“You wanna hear a Matt Serra story, I’ll tell you, going out to eat with that guy… that guy is crazy,” UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman said while finishing up his signing appearance at ALLOUT Fight Shop in Miami, FL. “That guy is out of his mind.”

It was roughly 6:30 p.m., September 27, and the sun was about an hour away from dipping below the horizon. Having already endured a long day of fulfilling press obligations to promote UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2, Weidman was visibly exhausted. Yawning frequently, he remained gracious, professional and personable, regularly soliciting laughter from the modest group of fans who’d caught wind of this additional opportunity to meet the MMA star.

Someone asked after Matt Serra, Weidman’s longtime friend and trainer, and Weidman shone a light on his coach’s top-secret dieting technique in a moment of unscripted candor. Luckily, my audio recorder was still on and I managed to catch the whole thing.

“He got a bunch of mozzarella sticks and lots of marinara on the side,” the middleweight champ mused. “This guy was taking – he got extra bread on the side – got bread, literally, like big pieces at a time, put the mozzarella sticks inside the bread, dipping it all in the marinara, and I’m like, ‘you are out of your mind!’ I mean, it looked good, but that is just like… Is there anything worse? We’re not filming this are we? He’s gonna kill me.”

A fan inquired as to whether or not Serra was still active as a fighter.

“Oh no, he ain’t… I think he’s done now. You know, he’s accomplished a lot. I think he’s done. You know, he’s got his family now, he’s got his schools he’s doing great with, so…”

I chimed in: “Well, there’s the Dolce Diet and now there’s the Serra Diet.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I sit on the fence between those two.”

Serra himself has confirmed his new superdiet. In an interview posted on the UFC’s own website, the former welterweight champion opened up about his breakthrough new nutritional regimen.

“At night is where I get in trouble,” he confided. “I’ll either have a turkey or a veggie burger, or my wife will make pasta or pizza. I can be that guy as well for sure.

“Do you know what gnocchi is? It’s delicious! But it’s heavy as hell! They [his wife’s family] make that homemade gnocchi. Even when they barbeque they take the bread and soak it in the olive oil and wine. They put that on the barbeque, man. It’s nuts.”

As to what his dish of choice would be if he was stuck on a desert island: “I’m going to say pizza, to be honest with you.”

Keep an eye out for the patented Matt Serra Diet, coming to an Italian Ristorante near you.

For more on the UFC 168 Tour’s Stop in Miami

Anderson Silva Edition

Chris Weidman Edition (Part 1)

Dana White Edition

Chris Weidman Edition (Part 2)

(All photos were taken by – and are the property of – MMAOwl.com, except where annotated *, which appear courtesy of The Ultimate Fighting Championship and **, which were taken from Serra’s Twitter page.)