Matt Serra: ‘I’m on the mat six times a week, so I got on the TRT’

Matt Serra won’t be coming back to the Octagon anytime soon, but he could do well at the Improv.

The 40-year old Serra appeared in studio on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, and the Long Islander was in fine form, talking about everything from his libido to Ephedra on down to the little alligator on one of this Lacoste shirts. And though he says he tips the scale “just over 200 bills,” the retired former UFC welterweight champion said that if Dana White had put his stamp of approval on a rematch with Matt Hughes, he would have come back for “one more payday.”

“We had a little thing on Twitter not that long ago,” Serra told Ariel Helwani. “He was inquiring about a grappling match. We had a little back and forth about fighting again. Everybody seemed excited about it, but Dana wasn’t biting. I would have done it for sure.”

Serra officially retired in May 2013, some three years after his last UFC appearance against Chris Lytle at UFC 119 in Indianapolis. These days he runs his schools in Long Island and, alongside Ray Longo, coaches/corners middleweight champion Chris Weidman and others.

The beef with Hughes goes back a long way to when they coached opposite each other on The Ultimate Fighter 6. They fought at UFC 98, and Hughes won a close decision. Things never felt quite resolved between the two, and even in retirement both guys have flirted with the idea of fighting one last time against each other.

The tone of seriousness to it led to reporters asking Dana White about it at media scrums.

“It was getting some momentum, and I started thinking maybe I’m getting another payday, I’ve got three kids,” Serra said. “Then Dana made a statement, why make it, and it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. I’m not that guy who says, please can I get a fight?”

But even if White liked the idea, there are new hurdles. Serra revealed on the show that he has begun taking testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), which was banished in Nevada in February.

“I’m on the mat six times a week, so I got on the TRT,” he said. “I had some back issues and I’m always on he mat, so I had my levels checked. So I went and my things were in the 300s or whatever, so I’m like really, wow…so I’m a candidate? I’m like, if I’m not fighting, who cares?”

Serra, who has three children, made it clear that his low levels had nothing to do with his sex drive. “I’ve never had c— problems,” he said. But the TRT is making him feel young again. He said he gets a shot in the hindquarters once a week, and that when he does his wife needs to take cover.

“My poor wife…she’s got to fight me off because that TRT gives you that jumpstart to you libido, and I’ve never had a problem with libido,” he said, advising young MMA Hour viewers to turn away. “I’ve never had a problem, but when you do the TRT, you’re 20 again. You can wake up in the morning…put a coconut there, and boom, I’ll break that thing open. So that’s an extra perk.”

Serra was on the show to talk about a fundraiser he’s doing at his Serra BJJ Huntington school on June 22, as part of the Live to Fight nonprofit organization that aids people in the martial arts with life-threatening illnesses. Ray Longo, Renzo Gracie, Al Iaquinta and many others will be on hand doing seminars. Longo will do an MMA seminar from 10-12, and Gracie will do a Brazilian jiu-jitsu seminar from 1-4.

“I was looking to give back, ever since I had kids,” Serra said. “It’s for people in the mixed martial arts world who have a sickness or a disease. That’s what this organization does; it helps people like that.”

In this case it’s local fighter Trever Baney, whose father Brian is battle stage 4 brain cancer. Details can be found at livetofight.org.

Matt Serra won’t be coming back to the Octagon anytime soon, but he could do well at the Improv.

The 40-year old Serra appeared in studio on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, and the Long Islander was in fine form, talking about everything from his libido to Ephedra on down to the little alligator on one of this Lacoste shirts. And though he says he tips the scale “just over 200 bills,” the retired former UFC welterweight champion said that if Dana White had put his stamp of approval on a rematch with Matt Hughes, he would have come back for “one more payday.”

“We had a little thing on Twitter not that long ago,” Serra told Ariel Helwani. “He was inquiring about a grappling match. We had a little back and forth about fighting again. Everybody seemed excited about it, but Dana wasn’t biting. I would have done it for sure.”

Serra officially retired in May 2013, some three years after his last UFC appearance against Chris Lytle at UFC 119 in Indianapolis. These days he runs his schools in Long Island and, alongside Ray Longo, coaches/corners middleweight champion Chris Weidman and others.


The beef with Hughes goes back a long way to when they coached opposite each other on The Ultimate Fighter 6. They fought at UFC 98, and Hughes won a close decision. Things never felt quite resolved between the two, and even in retirement both guys have flirted with the idea of fighting one last time against each other.

The tone of seriousness to it led to reporters asking Dana White about it at media scrums.

“It was getting some momentum, and I started thinking maybe I’m getting another payday, I’ve got three kids,” Serra said. “Then Dana made a statement, why make it, and it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. I’m not that guy who says, please can I get a fight?”

But even if White liked the idea, there are new hurdles. Serra revealed on the show that he has begun taking testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), which was banished in Nevada in February.

“I’m on the mat six times a week, so I got on the TRT,” he said. “I had some back issues and I’m always on he mat, so I had my levels checked. So I went and my things were in the 300s or whatever, so I’m like really, wow…so I’m a candidate? I’m like, if I’m not fighting, who cares?”

Serra, who has three children, made it clear that his low levels had nothing to do with his sex drive. “I’ve never had c— problems,” he said. But the TRT is making him feel young again. He said he gets a shot in the hindquarters once a week, and that when he does his wife needs to take cover.

“My poor wife…she’s got to fight me off because that TRT gives you that jumpstart to you libido, and I’ve never had a problem with libido,” he said, advising young MMA Hour viewers to turn away. “I’ve never had a problem, but when you do the TRT, you’re 20 again. You can wake up in the morning…put a coconut there, and boom, I’ll break that thing open. So that’s an extra perk.”

Serra was on the show to talk about a fundraiser he’s doing at his Serra BJJ Huntington school on June 22, as part of the Live to Fight nonprofit organization that aids people in the martial arts with life-threatening illnesses. Ray Longo, Renzo Gracie, Al Iaquinta and many others will be on hand doing seminars. Longo will do an MMA seminar from 10-12, and Gracie will do a Brazilian jiu-jitsu seminar from 1-4.

“I was looking to give back, ever since I had kids,” Serra said. “It’s for people in the mixed martial arts world who have a sickness or a disease. That’s what this organization does; it helps people like that.”

In this case it’s local fighter Trever Baney, whose father Brian is battle stage 4 brain cancer. Details can be found at livetofight.org.