In part two of our three part interview series with Ray Longo, longtime Matt Serra trainer, we look back at one of the greatest upsets in the history of MMA when Serra won the welterweight belt defeating George St. Pierre at UFC 69. Longo takes us through the pre-fight thinking, why Luke Cummo’s fight on the same card played a role in the victory, and the lasting effect the knockout has had on St. Pierre’s fighting style. Longo is very candid in judging that St. Pierre has never been the same fighter since Serra pounded him out, and suggests there is a “panic” in his posture and with his corner team whenever he is in a stand-up situation.  Never one to parse words, Longo goes further using the word “awful” when explaining St. Pierre’s current fighting style.  Read on. ...

Fighters.com's Welterweight Champion "Rush" Georges St. Pierre (17-2) defended his title in a five-round unanimous decision over top contender Jon Fitch (17-3) Saturday night in Minneapolis by scores of 50-44 twice and 50-43. The win facilitates an apparent New Year's Eve champion-versus-champion rematch between St. Pierre and Fighters.com's Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn (13-4-1), who was invited into the Octagon after the main event to challenge St. Pierre, saying, "I want to put this fight together." St. Pierre accepted Penn's challenge, proclaiming, "I'm a proud champion." In the co-main event, Brock Lesnar (2-1) dominated a three-round unanimous decision over Fighters.com's eighth-ranked heavyweight “Texas Crazy Horse” Heath Herring (28-14) by scores of 30-26 three times. "I fell off the horse," Lesnar told the 15,082 spectator hometown crowd referring to his Octagon debut loss to former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir (11-3), "but, tonight I got on that stallion and rode it out of town, baby! Wooo!" Fighters.com's seventh-ranked lightweight "KenFlo" Kenny Florian (10-3) won a blow-out unanimous decision over "El Matador" Roger Huerta (20-2-1) by 30-27 on all three judges' score cards in a UFC top contender bout. ...

Tuesday the UFC officially added two more bouts to the UFC 87 card in Minneapolis on 9 August. Andre Gusmao (5-0) will face “Travolta” Tomasz Drwal (14-2) in a light heavyweight match-up, and welterweights “The Silent Assassin” Luke Cummo (6-5) and “The Barn Cat” Tamden McCrory (8-1) will meet. Gusmao almost signed with the UFC in February to fight David Heath (8-3), but happened to still be under contract with the IFL. His last fight was in September. Drwal tallied a loss against Thiago Silva (13-0) by second-round TKO in September at his UFC debut, ending a thirteen-fight win streak. TUF 2 competitor Cummo is coming off a loss by unanimous decision to Luigi Fioravanti (12-3) at UFC 82 in March. McCrory’s only loss of his professional career came during his last fight at UFC 78 in November, when PRIDE veteran Akihiro Gono (28-12-7) submitted him with an armbar in the second round. ...

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion, "Pitbull" Andrei Arlovski pocketed the biggest purse Saturday night in Columbus, $105,000 to show plus a $65,000 win bonus.  His victory over "Irish" Jake O'Brien completed his UFC contract. However, it was UFC Middleweight Champion "Spider" Anderson Silva who left Nationwide Arena big pimpin' with a total disclosed payday of $260,000 for his second round submission of "Hollywood" Dan Henderson. Silva received $70,000 to show, a $70,000 win bonus, a $60,000 Submission of the Night bonus, and a $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus.  Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money! Henderson received a $60,000 bonus for participating in Fight of the Night.  "The Crippler" Chris Leben received $60,000 for Knockout of the Night in his victory over "Legionarius" Alessio Sakara. Despite making the PPV broadcast in an non-stop stand-up war, Josh Koscheck and Dustin Hazelett lost out to Silva v Henderson for Fight of the Night. The entire run-down below: Andrei Arlovski: $170,000 Anderson Silva: $140,000 Heath Herring: $140,000 Dan Henderson: $100,000 Diego Sanchez: $60,000 Chris Leben: $50,000 Cheick Kongo: $30,000 Yushin Okami: $28,000 Evan Tanner: $25,000 Josh Koscheck: $20,000 Alessio Sakara: $17,000 Luigi Fioravanti: $16,000 Luke Cummo: $16,000 Jorge Gurgel: $14,000 Dustin Hazelett: $12,000 Jake O’Brien: $11,000 David Bielkheden: $8,000 John Halverson: $3,000 ...

