Canada welcomed in the UFC Saturday night in Montréal; and, the UFC welcomed back in Canada as “Rush” Georges St. Pierre (16-2) avenged his loss to “The Terror” Matt Serra (9-5) by second-round TKO to capture sole possession of the UFC welterweight title before his countrymen and fellow Quebecois.
Former UFC Middleweight Champion and Fighters.com’s second-ranked 185-pounder “Ace” Rich Franklin (23-3) also found the land of maple leaf friendly in a second-round TKO of “The Serial Killer” Travis Lutter (9-5).
TUF Champions “The Count” Michael Bisping (15-1) and Mac Danzig (18-4-1) debuted in new weight classes with stoppages.
Les habitants “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (20-9), “Dooms” Jason Day (17-5), and Jonathan Goulet (22-9) also had success for the home team, while “The Rock” Nathan Quarry (10-2), Demian Maia (7-0), “No Love” Rich Clementi (31-12-1), and Cain Velasquez (3-0) scored wins as visitors to the true north, strong and free.
Though seven of the 11 duels on 83’s lineup featured St. Pierre’s fellow countrymen, this French-Canadian bon soirwas entirely the Quebecois phenom’s. He entered the Octagon blazing a crimson gi with the strength of 22,000 at the Centre Bell.
Serra had played a clever villain during the event’s promotional tour, but had no quips for “Rush” as St. Pierre packed him into the mat upon stuffing Serra’s initial shot.
St. Pierre mauled “The Terror” with short, sharp elbows as Serra pedaled through guards, all passed by St. Pierre. Serra finally crawled up the cage to his feet.
In the center of the cage, St. Pierre blasted Serra with a Superman punch, setting up a double-leg takedown near the end of round one.
Serra, a mouse puffing beneath his right eye, emptied his tank about 90 seconds into round two as “Rush” tagged “The Terror” with five snapping jabs before planting him back onto the mat with a double-leg takedown.
St. Pierre’s G’n'P onslaught poured on, driving Serra into turtle guard. A series of unanswered rib-rattling knees persuaded referee Steve Mazzagatti to end the fight at 4:45.
“I tired him out,” explained the best 170-pound fighter in the world.
Serra countered, “I ended up coming up short, no pun intended.”
Welterweights Goulet and Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) both pocketed 75 grand for battling the “Fight of the Night” in the card’s opening bout.
Goulet got the worst of it in the punch-up’s first round. Attempting to press his striking advantage, Goulet got tagged with a short Hironaka left hook. The Japanese fighter fell the Canadian and followed with a mix of fists and elbows to close the round.
“He tried to finish me,” Goulet admitted after the fight, “but he got too excited. I was careful because of my experience.”
The two fighters traded evenly to open the second before Hironaka was stunned with a punch that backed him to the cage. Goulet stalked with a flurry that dropped his opponent for a TKO at 2:07.
In the co-main event, Franklin also rebounded from a lost first round in which Lutter took the former champ to the mat and worked his jiu-jitsu juju. Franklin was nearly tapped in an armbar before he countered in a nifty maneuver that rolled him into Lutter’s full guard.
Lutter had worn himself weary by the second round and got caught with head kick as he shot for single-leg takedown. Franklin hammered “The Serial Killer” and motioned for the referee to stand him up. “Ace” picked Lutter apart on their feet with a combination of slick boxing and knees until the referree stopped the fight at 3:01
Danzig predicted to Fighters.com that Mark Bocek (5-2) is susceptible to a knee and the debuting 155-pounder delivered three big knees to set Bocek up for a rear naked choke submission at 3:48 of the third round.
“I paced myself, and I needed that; because, if I didn’t pace myself I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did in the last round,” Danzig said.
His fellow TUF Champion Bisping debuted at 185-pounds with a dominant TKO “W” over “Chainsaw” Charles McCarthy (10-5), who was unable to continue due to an arm injury after round one.
“Charles couldn’t get up,” “The Count” expalined after the fight.
Middleweight Quarry chased down a timid Kalib Starnes (8-3-1), who probably ran himself out of the UFC, for a unanimous decision.
Middleweight MacDonald added $75,000 to his bank balance with a “(T)KO of the Night” versus Joe Doerksen (39-12) at 54 seconds of the second round.
Middleweight Maia also earned 75 grand for “Submission of the Night”, a triangle choke of “Short Fuse” Ed Herman (14-5) at 2:27 of round two.
Middleweight Day made a successful UFC debut with a 3:58 TKO of “The Talent” Alan Belcher (12-5).
Lightweight Clementi ruined Canadian “Hands of Stone” Sam Stout’s (13-4-1) homecoming with a split decision victory.
Finally, touted heavyweight Velasquez only spent 2:10 in his Octagon debut before TKOing Brad Morris (9-3).
Also added Thursday, welterweight “Mach”