Georges St-Pierre
Georges St-Pierre , also known by his initials GSP, is a Canadian former professional mixed martial artist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts history. St-Pierre was a two-division champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, having won titles in the welterweight and middleweight divisions.
St-Pierre is a three-time former UFC Welterweight Champion, having won the title twice and the interim title once between November 2006 and April 2008. He was ranked as the #1 welterweight in the world for several years by Sherdog and other publications. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 he was named the Canadian Athlete of the Year by Rogers Sportsnet. Fight Matrix lists him as the top MMA welterweight of all time and the most accomplished fighter in MMA history. He was voted as the greatest pound-for-pound MMA fighter in history in The Athletic MMA fighter survey.
St-Pierre retired as the reigning Welterweight Champion in December 2013, having held the record for most wins in title bouts and the second longest combined title streak in UFC history while defending his title nine consecutive times. He also won a record 33 consecutive rounds between 2007 to 2011. He returned to the Octagon in November 2017 at UFC 217, when he defeated Michael Bisping by submission to win the Middleweight title, thus becoming the fourth fighter in the history of the UFC to be a multi-division champion. He relinquished the title a few weeks later, citing health reasons, and officially retired from MMA.
Outside his competitive fighting career, St-Pierre has appeared in several films, such as the martial arts film Kickboxer: Vengeance, the superhero film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the action films Cartels and King of Killers.
Early life
St-Pierre was born in Saint-Isidore, Montérégie, Quebec, to Roland and Pauline St-Pierre on May 19, 1981. St-Pierre has two younger sisters. St-Pierre had a difficult childhood, attending a school where others would steal his clothes and money. As a child he played hockey, skated and participated in several sports. He began learning Kyokushin Karate at age seven to defend himself against a school bully. St-Pierre attended high school at École Pierre-Bédard where he held the school record for number of chin-ups done. After graduation he enrolled in kinesiology studies at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit. Before turning pro as a mixed martial artist, St-Pierre worked as a bouncer at a Montreal night club in the South Shore called Fuzzy Brossard and as a garbageman for six months to pay for his school fees. Already a 2nd dan Kyokushin karate black belt at age 12, his first professional fight was at age 20.As a youth, St-Pierre was inspired by Jean-Claude Van Damme, and described fighting him in the film Kickboxer: Vengeance as "a dream come true".
Training
St-Pierre has trained with a number of groups in a large variety of gyms throughout his fighting career. He began wrestling training between 19 and 20 years of age at the Reinitz Wrestling Center's Montreal Wrestling Club headed by Victor Zilberman, and continued training there until the end of his career. He was also coached by world champion Guivi Sissaouri. St-Pierre became known for having strong wrestling ability and went on to out-wrestle several fighters who had been accomplished wrestlers. He trained extensively with members of the Canadian national wrestling team and intended to pursue a place on the team for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics but was negated each time by his commitments as UFC Welterweight Champion.Prior to his fight with B.J. Penn at UFC 58, he trained at the Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in New York City. St-Pierre received his brown belt in BJJ from Renzo Gracie on July 21, 2006. In September 2008, St-Pierre earned his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Bruno Fernandes.
St-Pierre began training with Rashad Evans, Nathan Marquardt, Keith Jardine, Donald Cerrone and other mixed martial arts fighters at Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting Gaidojutsu school in New Mexico. Some of Jackson's students accompanied St-Pierre to Montreal to help prepare him for his fight at UFC 94 against B.J. Penn at the Tristar Gym, including Keith Jardine, Nathan Marquardt, Donald Cerrone, and Rashad Evans. St-Pierre's strength and conditioning coach was Jonathan Chaimberg of Adrenaline Performance Centre in Montréal; his Head Trainer was Firas Zahabi of Zahabi MMA, out of the Tristar gym. The two cornered all of St-Pierre's later bouts and remain his close friends. Between 2006 and 2009, St-Pierre trained in Muay Thai under Phil Nurse at the Wat in New York City.
Mixed martial arts career
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Early fights and ''The Ultimate Fighter'' coach
St-Pierre made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 46, where he defeated highly ranked Karo Parisyan by unanimous decision. His next fight in the UFC was against Jay Hieron at UFC 48. St-Pierre defeated Hieron via technical knockout in only 1:42 of the first round.Following his second win in the UFC, he faced Matt Hughes at UFC 50 for the vacant UFC Welterweight Championship. Despite a competitive performance against the much more experienced fighter, St-Pierre tapped out to an armbar with only 10 seconds remaining in the first round. The loss was the first of St-Pierre's career; he stated later that he was in awe of Hughes going into the title bout.
