the act of placing a championship belt around his waist while still in the octagon. His win over Koscheck had placed him in the No. 1 contender spot for the UFC Welterweight Championship. That fight was to be against the winner of Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. Matt Serra had to pull out of UFC 79 due to a back injury sustained during training, and instead St-Pierre faced Hughes in a rubber match for the interim UFC Welterweight Championship. Hughes was unable to mount any serious offense against St-Pierre, who again showcased his wrestling skills by not only avoiding all of Hughes' takedown attempts but also taking Hughes down at will. In a reversal of their first fight, St-Pierre attempted a kimura on Hughes' right arm, then switched to a straight armbar with fifteen seconds left in the second round. Hughes fought the extension, but was forced to verbally submit at 4:55 of the second round, making St-Pierre the interim Welterweight Champion. Welterweight Championship unification bout At UFC 83 on April 19, 2008, St-Pierre fought Matt Serra in a rematch to determine the undisputed UFC welterweight champion. It was the UFC's first event in Canada and was held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Québec. Instead of starting with strikes, St-Pierre pressed the action early with a takedown and then mixed up his attack, which never allowed Serra the chance to mount a significant offense. In the second round, St-Pierre continued his previous actions and forced Serra into the turtle position and delivered several knees to Serra's midsection. Near the end of round two, the fight was stopped by referee Yves Lavigne with a visibly gassed Serra unable to defend himself from St-Pierre's continuous knee blows or improve his position. Championship defenses St-Pierre's first title defense after regaining the belt was against Jon Fitch at UFC 87. Fitch was on a 16-fight winning streak and a victory against St-Pierre would have been Fitch's ninth consecutive UFC win, a new UFC record. St-Pierre defeated Jon Fitch by unanimous decision (50–43, 50–44, and 50–44), scoring multiple devastating strikes and taking the former Purdue wrestling captain down seemingly at will. The win over Fitch set up one of the most anticipated rematches in UFC history. B.J. Penn entered the octagon after Fitch's loss and challenged St-Pierre to a rematch of their UFC 58 bout from 2006, which had ended in a split-decision victory