News of the suspensions was reported by MMAFighting.

“Cro Cop” was knocked out by a devastating knee from Frank Mir in the closing minute of their headlining match-up, and though former UFC welterweight champ Serra went to a decision against opponent Chris Lytle he still absorbed a good deal of punishment throughout the affair as most of the bout’s action involved stand-up.

Here is a complete list of UFC 119 medical suspensions:

Sean McCorkle – Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days
Steve Lopez – Suspended 30 days with no contact for 30 days (cut)
Matt Mitrione – Suspended 30 days with no contact for 12 days
Joey Beltran – Suspended 30 days with no contact for 30 days (cut)
Mark Hunt – Suspended minimum of 30 days, left elbow must be cleared by X-Ray result
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira – Suspended 30 days with no contact for 30 days
Sean Sherk – Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days
Evan Dunham – Suspended 45 days with no contact for 45 days
Matt Serra – Suspended minimum of 180 days, must be cleared by CT scan
Mirko Filipovic – Suspended minimum of 180 days, must be cleared by CT scan

Matt Serra

Serra recently confirmed the news of his participation in the bout through a recent report over at The Fight Network.

While nothing has been made official, the event is expected to take place from The Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on February 6, 2010.

Serra will be looking to place himself back into the winners column following back to back defeats at the hands of Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes on the heels of the biggest win of his professional career when he shocked the world in TKO’ing GSP for the UFC welterweight crown. Serra has fought his last thirteen professional bouts with the UFC where he has earned a record of 7-6.

Trigg’s back is likely against the wall in this fight as his position with the UFC was questionable upon his recent first round stoppage at the hands of Josh Koscheck at UFC 103. “Twinkle Toes” is a veteran of PRIDE, Sengoku, Strikeforce and the UFC, where he has put together a record of 2-4 inside of the Octagon.

Serra revealed during a conversation with MMAFanhouse.com that he has recently agreed to participate in the event that has been pegged for February 6 in Las Vegas.

While an opponent has yet to be determined for Serra, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt went on to reveal that Frank Trigg was one of the front runners for the spot.

Serra will be looking to bounce back from back to back defeats at the hands of Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre following his shocking knockout over GSP during UFC 69 on the heels of his TUF 4 championship performance.

If Trigg ends up facing Serra at UFC 110 he will undoubtedly be in a sink or swim position coming off of his first round TKO defeat via Josh Koscheck during UFC 103.

The grudge dates back to the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter when Hughes openly mocked Georges St. Pierre in front of the other cast members. The seed was planted in Serra’s head then and he let his thoughts on the welterweight champion be known right then and there, and they weren’t happy thoughts by any means.

Fast forward to the sixth edition of The Ultimate Fighter built around the grudge with Serra and Hughes acting as coaches and you will find countless lines drawn in the sand between the two leading up to tomorrow evening’s inevitable clash of personalities at UFC 98.

In the countdown to UFC 98 which was aired on Spike TV Hughes made it clear that in no way is he impressed by the outspoken Long Islander’s fighting resume.

“Years down the road they’re going to look at past champions, and they’re going to look at Matt Serra and say ‘who the heck is that guy’,” Hughes said during the broadcast.

“I wouldn’t rank him in the top ten welterweights in the world,” the Illinois farmboy went on to say. “He’d probably be lucky to make the top twenty.”

It’s not just Serra’s resume that Hughes isn’t impressed by, he’s not a huge fan of the dangerous grappler’s inability to bite his tongue either.

“It’s funny, when Matt Serra walks in the room you may not see him because he’s so short, but you’ll hear him because he just likes to run his mouth,” said the former two-time UFC welterweight champion.

“I’ve always said that there’s two types of people in this world,” continued Hughes. “There’s doers and there’s talkers. You’re not good at both. He’s obviously good at one of those two things.

“He’s scared and that’s why he’s talking as much as he is.”

As far as the game plan for Hughes is concerned, nothing less than complete and utter domination is on the agenda. It’s time for the sultan of slam to get back to his roots, causing damage.

“I’m going to go out there and be the aggressor,” explained Hughes. “He’s going to be on defense the whole time. I’m going to do what I want the whole time.”

