As someone who was sitting ringside at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for this last UFC 53, what most impressed me was the swing bout between Matt Serra and Karo Parysian. On the other hand, what I was most taken aback by was the fans’ mild mannered reception of the veteran fighters, while going nuts greeting the young new fighters emerging from The Ultimate Fighter.

Everyone in the house was overwhelmingly screaming and applauding when Nate Quarry stepped in, and then Forrest Griffin later in the evening. They are indeed excellent fighters, Forrest beat Ebenezer Fontes Braga in Brazil’s Heat FC 1-Genesis a couple of years ago, and Nate is a prodigy from Team Quest, who was knocked out of the TV screen because of an accident.
The contrast was When Shonie Carter stepped in with a fly red coat and Curtis Mayfield blasting, his presence brought a supreme showmanship and sense of humor, from a man who has fought over eighty pro MMA bouts. Shonie didn’t want to fight where he should (welterweight) because “I would have to get rid of all the food in the house!” And even though the larger younger Quarry eventually took out Shonie early in the first, you have to admire Shonie’s freaky style, and the fact that he rocked Nate a few times before going out. The crowd didn’t seem to know it, but it was the character that made the play.

“Say hello to my little friend.” Matt Serra brought a special gift for Karo’s memory bank.

Without a doubt, in my eyes the hottest fight was between a mature master and a mature young man. It was the Serra - Parysian bout that demonstrated what MMA and being a fighter is all about. Parysian has been fighting on a regular basis as a welterweight, and is a talent that can only go up. Serra had only fought once in the Octagon within the last year, defeating a talented Ivan Menjivar, controlling him and demanding the decision. This was in one of the last brief moments that the UFC has still flirted with the 155 lbs weight class.

Serra’s style has evolved quite a bit since debuting as a Renzo Gracie star pupil. He has fought only the best, and lost a very blurry decision against BJ Penn en route for the 155 lbs belt. The fight was very close, and that then younger BJ didn’t seem to want to tangle on the ground with this other BJJ man.

So what is different now?
Matt Serra is now a Ray Longo fighter. He’s proven that he has become a dangerous striker, putting a sleepy Parysian on the ground with a severe right.

“That was text book, that we had predicted, we dropped him with a beautiful right. I just didn’t think he would hang in there like that. I thought Yamasaki would have stopped the fight.” – Ray Longo

Even when Karo spontaneously returned to consciousness on his back, Serra delivered so many punches trying to finish the fight, that he forgot he was a submission man.
Not only had he stepped up a weight class looking for a fight, he was about to take out one of the new rising stars of the UFC. But there was no interception by Mario Yamasaki.

Karo applied the grappling heat to a Serra who was gassing, but it was second nature defending from any angle.

“You couldn’t get any closer. I think the fatigue killed him. He blew his load he thought he had the fight won. I think if the fatigue wasn’t there, I don’t think the size would have mattered.”

From there on, Karo regained his wits, got back up and stood with a Matt Serra that started delivering beautiful combinations laced with elbows to the taller fighters face.
Karo started thinking twice about keeping it standing.

Although Karo did come back in the first round, one must wonder why in the final judges cards, Parysian was awarded the first round by all three judges. If Serra would have closed that first round with the hard right, would the judges have seen it and scored it differently? Or what if he closed the match with that particular moment, which Parysian couldn’t comment on after the fight? As Ray Longo told me, “They should make each of those judges stand before the public and explain why they scored it that way…” Longo was not baffled with the final decision, he was KO’d by the numbers in those judging cards. As one of my colleagues told me, “They should make those judges be tested in MMA knowledge, and they should have to appear at the rules meetings before the fights.”

In the second round the output of Serra’s finishing attempt started to catch up with him, and after all, he was now lifting more weight, and that will deplete your stamina more quickly. Another long-term factor is that Karo has been gigging regularly while Serra has been kept on the shelf. Eventually Karo began controlling the match, getting take downs, attempting submissions, but most of all, bringing down those evil elbows on his opponents face. And we know how much the judges and crowd love elbows n blood.

Andrei Arlovsky’s only reality is training like an animal in Minsk, and being rewarded the “Interim Belt.” Someone should do a reality show on Andrei.

