MONTREAL - Trainer Greg Jackson knew something was wrong with Georges St. Pierre before the fighter even stepped into the cage one year ago against Matt Serra at UFC 69 in Houston.

"He was too nervous, he was looking around for people to reassure him," Jackson recalled. Three minutes 25 seconds later, a dazed St. Pierre was on his back and Serra was the UFC welterweight champion in one of the biggest upsets in recent mixed martial arts history.

The two go at it again Saturday night at UFC 83 at a soldout Bell Centre in the UFC's Canadian debut. And those close to St. Pierre say the 26-year-old Quebecer is fit, focused and extremely motivated.

"Right now he's the best I've ever seen. . . . He's in really, really good shape," said strength and conditioning coach Jon Chaimberg. "He's sharp, he's very sharp."

"He's real hungry and that's the key to a fighter," added Jackson. "You've got to see him want to eat that meal. They've got to be hungry. If they're not hungry, if they've already eaten too many meals, you shouldn't fight, you should wait until you're hungry again. That's the real key with Georges. If he wants it, then he's going to win.

"That first Serra fight, he didn't want it. He just wanted to get in, do his job and get out. He didn't want to beat the guy. You've got to want to beat the guy, you've got to be hungry. Fighting is a very mental game."

St. Pierre was anything but hungry at UFC 69 last April. He had won the title five months earlier at UFC 65, ending Matt Hughes' run as leader of the 170-pound pack. But then he lost the plot.

His father was seriously ill. A cousin was in a coma after a car accident. There were injuries. St. Pierre lost focus.

In the first Serra fight, St. Pierre "was just trying to get out of there," says Jackson, who has since taken a bigger role in guiding the Canadian.

"Georges wanted to come in there and brawl and that's what it came down to. if you watch the punches he was throwing, they were hooks, they weren't straight punches."

St. Pierre just wanted to take Serra out. And he made mistakes doing it, opening the way for Serra to connect.

"People think it was a big fluke. I never feel that way," said Jackson, one of the smartest trainers in the sport. "I always felt that Matt exposed a hole in Georges' game, mistakes that he had made. ... I'm hoping we fixed those holes. We'll know Saturday night if I did my job or if I failed."

St. Pierre (15-2) has been all business in dispatching Josh Koscheck and Hughes (for a second time) since losing his title to Serra. The champion, meanwhile, has been out of action - first because of TV duties as a coach on "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV show and then because of two herniated discs.

St. Pierre has retooled since the Serra loss, changing management and some of his entourage. And he has dedicated himself to making himself fitter, faster and more dangerous.

Chaimberg notes that St. Pierre could barely do 10 chin-ups when he first got hold of him. Now the fighter does them with a 100-pound dumbbell chained to his waist and can handle 120-pound dumbbell presses. His vertical leap is 40 inches, which would make an NFL scout drool.

Mentally, St. Pierre is also rock solid. "My head is amazing now," the fighter says with a laugh.

Jackson also says St. Pierre's confidence was back for both the Koscheck and Hughes' wins. Normal St. Pierre service seems to have resumed.

Serra (16-4) may also have seriously erred by calling his opponent "Frenchy" in a brief war of words last year, a comment the UFC resurrected in a pre-fight TV special to hype the matchup. St. Pierre has a fleur-de-lis tattooed on his calf and will enter the cage Saturday with another emblazoned on his trunks. Serra doesn't speak French, but could leave Quebec knowing what "Je Me Souviens" means.

St. Pierre looked to punch and kick a year ago but may opt to try to take the American down this time.

Serra, 33, is a jiu-jitsu black belt, able to make opponents pay with a submission hold if they leave a limb dangling. Nevertheless St. Pierre could look to put him on his back, hoping to use his explosive power to pass Serra's guard and administer pain.

Could the game plan be to take Serra down?

"It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities at all," said Jackson.

An intelligent fighter, Serra has seen St. Pierre ride his wrestling in recent bouts. But he believes his hedgehog-like jiu-jitsu will slow St. Pierre down. And if St. Pierre wants to throw, the five-foot-six Serra will punch right back despite giving away four inches in height and a considerable reach advantage.

"If the fight goes downstairs, I'm going to be prepared," Serra said. "And upstairs, I'm feeling very very comfortable now. So my realm is not just going to be on the floor, it's going to be everywhere."

The gregarious Serra, who has clearly enjoyed the limelight before the fight, has exuded confidence in recent days despite St. Pierre being a 5-1 favourite.

'I'm not trying to be vain but I feel good about the fight," he said.

"Everybody's kind of looking past the last fight, thinking like 'Oh, that wasn't the real him.' I mean it looked liked him," he added. "I don't know, was it his freaking stunt double? It was him, I'm telling you. He had the accent and everything."

And in a telling comment, Serra notes: "I'm just the guy that beat him."

Winnipeg middleweight Joe (El Dirte) Doerksen, who faces off against Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald in an all-Canadian matchup Saturday, is not willing to write Serra off.

"St. Pierre likes to be on the outside, use his range and stay in his comfort zone," Doerksen observed. "Matt Serra is a bulldog, he just keeps coming at you. His punches tend to be a little bit wild and crazy but he throws with bad intentions, he throws with confidence every time. He's fearless and I think that gives him a very strong chance of making it a very competitive fight."

But welterweight Jonathan Goulet, a St. Pierre friend who takes on Japan's Kuniyoshi Hironaka on Saturday, echoes Jackson's view on St. Pierre. The Canadian is primed, Goulet says.

"You know right now he's hungry. He wants to win that fight. He wants to have that belt. That's his belt."

Whatever happens Saturday night, outside of the Bell Centre most of Montreal will be glued to Game 6 of the Canadiens-Bruins playoff series in Boston. Montreal has gone Habs crazy with police stationed on almost every downtown corner Thursday night in case the Canadiens won the series with a Game 5 victory.

The Montreal crowd of 21,000-plus will break the UFC's current attendance record of 19,049, set at UFC 68 on March 3, 2007, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

NOTES - There are 10 Americans, eight Canadians and one fighter apiece from Australia, Brazil, England and Japan on the 11-bout card. ... The co-main event pits former middleweight champion Rich Franklin against Travis Lutter in a fight both need to win to maintain their status on the 185-pound ladder ... England's Michael Bisping makes his debut at middleweight against Charles McCarthy after dropping down from light-heavyweight.

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