What’s next for Hughes after the bout with Serra is the question on many minds heading into UFC 98. Win or lose, what will the future UFC Hall of Famer do with himself at the conclusion of Saturday evening’s bout with Serra?

“I think I could walk away from Matt Hughes the fighter and be Matt Hughes the farmer, the family man, the coach,” confessed the veteran of fifty professional fights against the best competition the world has to offer.

“After this Serra fight we’ll just see what happens,” concluded Hughes.

I have a strong suspicion that we may be in for an extremely emotional post-fight interview with Joe Rogan and Hughes at UFC 98 one way or the other. Sometimes you don’t realize what you have in this sport until it’s gone.

The always outspoken Serra made his feelings known about his rival on the countdown to UFC 98 which recently aired on Spike TV.

Serra feels strongly that Hughes has a hard time getting past the fact that he was able to knock Georges St. Pierre senseless when the Canadian champion has decimated Hughes in their last two bouts.

“I just think that Hughes has to make himself feel better that this little 5’6″ of dynamite took out a guy that just man handled him a couple times,” said Serra. “So I think that he just has to make that right for his own ego….and uh……..Dude, did I mention he’s a (expletive)? ……Did I?”

Much has been made about this fight being a legacy fight for Serra, and while he won’t deny that for a second, above all he just want to make Hughes feel the pain.

“I want the W, but more than anything I want to give a beating to Matt Hughes,” explained Serra.

It would be a rubber match this time around and also a match for interim welterweight title. The first fight would be for a vacant title after then champ B.J. Penn had disputes and left the organization. Hughes would win their first match in 2004 at UFC 50 by a nice armbar in the first round of the fight with literally one second remaining on the clock he secured his victory and reclaimed the belt.

Their rematch would be in 2006 at UFC 65, GSP would prove to be the better fighter that night, and finished the bout in the second round due to a sharp head kick followed up by punches before the ref halted the bout. The rubber match would once again prove in the favor of GSP when he finished off Hughes with a nicely transitioned armbar in round two, forcing the Hillsboro native Hughes to verbally submit

St. Pierre would then move on to face a recovered Serra at UFC 83, this time for the official title of welterweight champ, GSP proved the first fight to be a fluke and dominated the bout no matter where it went. It was in round two when the interim champ began brutalizing the body of Serra with consecutive knees and no answer back, the ref was forced to stop the fight in favor of St. Pierre.

Since all of this occurred, Serra has been inactive after losing the title back to GSP (due mainly to injuries he was put on the shelf), Hughes had one more match where he fought on short notice to the now # 1 contender Thiago “The Pitbull” Alves at UFC 85, and in round two of the fight he was finished after a flying knee landed flush making the former division best collapse, which gave Alves the incentive to finish the fight with a barrage of followed up punches he claimed (T)KO victory and contender status.

GSP has held on very strong to the title and defended it two times since defeating the loud mouthed New Yorker, and will have his third consecutive defense at UFC 100 where he faces “The Pitbull”.

At Last…..Let’s Get ready to Ruuuumble!

So now we have a set date at UFC 98 on May 23, no injuries, two fighters, both former champs, both former rivals on The Ultimate Fighter, and they both want to beat the crap out of one another, which in my eyes usually equals fireworks and a fight that never hears all 3 rounds finish. Hughes of the two has a far more extensive career, his record is still a very game 42-7-0, Serra on the opposing end holds a record of 9-5-0 which in comparison pales. However even though he doesn’t hold nearly as many fights to his name, the Long Islander is a strong opponent who matches up very well with Hughes.

Serra is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu trained under Renzo Gracie, and was the first American to earn a black belt under the training of a Gracie on May 23, 2000. In grappling tournaments he holds wins over the likes of Takanori Gomi and others. Serra has strong hands but he is not known for knocking people out, actually his only (T)KO to his credit is the one he holds over GSP.

He currently is running Serra Jiu-Jitsu with fellow black belt, and brother Nick Serra. They of course have the Serra Jiu-Jitsu fight team which holds such fighters as Pete Sell, and Luke Cummo, which can do nothing but help in training.