It seems that veterans such as Serra are suddenly caught in a gap between the Octagon and “a reality TV show”. It even took a fighter such as Jeremy Horn (over 120 MMA fights) five years to finally get another UFC shot, since getting caught by Elvis Sinosic. When I asked him why he thought the UFC finally offered him a shot, and a title one at that; “I guess that they where struggling to find opponents for him. (Chuck Liddell) They just didn’t want to do it or couldn’t do it.” Jeremy Horn is one of the most talented light heavy MMA fighters in the world. As a matter of fact, Jeremy KO’d Forrest Griffin with a beautiful kick back on September of 2003 at the IFC Global Domination tournament.

As MMA in the USA takes a quantum leap into the mainstream TV eyes of this great big land, we must remain weary or at least critical of this new brand of prefabricated MMA fighter, and not forget about that huge existing pool of talent. With reality shows running as rampant as the plague, the one thing everybody out in TV land can relate to is, that they too want to be on TV and rich, although not necessarily in that order. Although one cannot deny the positive attributes of Spike TV’s TUF program – millions of more viewers as well as a better monetary reward for future UFC fighters - one must always remember that it is the struggle, which builds character. Not marrying the label executive or marrying into the company.

So as everyone dreams of being in the public eye, as media executives rake in the cash and rookie MMA fighters are being dangled six figure carrots for letting it all hang out, the question is; Who is getting the thrashing?

Well the answer is very simple, if you look at their records, it’s the veterans and every fighter who has been actively putting their neck in the line of combat. And how many have been paid sufficiently? They are the fighters who earned their medals, the ones who keep looking for a fight, even though the authorities sometimes won’t reciprocate. Sure it’s about marketing, but the disparate figures fighters are rewarded say it all.

From school teacher in Boring, Ohio. Rich Franklin scored a title belt n a sweet TV deal.

We must also ask ourselves; what is real? Is there such a thing as a reality show? How can something be real when it is artificially created and then conceived in an artificial setting?

In the end, it is only experience, which creates an experienced fighter, and with that comes personal success and perhaps public recognition. Maybe that is what annoyed me at UFC 53, the fact that the crowd reacted to the young guns who came from TUF. But then again, the close ups of Chuck Liddell who was also in the house elicited mega applause as well.
Unfortunately, many fighters who have been fighting hard, putting out and entertaining got mild to tepid receptions at times.

It is disappointing to see fighters of Matt Serra’s caliber struggling to get a decent gig. The Terror proved on this particular night that he had “Very Big Balls” by going up a weight class against a young very talented shooting star named Karo Parysian. At the press conference, Karo thanked Matt Serra for stepping up, and when later interviewed, he said he couldn’t really comment on that terrorizing right hand in the first round. After all how can you comment on something you can’t remember? Either way, The Heat and The Terror where later seen taking photos together at the local casino watering hole.

“Honestly, what I would like more than anything else is to get is some stability… It would be nice to have something regular that I could count on, every few months a fight or so. Some stability, something that I could live on…”
- Jeremy Horn

Through Reality TV, younger or formerly unknown fighters have become hotter stock. Even fighters who didn’t make the first cut of TUF, came out headlining local MMA events and collecting from their “losses.”
I suppose in every professional sport there is a leap in monetary rewards for anything that is new to the masses, and growing.

Surfers like Derrick Ho or late Todd Chesser never made anything close to what the surfers of today like Sunny Garcia make. Well, even when we look at the foreign film industry, it is the same case.
But, “It ain't about how much money you make, it‘s about getting results, making an impact. Fighters like Bass, Severn, Shamrock, Tank, Frye, Serra, BJ, Uno, Pulver; they made a lasting impression and that is the result....” As the UFC creates a new generation of MMA fighters, they better not let their guard down. There is still an excellent crop of MMA men within the gates, who have not made rope escapes to Japan, where the caliber is still a bit hotter. The fact that the UFC had been actively asking Matt Serra to fight as a welter, is because they must be looking for an opponent for Matt Hughes. Maybe they should just bring on one of the young boys, at least he’ll get a hell of a reception from the crowd.

“I had to show some stand up, a little bit huh? I got balls so big!”- Matt Serra

More Photos & Official Results >>

Other UFC 53 Related Article >>