Quarterly Rankings
As Feb. 6's UFC 109 starts inching closer, welterweights Frank Trigg and Matt Serra start inching towards a vulgar run in with each other.
"[Serra] is in the twilight of his career," Trigg told Sherdog.com. "Unfortunately, when he loses to me, he's going to realize that his days as a fighter are going to be limited. He'll be able to go ahead and continue fighting in smaller, lesser-known organizations if he wants. Hopefully, he does so at 155. He's small to begin with, but he's definitely too small for this weight class and too small for me in this fight, as well."
Not to be outdone, Serra, who has been known for his trash-talking comments about former opponents Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes, had some words to say back at Trigg.
"Look, when my career is over and done with, I'm the one who can look back and say that I was the champ," he said. "He got there twice and choked both times - literally. I refuse to lose to a guy that has a [expletive] tramp stamp. You've seen his back, right? C'mon. No way am I losing to a guy that walks around with that."
Trigg understands that this fight might be his last in the UFC. Following his last fight against Josh Koscheck at UFC 103, UFC President Dana White was on the verge of dropping Trigg from the organization. However, after the rumors cleared, White announced that Trigg would have one more fight in the UFC.
Trigg said that he took note of Serra at Serra UFC debut in 2001 when he fought Shonie Carter. Carter knocked out Serra with a spinning back fist at the end of the third round.
"But [he] bounced back and picked up some big wins," Trigg said. "He's a former champ, so you have to respect that. He also carries a lot of brass but certainly not too much class."
Serra also commented that Trigg is "a dangerous guy... I always thought that he would be an interesting guy to fight. On top of that, he just has one of those faces that you want to punch."
Trigg countered by saying that even though Serra has a good ground game, he still might take him to the ground if need be. On the other hand, he said, Serra will have a lot of trouble trying to take him down.
"[Serra] might have more knockout power, but I have better punching power," said Trigg. "Matt is a tough guy, but I'll have no problem finishing him off. This one won't be left in the judge's hands."
Serra's last fight took place at UFC 98 in May 2009, where he lost a unanimous decision to his rival Matt Hughes. Ever since, Serra has spoken about a rematch.
"Of course, I wanted Hughes again," he said. "He came away with the decision in May, and myself and a lot of others disagree on that point. It was such a close fight. But it is what it is. I'm not going to sit here and talk bad on him because the UFC doesn't want a rematch right now. We did that - we fought. That doesn't take anything away from this fight. When Joe Silva called me with the Trigg fight, I said, ‘Hell yeah.' It's a matchup that excites me a lot."
Click here to Register!