After his loss to Matt Hughes, St-Pierre rebounded with a win over Dave Strasser at TKO 19 by a first–round kimura submission. He then returned to the UFC to face Jason Miller at UFC 52, defeating Miller by unanimous decision.
St-Pierre was then matched up against top contender Frank Trigg at UFC 54. St-Pierre controlled the fight and won via rear-naked choke with less than a minute remaining in the first round. He then faced future lightweight champion Sean Sherk at UFC 56. Midway through the second round, St-Pierre became the second fighter to defeat Sherk and the first to finish him. During the post-fight interview, he went down on his knees with an impassioned plea to UFC management to give him another title shot.
At UFC 58, St-Pierre defeated former UFC welterweight champion B.J. Penn to become the No. 1 contender for the UFC welterweight title. St-Pierre won the match by split decision and was set for a rematch against then–champion Matt Hughes at UFC 63. St-Pierre was forced to withdraw from the match, however, due to a groin injury, and was replaced by the man he defeated in March, B.J. Penn. The UFC announced afterwards that St-Pierre would have the opportunity to fight for the title when his condition was fully healed.
St-Pierre was seen as a trainer on The Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback on Spike TV, which featured fighters who were previously seen in UFC events including Matt Serra, Shonie Carter, Pete Sell, Patrick Côté, and Travis Lutter. St-Pierre was seen vocally supporting fellow Canadian and training partner Patrick Côté during the season's airing.
Winning and losing the Welterweight Championship
At UFC 63, St-Pierre made an appearance to support fellow Canadian David "The Crow" Loiseau. At that time he was seen pushing Loiseau to "fight his fight" against Mike Swick. At the same event, after Matt Hughes had defeated B.J. Penn, St-Pierre stepped into the cage to hype up his upcoming title fight against Hughes, stating that he was glad that Hughes won his fight, but that he was "not impressed" by Hughes's performance.According to both commentator Joe Rogan and Hughes's own autobiography, Hughes was unhappy with St-Pierre's statement. Hughes said that they "had words" off-camera shortly after, at which time St-Pierre apologized, saying he had misunderstood something Hughes had said on the microphone and did not mean to offend him. St-Pierre challenged Matt Hughes again at UFC 65 for the UFC Welterweight Championship. The fight was almost stopped near the end of the first round when St-Pierre sent Hughes to the mat with a superman punch and left hook, but Hughes managed to survive the first round. In the second round, St-Pierre won the fight via technical knockout after a left kick to Hughes's head followed by a barrage of unanswered punches and elbows. This fight earned him a Knockout of the Night award. After the fight, on January 30, 2007, St-Pierre signed a new six-fight deal with the UFC.
At UFC 69 in 2007, St-Pierre suffered only his second loss in MMA, when he lost the welterweight title to The Ultimate Fighter 4 winner Matt Serra when Serra forced the referee to step in after a series of unanswered strikes at 3:25 of round one. Matt Serra was an 11–1 underdog going into the bout.
St-Pierre has said that he lost the match partially due to a lack of focus because of problems in his personal life, including the death of a close cousin and his father's serious illness, and later parted ways with his manager and most of his entourage. St-Pierre has since gone on to say that he should not have made any excuses and that Serra was simply the better fighter that night.
Championship pursuits
On August 25, 2007, at UFC 74, St-Pierre won a unanimous decision over Josh Koscheck. He outwrestled Koscheck, who is a four-time Division I NCAA All-American and an NCAA wrestling champion, by scoring takedowns, stopping Koscheck's takedown attempts and maintaining top position throughout most of the fight. Many predicted that Koscheck would outmatch St-Pierre on the ground due to his credentials, but St-Pierre was confident that he was a better wrestler and striker and was more well-versed in submissions than Koscheck.Before and after the fight, St-Pierre stated his intention to reclaim his lost title, miming 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 offence against St-Pierre, who again showcased his wrestling skills by not only avoiding all of Hughes's takedown attempts but also taking Hughes down at will. In a reversal of their first fight, St-Pierre attempted a kimura on Hughes's right arm, then switched to a straight armbar with fifteen seconds left in the second round. Hughes fought the extension, but was forced to submit verbally at 4:55 of the second round, making St-Pierre the interim Welterweight Champion. This fight earned him a Submission of the Night award.