Matt Serra – BJJ Back Mount
Salepage : Matt Serra – BJJ Back Mount
Matt Serra, a former UFC welterweight champion, was also the first American to obtain his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Renzo Gracie. Matt Serra is best known for his historic upset in MMA, when he won his UFC welterweight title by TKOing heavy favorite George Saint Pierre; he is also an accomplished grappler, having medaled in important tournaments such as the Mundial de Jiu-Jitsu and the ADCC, defeating submission artists such as Jean Jacques Machado and Leo Santos.
Jiu-Jitsu by Matt Serra
Mathew John Serra’s full name is Mathew John Serra.
Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr > Renzo Gracie > Matt Serra
Main accomplishments (Grappling):
IBJJF Pan Championship first place (1999 purple)
ADCC World Championship, 2nd Place (2001)
International Pro-Ams 2nd Place (2000)
IBJJF World Championship, third place (2000 brown)
Favorite Technique/Position: Taking the back seat.
Weight Classification: Peso Medio (82kg/181lbs).
Renzo Gracie/Serra Jiu Jitsu Team/Association
Biography of Matt Serra
Matt Serra was born in East Meadow, New York, to an Italian-American family on June 2, 1974. Matt’s father was a martial artist who had a significant impact on the Serra family’s association with combat sports. Matt began learning Kung Fu with his brothers at a young age. According to Askmen.com, Matt Serra had a desire to join the military, specifically the Marines, when he was a teenager, but an occurrence when he was 17 years old put a stop to that goal.
Matt was 17 years old when he was involved in a street brawl that gravely damaged his opponent. Matt Serra was charged with a crime and was forced to plead guilty in order to escape a lengthy prison term. That blot on his criminal record dashed his ambitions of joining the marines, which turned out to be a gift in disguise. At the time, his father had found Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (eventually earning a black belt himself) and pushed his son to learn with Craig Kukuk (the first American BJJ black belt), and it was via Kukuk that the Serras met Renzo Gracie, who shared an academy in New York with Kukuk. This would turn out to be a fantastic answer for what appeared to be an uncertain future.
With a physical structure comparable to Renzo Gracie’s brother, Ralph, Matt Serra responded well to Renzo’s teachings and quickly became one of the gym’s primary contenders, gaining his black belt in 2000 and became the first black belt under Renzo Gracie born in the United States.
Matt Serra made the grappling world aware of his existence in 2000 by finishing second in the ADCC, the world’s most renowned submission wrestling event, after conceding passage to colleague Marcio Feitosa in the final. The success of this event also caught the attention of a few MMA organizers, and Matt was soon asked to compete in the UFC, America’s most prominent MMA event.
After winning the TUF reality program in 2006, Matt Serra won the chance to compete for the UFC welterweight championship. Serra faced George St Pierre, one of the most dominant fighters in MMA at the time. Few gave Serra a chance, which proved to be a mistake as Serra defeated the title with a TKO in the first round, causing possibly the biggest upset in MMA history. GSP, on the other hand, would revenge his defeat 12 months later.
