The Garv, being a close friend of Matt Serra, relayed this news to me last week.  As my eager fingers meandered towards the keyboard for a breaking story, he then added that Matt said he would kick his ass if he mentioned anything before it was closer to being official.  Still not feeling convinced or seeing any problems with proceeding with the story, I intended to carry through until The Garv revealed that Matt Serra would also kick my ass.

Engrossing foreword aside, it is The Fight Network that basks in the glory of breaking this news.  Long Island's own Matt Serra will be facing Frank Trigg at UFC 109 on February 6th in Las Vegas. 9-6 Matt Serra has fights stemming back to 1999 on his official record, and averages one or two fights per year in MMA.  "The Terror" keeps more than busy with his well-renowned Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy in Long Island, home to reputable UFC competitors like Pete Sell, Luke Cummo, and Matt's brother, Nick.

After topping Chris Lytle in a close decision to earn "The Ultimate Fighter" crown on Season 4, Serra then split fights with Georges St. Pierre, the first being a shocking walloping of the ungodly favored welterweight champion at UFC 69, followed by a sharp GSP performance in the rematch where Serra succumbed to strikes in the 2nd at UFC 83.  The longstanding rivalry with Matt Hughes finally culminated a year later with their UFC 98 brawl in somewhat of an unsatisfying unanimous decision for Hughes. Frank "Twinkletoes" Trigg is another seasoned veteran of the sport who has been fighting top competition for over a decade.

Originally hooking up with Lou Chiapparelli and the RAW team, Trigg is now at Xtreme Couture and making his second run in the UFC after his initial stint brought about a 2-3 record.  Unfortunately, his impressive demolitions of Dennis Hallman and Renato "Charuto" Verissimo were overshadowed by the fact that all three of his losses came in the form of a rear-naked choke.  Many merciless MMA fans took the brash stance that Trigg did not "know how to defend a choke" rather than assessed that the two men who choked Trigg out were none other than the two best welterweights in the history of the sport (GSP, Hughes).

Trigg's sophomore signing with the UFC did not start off on the right foot due to the relentlessly clobbering right hands of Josh Koscheck, who KO'd Trigg quickly in the first at UFC 103.  Trigg will now face Serra in the second fight of his comeback, and we will truly be able to get an update on Trigg's defensive Jiu Jitsu capabilities, as Matt Serra is the first American to be awarded a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and highly adept at submissions. With Trigg's phenomenal wrestling game (where Serra is also no slouch), and considering both fighters have no problem slugging it out on the feet, it will be interesting to see two fighters who assisted with shaping the sport into what it is today going after each other in the cage after all these years.