Georges St-Pierre
Template:MMAstatsbox Georges "Rush" Saint-Pierre (born May 19, 1981), often referred to as GSP[1] , is a French-Canadian mixed martial arts fighter, former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion and current interim welterweight champion. He holds notable wins over Matt Hughes (Twice), Josh Koscheck, B.J. Penn, Frank Trigg, Karo Parisyan and Sean Sherk.[2] He is ranked by Sherdog as well as MMAWeekly the #2 170 lb (77 kg) fighter in the world.[3]
Biography
Born May 19, 1981 in Saint-Isidore, Quebec, Canada, St. Pierre had a difficult childhood, attending a school where others would steal his clothes and money.[4] He started learning Kyokushin karate at age six to defend himself against a school bully.[5] He took up Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) after his karate teacher died, and has also trained in wrestling and boxing. Before turning pro as a mixed martial artist, St. Pierre worked as a bouncer at a Montreal night club called Fuzzy Brossard.[6]
St. Pierre has trained with a number of groups in a wide variety of gyms throughout his fighting career. 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.[7] after working up to his purple belt with Fabio Holanda at Brazilian Top Team Canada, who cornered many of his earlier fights. St. Pierre is also a former member of the Canadian Top Team. He also spent time training in Quebec City, and has returned to training in Montreal with Brazilian Top Team Canada. He has also trained with The Ultimate Fighter 4's Patrick Côté and former UFC middleweight contender David Loiseau, and spent some time in the Montreal Wrestling Club.
Recently, St. Pierre began training with Rashad Evans, Nathan Marquardt, Keith Jardine and many others at Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting Gaidojutsu school in New Mexico. Some of Jackson's students have also accompanied Georges to Montreal to train at Tristar Gym including Keith Jardine and Nathan Marquardt. Currently, Georges trains Muay Thai under Kru Phil Nurse at the Wat in New York City.
MMA career
Early career
St. Pierre had dreamed of becoming a UFC champion since watching Royce Gracie fight in 1993 at UFC 1.[8] GSP had his first amateur bout when he was only 16 years old. He states, "When I won my first amateur (MMA) fight, I was 16 years old and I beat a guy that was 25. I was only a Kyokushin karate fighter and the guy I fought was a boxer. At the time my ground skills were very poor, I didn’t know nothing on the ground.” St. Pierre won his fight by knockout, going low with several leg kicks and then going high with a kick to the head. To this day many fans and much of the media has him pegged as a wrestler, or a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter, but he still considers himself a karate stylist at heart.[9]
St. Pierre's pro debut was against Ivan Menjivar and ended in a first round TKO win. GSP went on to win his next three fights before making his TKO debut against Pete Spratt at TKO 14 (November 29, 2003). St. Pierre defeated Spratt with a rear naked choke in the first round.
Joining the UFC
St. Pierre made his Octagon debut at UFC 46 where he defeated Karo Parisyan by decision. His next fight with the UFC was against Jay Hieron at UFC 48. St. Pierre defeated Hieron via TKO (strikes) in only 1:42.
Following his second straight win in the UFC, he faced Matt Hughes at UFC 50 for the welterweight title. Despite a competitive performance, St. Pierre tapped out to an armbar with only one second remaining in the first round.
Road to the title
After his loss to Hughes, GSP rebounded with a win over Dave Strasser at TKO 19 with a first round kimura submission. He then returned to the UFC to face Jason "Mayhem" Miller at UFC 52, defeating Miller by unanimous decision.
With momentum behind him, St. Pierre was then matched up against top contender Frank Trigg at UFC 54. St. Pierre controlled the fight and eventually sunk in a rear naked choke with less than a minute remaining in the first round. He then faced former 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.
