in 1 round to win the belt and it's still not as big an upset as Serra vs GSP.

Right. To be equivalent you’d need to replace Rockhold with peak Anderson Silva and keep all the other details identical.

 

[gono btw]

It was a very big upset but Matt Serra was also very underrated. A lot of people scored his fight with BJ for Serra.

hmmm...yeahhh.. absolutely no case for a Serra win tho... max. a draw.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

hmmm...yeahhh.. absolutely no case for a Serra win tho... max. a draw.

There was a live poll during that fight, I'm pretty sure most people had Serra winning. I haven't seen it in a long time but I specifically remember they showed a poll at the end of that fight and most had Serra winning 2 to 1.

 

[burningspear]

Tributary thread from the upset, see how it has a life of its own? Yes, it was gobsmacking!

 

[Through The Looking Glass]

1. GSP was a -1300 favorite going into that fight.
2. Serra was a career lightweight.
3. Going into that fight, Serra had zero (t)ko wins in his career.
4. GSP had just beaten Sherk, BJ, and Hughes, who were all much better than Serra.

Does that answer your question?

Thats why OP put "looking back" in his title.

At the time it was a huge upset. But now looking back with hindsight, Matt Serra was a pretty damn good fighter. Yes technically an upset, but not the biggest upset in MMA. I was gonna say compared to Buster Douglas, but even that was blown way out of proportion aswell. Buster was the best, biggest and most dangerous boxer Tyson had fought up until then imo.

 

[POWER2]

I mean for sure it was a big upset but i get the sense people gere treat it like it was a usman vs cm punk type of upset. Matt was a solid fighter, not great but really his win was no fluke he did have the skills to do that it was just unlikely

Matt Serra was actually pretty great. He just got started late on the complete use of all fighting styles method.

 

[gono btw]

There was a live poll during that fight, I'm pretty sure most people had Serra winning. I haven't seen it in a long time but I specifically remember they showed a poll at the end of that fight and most had Serra winning 2 to 1.

Serra did nuthin´in that last decisive Rd, got his 3 TDs stuffed, while BJ did nuthin´too.
They gave it to BJ because of the lowest criterion: Octagon Control.

Spoiler

Those UFC polls, tho...

Spoiler

 

[Fedor Emelianenko]

I mean for sure it was a big upset but i get the sense people gere treat it like it was a usman vs cm punk type of upset. Matt was a solid fighter, not great but really his win was no fluke he did have the skills to do that it was just unlikely

Really no, Serra is a BJJ ace and has always had heavy hands.

It was a shock but Serra definitely had a path to victory.

 

[HHJ]

Yes. Yes it was.

Gsp looked to be from a different planet than matt Hughes when he took his title. Serra had never proven he could tie matt Hughes' shoes

 

[po_thead]

One of the biggest ever, despite the GSP brain fart aspect

 

[Adamant]

The biggest ever in UFC.

 

[Fioretti]

It's literally of the biggest upsets in MMA history, in every aspect.

 

[Fioretti]

Pillow-fisted, one-eyed, over the hill, damaged goods Bisping who was ranked something like 13 at the time and had already been dominated by Rockhold KO'ed him in 1 round to win the belt and it's still not as big an upset as Serra vs GSP.

Serra wasn't ranked, and never would have been, if he didn't win his tv title shot.