On a night in Columbus when the original UFC Heavyweight Champion and tactician behind the ground'n'pound "The Hammer" Mark Coleman became a legend joining the UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Middleweight Champion "Spider" Anderson Silva knocked on that same hallowed door. The kickboxer from Curitiba vanquished former PRIDE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion "Hollywood" Dan Henderson in a rear naked choke at 4:52 of the second round. The first round illustrated why Henderson, 22-7, was pegged as Silva's last great challenge at 185-pounds. The wrestler from California nixed the champion's world class stand-up with lateral movement that prevented Silva from setting and delivering his laser-like strikes. Henderson grabbed hold of the "Spider" and dumped him to the mat in an awkward half guard that allowed "Hollywood" to smother Silva while peppering him with hammer fists. The frustrated champion endured to the second frame. In a sloppy Thai clinch, Silva slammed a knee to Henderson's chiseled chin, causing the the top contender to crumble. Silva pounced!  A barrage of strikes convinced Henderson to give up his back, the fatal flaw leading to a rear naked choke submission with just eight seconds to spare in the round. While UFC broadcasters Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan wondered allowed who could challenge the champion, Silva seemed to indicate a third tussle with former UFC Middleweight Champion "Ace" Rich Franklin was due. In the broadcasted card's only heavyweight rumble, "The Texas Crazy Horse" Heath Herring tumbled into a split decision "W" over Cheick Kongo of France. The Parisian kickboxer insisted on wrestling, to the surprise of everyone including Herring.  Kongo dumped the Texan by force of will, but never capitalized on his advantageous ground positions as Herring consistently swept and reversed into safer territory. In the end, Herring's pitter-patter of pounding and Kongo's cluelessness on the mat served Herring the "W" and a possible rematch with current interim UFC belt holder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, whom Herring came within a hair of beating last year. In untelevised heavyweight action, former UFC titlist "The Pitbull" Andrei Arlovski wrapped-up his current UFC contract and possibly his Octagon career with second round TKO of Jake O'Brien. Arlovski has openly entertained the idea of quitting the UFC for greener opportunities. Another pair of middleweights made the PPV broadcast when former UFC Middleweight Champion Evan Tanner was knocked silly...er with a knee from the Thai clinch by Yushin Okami. The fight was Tanner's first since April 2006 and the vet seemed to gas late into the first round before eating the death blow at 3:00 of the second. 18-4 Chris Leben TKO'd 185-pound newbie "Legionarius" Alessio Sakara of Italy at 3:16 of round one. "The Crippler" Leben knocked Sakara to his back with a left hook behind the ear, then pounced on the Roman with six unanswered punches before referee Herb Dean waved the affair closed. Welterweights Josh Koscheck and Dustin Hazelett lit each other up for a round before a Koscheck kick found the button behind Hazelett's ear a minute into round two.  Koschek pummeled the fallen fighter until the referee called it a TKO for Koscheck. The PPV opened with the longest three rounds of my life between welterweight contender Jon Fitch and UFC-debuting Chris Wilson of Team Quest. Wilson spent most of his Octagon initiation on his bicycle while Fitch tried to chase him down.  The judges awarded Fitch a unanimous decision for aggression and superior wrestling positioning. The rest of the untelevised portion of the card included a unanimous decision  "W" for 12-3 welterweight Luigi Fioravanti over Luke Cummo, who falls to 6-5. "Nightmare" Diego Sanchez was tossed a bit of red meat in Sweden's David Bielkheden after dropping two consecutive fights.  Sanchez devoured Bielkheden in a first round strikes submission. Lightweight Jorge Gurgel took a unanimous decision over John Halverson to improve to 12-3, 3-2 in the Octagon.  UFC 82 sold out Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. ...