Matt Serra is about the be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. His fighting days are long past, and he’s been gradually moving into a broadcasting/television career, turning up on Dana White’s Lookin’ for a Fight and the UFC Unfiltered podcast. That doesn’t mean, however, that he’s slacked off any in the skills department. As one allegedly drunk and unruly customer at a Las Vegas restaurant learned the hard way.

In a video Serra posted to his official Instagram page, Serra can be seen in mount on the downed man, controlling his wrists and easily preventing him from doing any harm to himself — or others.

The video was posted with a caption that reads “How do you spend the night before your @ufc HOF induction?!? You subdue some asshole drunk that was threatening waiters then tries to swing on you. #jiujitsu”

You can watch the scene unfold below. A second video uploaded an hour earlier appears to show an intoxicated woman passed out at the same restaurant, and a man adjusting her while Serra comments that it looks like something out of “Weekend at Bernie’s.” It appears that man may be the man Serra went on to subdue.

https://instagram.com/p/Bk1wRZKFTQG/?utm_source=ig_embed

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Atlantic City, NJ — Saturday night in Atlantic City, UFC Fight Night 128 had a little surprise announcement to go with it. Former welterweight champion Matt Serra was announced as joining the UFC Hall of Fame, class of 2018. It was big news for a fighter especially popular on the East Coast — and Serra was on hand to talk to the media about the honor. Of course, as the cameras got rolling, the fighter turned coach couldn’t help but keep his eye on the action on the screen immediately next to him. On which David Branch was in the process of finishing Thiago Silva.

“Oh sh**! I called Branch to win by knockout!” he exclaimed just as Saturday night’s impromptu press scrum began. “That’s what the f*** I did! I called that sh**! On UFC Unfiltered. That’s good, I called that.”

“Nostradamus,” he jokingly referred to himself as. It was a good call, mind you. Branch was at UFC Atlantic City off a loss to Luke Rockhold. Santos had won four straight.

Distractions aside, Serra was beaming Saturday, and rightfully so. He’ll join the Hall of Fame in the Pioneer Wing during International Fight Week this July.

“That’s wild” he said of the honor. Serra recounted getting the call from UFC President Dana White, who told Serra he was being admitted to the Hall just as his young daughter knocked her head while playing. It was a little anti-climactic at  the time, but he would later admit that “it doesn’t suck. It’s exciting.”

When it comes to how he’ll be remembered, his bouts against Georges St. Pierre will of course stand out. And “I’m totally fine with that,” Serra said. “That was my Rocky movie, I’m a big fan of Rocky and I felt like I lived that movie. Except Rocky II ended up better than my second fight with GSP.”

Serra, who finished his career 11-7, said that “it’s not always the wins that you want to even be remembered for. Right at this place, at the Boardwalk Hall,” he recounted, “I lost to Karo Parisyan.”

“It was here, you know, in that fight I learned a lot about myself” Serra added. “Because it was a fight that I got winded, a fight I almost won, a fight during it, I wanted to get out of there but I never did get out of there, I never let myself quit. Stuff like that I’m proud of.”

Cageside got a chance to ask Serra whether Dana White and co were able to keep the reveal a secret, and according to Serra, the news was a complete surprise. “It came out of the blue,” he told us. “Dana face-timing, you know he does that from time to time, just to bulls*** about anything. It’s not weird, we’re not face-timing every night,” he added with a laugh.

“So I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary,” Serra continued. “So when he said that, it was definitely out of left field. But it was a good surprise. My family, wife and kids are proud. My family’s proud, my students, phone’s blowing up. It’s a really good moment. And I’m really really happy for Aljo [Aljamain Sterling, who defeated Brett Johns] tonight.”

A theme from Serra on the night was passing the torch, and putting the focus on the young stars he’s training over in Serra-Longo. Yet this July, the spotlight will be on Matt Serra one more time, as he’s remembered as a pioneer of the sport, scoring wins over Chris Lytle and Frank Trigg, winning The Ultimate Fighter 4, and, of course, knocking out Georges St. Pierre in one of the most shocking upsets of all time.

Watch the full, highly entertaining scrum with Matt Serra from UFC Atlantic City above!

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On Saturday, between fights at UFC Atlantic City, the UFC announced that former welterweight champion Matt Serra would be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018. The former Ultimate Fighter winner will be inducted into the pioneer wing, over international fight week in July.

Serra is best known for having one of the biggest upset wins of all time. At UFC 69, after winning the Ultimate Fighter comeback season, he had a shot at welterweight champion and one of the best fighters of all time, Georges St-Pierre. Serra went into the fight a giant underdog, just about anyone thinking he had a chance was hard to find. Serra, however went, in as a jiu-jitsu ace and knocked out St-Pierre in the first round to capture the UFC welterweight title.

Serra would go on to lose the rematch to St-Pierre, and never captured the title again. His win will always be a major point in the sport’s history, however, and it’s not hard to see why the UFC is deciding to honor him. Both for the win, and his other wins and accomplishments in his UFC career.

Nowadays Serra is one half of one of the best MMA camps, working with Ray Longo in New Jersey. They are the heads of a team that has seen fighters such as Chris Weidman, Aljamain Sterling and Gian Villante born of it. Serra also co-hosts the podcast UFC Unfiltered with Jim Norton.

Matt Serra is only the second of many being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this year. The other announced name is former UFC Producer Bruce Connal, who passed away earlier this year.

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