On the opposite end of the rope we have Hughes who is known for his extremely strong wrestling ability, and is considered to be one of the greatest champs to ever grace the octagon (nine time welterweight champion). The former champ is also very diverse in his abilities, he has finished 18 of his opponents by submission, and 15 by (T)KO, he has strong credentials where ever it may go. The guy is capable of competing with the best, and during his prime he seemed almost unbeatable.

In over a decade of competing, the 35 year old Hughes has given us some very memorable fights. From the crazy defeat of Carlos Newton which earned him his first belt at UFC 38, to his battles with B.J. Penn, and his utter destruction of Royce Gracie, he truly deserves the respect for how much he has accomplished. Hughes currently is still running his HIT Squad team and gym out of Granite City, Illinois which houses the like’s of “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler, Matt Veach and other veterans and up and comers. He is known for being one of the hardest workers in MMA, and growing up working a farm during the year did nothing but make him stronger.

Who do you think will win?

I am not going to go and say that one fighter will beat the other, because to me this fight is really close and could go either way. Sure if it goes to the ground the Gracie trained fighter should have a dominant defense, but we have also seen that many fighters with a strong wrestling ability and decent knowledge of Jiu-Jitsu can nullify submission attempts.

Call it what you want, but I call it an excellent fight that is way too long in the making. Look for both of these fighters trying to prove that modern MMA has not passed them by like many fighters from the earlier MMA generation.

What we have seen is Serra doesn’t knock out everyone but he has the ability to finish the best given the right opportunity, and the same can be said about Hughes if not more (he is actually impressive when you look at who has beat him recently, they are all top dogs in the division).

So, yes the height will be working in favor of the HIT Squad leader being that he stand’s 5’9” in comparison to a stout 5’6”, but this is height difference that is something Serra is used to at this point in his career. To the credit of Serra he has a tough chin seeing only 2 (T)KO losses in his career.

So now with some brief history on both fighters you can make your call and tell us who you think will win when these two former champs face off on Saturday May 23 at UFC 98 which takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Nevada. Look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts regarding the fight and actually seeing the event in just under three weeks.

This highly anticipated matchup was originally slated for UFC 79 back in December of 2007 but Serra, who was the welterweight champion at the time, injured his back and he was forced to withdraw from the bout.

Hughes went on to face Georges St. Pierre for a third time and was soundly defeated for a second time by the current UFC welterweight champion. There was a ton of heat between Hughes and Serra and the UFC capitalized by casting them as opposing coaches on the sixth installment of The Ultimate Fighter.

The grudge match was further delayed after Hughes suffered a knee injury during a loss to Thiago Alves at UFC 85 in June of last year. Hughes was able to heal his injury but the bout was delayed yet again this time due to the birth of Serra’s first child this past February. With both fighters healthy and committed fight fans will finally get to see the two rivals go at it on May 23 in Las Vegas.

The encounter will be more for pride than anything else, as Hughes is on the downside of a Hall of Fame career while Serra is looking to prove he was more than a one hit wonder after knocking out St. Pierre at UFC 69 in April of 2007.

A win by either man will not move them any closer to a title shot. Hughes twice lost handily to St. Pierre and Serra was dominated in their highly anticipated rematch last April at UFC 83 in Montreal. St. Pierre controlled the entire fight and wound up winning via TKO late in the second round.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship(R) (UFC(R)) has added three thrilling bouts to the organization’s next UK super-show. It has been confirmed that Rameau Sokoudjou will collide with Luiz Cane in a battle of light-heavyweight strikers, Japanese submission expert Akihiro Gono will take on on highly-regarded British debutant Dan Hardy and steel-fisted heavyweight Shane Carwin will exchange bombs with England’s own Neil Wain.

There are definitely some quality match-ups in there, however I am slightly disappointed that I might not to get to see Sokoudjou vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua anytime soon. Who knows, maybe if the “African Assassin” comes out of the Cane fight unscathed (which I doubt) we may get to see him take on Shogun in December.

UFC 89 is headlined by a middleweight contest between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben and is set to take place on October 18th at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England.

The current rumored line-up is as follows:

• Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
• Thiago Alves vs. Diego Sanchez*
• Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luiz Cane
• Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
• Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
• Paul Kelly vs. Marcus Davis*
• Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden*
• Samy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund*
• Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim*

*Indicates rumored bout as foretold by MMA Weekly.com.

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