At UFC 58, St. Pierre defeated former UFC welterweight champion B.J. Penn to become the number one contender for the UFC welterweight title. St. Pierre won the match by split decision and was set to rematch then-champion Matt Hughes on September 23, 2006 at UFC 63.[10] However, St. Pierre was forced to withdraw from the match due to a groin injury, and was replaced by the man he defeated in March, B.J. Penn.[11] The UFC had announced afterwards that St. Pierre would have the opportunity to fight for the title when his condition was fully healed.
The Ultimate Fighter
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, and Travis Lutter. St. Pierre was seen vocally supporting fellow Canadian, and training partner, Patrick Côté during the season's airing.
Winning the championship
At UFC 63, GSP made an appearance to support fellow Canadian MMA fighter, 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, GSP stepped into the ring 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 his performance.[citation needed]
According to commentator Joe Rogan, Hughes was unhappy with St. Pierre's statement and 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 title. The fight was almost stopped near the end of the first round when GSP sent Matt 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 TKO (referee stoppage) after a left kick to Hughes' head, followed by a barrage of unanswered punches and elbows.
On January 30, 2007, St. Pierre signed a six-fight deal with the UFC.[12]
Losing the title
At UFC 69 St. Pierre lost the welterweight title to The Ultimate Fighter 4 winner Matt Serra via TKO (strikes) at 3:25 of round one. Matt Serra was an 11-1 underdog going into the bout.[13] St. Pierre has said that he lost the match because of problems in his personal life, and later parted ways with his manager and most of his entourage.
Back into title contention
On August 25th, 2007, at UFC 74 GSP won a unanimous decision against Josh Koscheck (30-27, 29-28, 29-28). His wrestling skills were displayed during the match by out wrestling Koscheck (a 4-time Division 1 NCAA All-American & 1-time NCAA wrestling champion), scoring takedowns, stopping Koscheck's takedown attempts and maintaining top position throughout most of the fight. There was speculation before the fight that Koscheck would out-match 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 has placed him in the number one contender spot for the UFC Welterweight Championship. This fight was to be against the winner of Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. Matt Serra pulled out of that UFC 79 bout due to a back injury sustained during training, and instead St. Pierre faced Hughes in a rubber match for the interim UFC Welterweight Championship. St. Pierre won in the second round by way of submission due to an armbar to become the interim UFC Welterweight Champion. After the fight he said that the belt is a great honor but means nothing to him, and he is only looking to take his undisputed UFC welterweight belt back from Matt Serra.
MMA titles
- UFC interim Welterweight Champion (Current)
- UFC Welterweight Champion (former)
- TKO Canadian Welterweight Champion (former)
MMA record
| 17 matches | 15 wins | 2 losses |
| By knockout | 6 | 1 |
| By submission | 5 | 1 |
| By decision | 4 | 0 |
See also
References
- ^ Doyle, Dave (February, 2007). "Hughes-St. Pierre: UFC's match of the year?". FOXSports.com. Retrieved 2007-05-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Ultimate Fighter Championship Fighter Detail - George St. Pierre". Zuffa. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
- ^ "MMA's Top Ten". MMAWeekly.com. 2007-05-09. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
- ^ Tousignant, Isa. "Georges St. Pierre leads Montreal to UFC glory]. Hour.ca. March 2nd, 2006". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
- ^ Wickert, Marc. "Montreal's MMA Warrior.] knucklepit.com". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
- ^ Kelly, Seth. "Gold Rush] Complex.com". Retrieved 2007-12-24.
- ^ "slam.canoe.ca/Slam/OtherSports/2006/07/22/1697789-sun.html". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
- ^ "Getting To Know Georges "Rush" St. Pierre". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
- ^ "First Bout". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
- ^ CBC.ca. [1]
- ^ Gerbasi, Thomas. "St. Pierre Sidelined by Injury; 'The Prodigy' to The Rescue.] August 23 2006". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
- ^ "www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3355&zoneid=13". Retrieved 2007-07-06.
- ^ Davidson, Neil (2007-04-08). "Georges St. Pierre suffers loss to underdog Matt Serra at UFC 69: Shootout". Canadian Press. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links
