Serra looking forward to fight Hughes

Matt Serra admits he is looking forward to fight Matt Hughes at UFC 98.

Serra insists he does not like Hughes, but admits his opponent has done good things as a fighter.

Serra told FanHouse.com: “I’ve got to admit, I’m not a big fan. I don’t like him. As a fighter he’s done good things. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer. But you’ve got to separate the two. As a person, I don’t like him.

“In any field, when people reach a certain level of success they can either stay level-headed and down to earth, or they can let it get to their heads and become stuck-up jerks. And I think he’s the latter. As a fighter I think he’s dangerous at what he does and I’m really looking forward to fighting him. Just because I think he’s a jerk doesn’t mean I think he’s a bad fighter.”

Serra believes his disliking of Hughes will give him more motivation as he prepares for the fight at UFC 98.

He said: “It really does. The dislike for each other, everybody asks me, “Is it for real?” Well, yeah. Do I like the guy? No. People say, “You always talk about him.” Well, people ask me about him. If you ask me about him, I’m going to tell you, yeah, the guy is a stuck-up jerk. I don’t like him. I think it would be worse if people asked me and I said, “Oh, I think he’s a swell guy.”

“I really don’t like the guy and I think it’s better to be who you really are. And of course, it gives you extra motivation to train for a guy that you have a beef with. I don’t want to lose to this guy. I want to put him into retirement. I feel that if it goes the other way and he gets a victory, he’ll be an awful winner. He’ll go around saying I’m no good, I’m not in the Top 20, and I’m not having that. I’m not losing to this guy.”

Tags: Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, UFC