By James Brydon, Sportsnet.ca

MONTREAL -- Only one belt was on the table Thursday as Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre sat on opposite sides of the podium at the news conference in Montreal ahead of UFC 83.

Matt Serra had his welterweight championship belt on display. The one belonging to St. Pierre, who was crowned the interim champion after defeating Matt Hughes in December, was nowhere to be seen.

"This belt is in my closet," St. Pierre said. "It doesn't mean anything for me. The real champion is right there."

"(But) if you ask me that question after Saturday night, it's going to be me the champion."

Serra, who will be defending the 170-pound title Saturday night at the Bell Centre for the first time since taking it away from St. Pierre at UFC 69 one year ago, isn't concerned about who's holding which belts.

"To me it's just another fight," said Serra. "Don't get me wrong, I love having it. But I don't look at it that way."

To most onlookers though, Saturday's main event is anything but just another fight. It's the first UFC event in Canada, and St. Pierre is not only the local fan favourite but also the overwhelming betting favourite to win. And St. Pierre, competing for the UFC in his home town for the very first time, will have to do it in front of a raucous crowd of 21,000 fans, most of whom will be cheering hard for him. Whether they leave the Bell Centre happy or in stunned disbelief for a second time is on his shoulders.

But St. Pierre, who has said on numerous occasions how focused he is for this one, has learned how to deal with that kind of pressure.

"It's an illusional box that I put around myself to really take away any other distractions," St. Pierre said. "I do it very well."

It's appropriate that he uses the term illusion, because by looking at him and listening to him, you'd be certain he's coming into this historic fight calmer than it would seem possible. But that's only because we can't see what's going on inside.

"I'm not calmer," St. Pierre explained. "It's the calm before the storm, believe me. I'm excited, I have butterflies, I'm very nervous. I'm scared to fail. That's normal. If I wouldn't have this feeling, I would not perform well."

Then he broke into some illustrations.

"I have butterflies, but the only thing I have to do is make my butterflies fly in formation," said St. Pierre, which drew a huge laugh. "I'm going to start doing poetry."

It was interesting to see him in a jovial mood so close to his adversary considering what has gone on back and forth between them. A war of words, which started since St. Pierre inadvertantly discredited Serra's first win and Serra responded by calling him "Frenchy," has settled down a bit as are now just two days away from the true battle. Both competitors certainly downplayed any dislike they might have for each other on Thursday.

"It's not like he's Matt Hughes or anything," said Serra. "He talked, I might have talked. But it is what it is.

"But let me just say for the record, I don't hate the French, let's just get that straight."

St. Pierre said it will all behind them after Saturday: "I don't mind about the talking. After the fight, I'll shake his hand. I'm not mad at all. It's a sporting event."

There have been a lot of questions about whether St. Pierre will be cautious about keeping the fight standing up after he was rocked in their first meeting. In his two fights since, he has taken it to the mat and used his wrestling, even against Josh Koscheck, who's strength is wrestling.

But St. Pierre dismisses such a notion that the loss to Serra got into his head and has made him scared to go toe-to-toe with him. And he points to the top-notch training partners he has had in preparation for this fight. He did his boxing training with WBA champion boxer Joachim Alcine, also of Montreal. And he worked hard with the likes of Denis Kang, Patrick Cote, Nate Marquardt and Keith Jardine in other disciplines.

Furthermore, the way he has won his past two fights is part of what has made his return after the loss so impressive. He out-wrestled the wrestler for a decision win over Koscheck in August. Then in December, he outgrappled Hughes and submitted him in relatively short order, securing an armbar in the second round.

Serra, who's strength will lie in striking, recognizes that he's facing a multi-dimensioned threat.

"He's a great wrestler, but he's great standing up too," said Serra. "I'm prepared for wherever it goes. It's not like I never trained any jiu-jitsu. I'm ready to rock."

There's no question that only one of the two will be hearing the cheers when he walks into the cage on Saturday. And after Saturday there will only be one belt. Who's wearing it, only time will tell.

NOTES: Another distraction Georges St. Pierre couldn't avoid was talk about the Montreal Canadiens and their chances Thursday night. He was confident about that too. "I think Montreal ends the series tonight. They will beat Boston, I'm pretty confident. I just saw Guillaume Latendresse downstairs and Steve Begin. They wished me best of luck. I did the same. They looked like they're going to rock." St. Pierre said he doesn't know if he'll watch it, it depends if he has time. … While St. Pierre garnered a few laughs, Serra was definitely the bigger clown. Asked how much French he could speak, he replied, "Why, are you going to throw some curse words at me? I don't know too much French. Nothing really. I was going to say, 'Oui, oui,' but I'm not even sure about that."