Background
The event on this date was originally scheduled to be called UFC 84, but following the cancellation of a tentatively scheduled March 8, 2008 event in England, the event's title was changed to UFC 83 instead.
Several prominent Canadian fighters were set to compete, including Kalib Starnes, Mark Bocek, Jason MacDonald, Sam Stout, Jason Day and Jonathan Goulet. Patrick Côté was scheduled to fight as well, but was forced to pull out after sustaining an injury in a slip-and-fall accident.
The main event featured a rematch between Matt Serra and Georges St-Pierre from their fight at UFC 69, which Serra had won. The two fighters exchanged harsh words through the media following that fight, which led to the circumstances that surrounded the rematch. St-Pierre cited personal issues for the loss. He said that his father was seriously ill, and that his 17 year old cousin had died in a car accident around the time of the first fight. St-Pierre then claimed that he only accepted the fight with Serra because he thought he could "easily beat this guy." Serra took exception to these comments and responded in a subsequent radio interview by calling St-Pierre a "Frenchy", telling him to "go drink some red wine and go watch a hockey game."
This event also marked the debut of current UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez.
Read more about this topic: UFC 83
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