UFC.com announced late Thursday that Welterweight Champion Matt Serra has pulled out of his scheduled fight against Matt Hughes.

Serra, who suffered a herniated disc during training, was scheduled to defend the belt against Hughes at UFC 79 on December 29.

The grudge match was to mark the final culmination of this season's "The Ultimate Fighter." Serra and Hughes, who have made their dislike crystal clear, have been appearing and will continue to appear as rival coaches for the duration of TUF6.

In addition to determining the next UFC Welterweight fighter, the show was designed as a hype vehicle for the Serra-Hughes grudge match. UFC has not yet determined when the match will ultimately take place.

“This is devastating news because they were so looking forward to fighting each other," said UFC President Dana White. “Unfortunately injuries happen and I look forward to Serra recovering quickly, and to getting him back into the Octagon.”

The injury reportedly occurred when Serra attempted to demonstrate a grappling move. "Serra went to the hospital and underwent an MRI, which revealed the herniated discs in his lower back," read the UFC.com report.

Serra added, "I’ve never had a back injury before; I could hardly get off of the MRI table. There is no way I can train through this, and I’m devastated, especially because this was such an important fight. I was looking forward to fighting Matt Hughes. All my training was going phenomenally until Monday – All I can do now is to get better and to fight again as soon as possible.”

Originally promoted as the secondary main-event, the fight between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva will presumably become the primary focus of UFC 79. The show also features the anticipated debut of former PRIDE fighter Sokoudjou.

UPDATE: MATT HUGHES RESPONDS; NEW UFC 79 RUMORS

In a post on his official blog, Matt Hughes acknowledged the legitimacy of Matt Serra's injury but reminded fans that he entered a recent fight with multiple bulging discs.

"As of now, Matt Serra is out of the fight because of a herniated disc in his lower back. I believe Serra is actually hurt, so I don’t think this is just a ploy not to fight. Before my Royce fight, I had three bulged discs that I was able to repair enough to fight. As everybody knows you never go into a fight 100%. So, I’m just going to continue to train until I find out what’s next," the former UFC Champion wrote.

Serra, the UFC's Welterweight Champion, pulled out of a UFC 79 fight with Hughes after suffering a disc herniation in his lower back. At press time, UFC had not finalized plans for the future of the fight and the Welterweight title. Yahoo! Sports noted that Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves were being eyed as replacement opponents for Matt Hughes, but nothing is yet official.

NEW TITLE FIGHT SCHEDULED - SERRA'S UFC 79 REPLACEMENT REVEALED

UFC announced Saturday that former Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre will replace the injured Matt Serra at UFC 79.

St. Pierre will fight Matt Hughes, Serra's scheduled opponent, in a bout for the interim UFC Welterweight belt. When Serra recovers from his herniated disc injury, a title unification bout will be held.

“Obviously, the loss of Matt Serra was brutal, but the great thing about the UFC is that we can put together great fights like Hughes-St-Pierre at a moment’s notice and bounce right back,” said UFC President Dana White. “I have the utmost respect for both Hughes and St-Pierre for stepping up for this fight, and not only are the fans going to see two of the greatest welterweights of all-time settle their score in a rubber match, but they're going to do it in a five round interim title fight, and the winner is going to face off next year against Matt Serra for the undisputed title.”

Hughes and St. Pierre share a 1-1 record against each other. Hughes submitted St. Pierre in the first round of their UFC 50 bout, but St. Pierre answered back by TKO'ing Hughes in the second round at UFC 65.


News Options:
Full MMA Newsboard
Return to Headline Planet.com