Georges St-Pierre
Born	May 19, 1981 (1981-05-19) (age�29) Saint-Isidore, Quebec, Canada
Other names	Rush, GSP
Nationality	Canadian
Height	5�ft�10�in (1.78�m)
Weight	170�lb (77�kg; 12�st)
Division	170
Reach	76.0�in (193�cm)
Style	Kyokushin, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Stance	Orthodox
Fighting out of	Montreal, Quebec
Team	Jackson's Submission Fighting, Zahabi MMA
Trainer	Firas Zahabi & Greg Jackson
Rank	���� 3rd degree black belt in Karate ���� black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Years active	2002–present
MMA record
Total	22
Wins	20
By knockout	8
By�submission	5
By�decision	7
Losses	2
By knockout	1
By�submission	1
By�decision	0
Draws	0
Other information
Official website
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: August 27, 2009

Georges St-Pierre (French pronunciation:�[ʒɔʁʒ sɛ̃ pjɛʁ]; born May 19, 1981), often referred to as GSP, is a Canadian mixed martial artist and the current Welterweight Champion of the UFC. St-Pierre is ranked as the top "pound for pound" fighter by Yahoo Sports. St-Pierre has been praised by many media outlets for his well-rounded skill and he is currently ranked by multiple MMA publications as the number-one welterweight in the world. In 2008 and in 2009, he was named the Canadian Athlete of the Year by Rogers Sportsnet, as well as the 2008–2009 Most Outstanding Fighter by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Georges St-Pierre also won the Fighter of the Year award by the 2009 World MMA Awards.

Biography

Georges St-Pierre was born May 19, 1981 in Saint-Isidore, Quebec, to Jim and Louise St-Pierre. St-Pierre had a difficult childhood, attending a school where others would steal his clothes and money. He started learning Kyokushin karate at age seven by his father and later by a Kyokushin Karate Master to defend himself against a school bully. He took up wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after his karate teacher died and also trained in boxing. 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.

St-Pierre has trained with a number of groups in a large 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. 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 skilled MMA 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. Georges' strength and conditioning coach is Jonathan Chaimberg of Adrenaline Performance Centre in Montréal. Georges' Head Trainer is Firas Zahabi of Zahabi MMA, out of the Tristar gym. The two have cornered all of St-Pierre's most recent bouts and remain as his close friends. Currently, St-Pierre trains in Muay Thai under 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. St-Pierre had his first amateur bout when he was only 16 years old. He said, "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 anything 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.

St-Pierre's pro debut was against Branden Macfadden and the fight ended in a first round to-knockout win by St-Pierre. In only his second fight, St-Pierre's challenge for the UCC belt against Justin Bruckmann. He won by an arm bar in the first round. He then went on to defend his title twice. The UCC aka Universal Combat Challenge was then converted to TKO Major League MMA and he was named the champion. He fought on November 29, 2003 against Pete Spratt in a non-title bout at TKO 14. St-Pierre defeated Spratt with a rear naked choke in the first round.

Joining the UFC

St-Pierre made his UFC debut at UFC 46, where he defeated 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 1 second remaining in the first round. The loss was the first of St-Pierre's career and he has since admitted that he was in awe of Hughes going into the title bout.

Road to the title

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 in a bloody battle.

St-Pierre was then matched up against top contender Frank Trigg at UFC 54. St-Pierre controlled the fight and eventually snuck in a 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.

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 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 afterward 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, Patrick Côté, 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, 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 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 Hughes' performance.

According to both commentator Joe Rogan and Hughes' 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' head followed by a barrage of unanswered punches and elbows. After the fight, on January 30, 2007, St-Pierre signed a new six-fight deal with the UFC.

Losing the title

At UFC 69, St-Pierre lost the welterweight title to The Ultimate Fighter 4 winner Matt Serra when he tapped out to 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.

Back into title contention

On August 25, 2007, at UFC 74 St-Pierre won a unanimous decision against Josh Koscheck (30–27, 29–28, 29–28). 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 number-one 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 offense against St-Pierre, who again showcased his wrestling skills by not only avoiding all of Hughes' takedown attempts, but also taking Hughes down at will. In a reversal of their first fight, St-Pierre attempted a kimura on Hughes' right arm, then switched to a straight armbar with fifteen seconds left in the second round. Hughes fought the extension, but with his left hand trapped between St-Pierre's ankles, was forced to verbally submit at 4:55 of the second round, making St-Pierre the interim Welterweight Champion. After the fight, St-Pierre said that the interim belt was a great honor but meant nothing to him, as Matt Serra was still the real champion.

Undisputed championship

At UFC 83 on April 19, 2008, St-Pierre fought Matt Serra to determine the undisputed UFC welterweight champion. It was the UFC's first event in Canada and was held at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Québec. Instead of starting with strikes, St-Pierre pressed the action early with a takedown and then mixed up his attack, which never allowed Serra the chance to mount a significant offense. In the second round, St-Pierre continued his previous actions and forced Serra into the turtle position and delivered several knees to Serra's midsection. Near the end of round two, the fight was stopped by referee Yves Lavigne with Serra unable to defend himself from St-Pierre's continuous knee blows or improve his position. After the fight St-Pierre asked the crowd to restrain themselves and show Serra some respect. Serra in turn bowed graciously before St-Pierre.

Defending the title

St-Pierre's first title defense since winning the belt back was against Jon Fitch at UFC 87. Fitch was on a 16-fight winning streak and was going in the fight to set a new UFC record for longest winning streak, which would have been nine. St-Pierre defeated Jon Fitch by unanimous decision with scores of 50–43, 50–44, 50–44, to retain his UFC welterweight title. He dominated Fitch, scoring multiple devastating strikes and taking the former Purdue wrestling captain down seemingly at will. After the fight, St-Pierre spoke to Fitch about the growth that his own loss had prompted and said that Fitch's experience should be no different.

The win over Fitch set up one of the most anticipated rematches in UFC history, as BJ Penn stepped into the octagon after the fight to essentially challenge St-Pierre to a rematch of their bout at UFC 58 in 2006, which ended in a split-decision victory for St-Pierre. The rematch occurred on January 31, 2009, at UFC 94. The first round of the fight was somewhat even, with Penn exercising elusive head movement, fast hands and good take-down defense, thwarting all of St-Pierre's take-down attempts while both exchanged punches. In the ensuing three rounds, however, Penn turned out a lackluster performance. St-Pierre scored his first take-down of the night midway through the second round and by the end of the round Penn was visibly tired. At the start of round three, St-Pierre landed a "superman punch" that bloodied Penn's nose and shortly took Penn down again. From that point on, St-Pierre took Penn down almost at will, repeatedly passed Penn's renowned guard and persistently punished the Hawaiian with a ground-and-pound attack. Penn later admitted that he couldn't recall anything that happened during the 3rd and 4th rounds because "I was probably borderline knocked out or something." At the end of the fourth round, after more of St-Pierre's ground-and-pound onslaught, Penn's corner man Jason Parillo requested that the referee stop the fight. Penn failed to attend the post-fight press conference due to having stayed in the hospital. Phil Nurse, was seen after round 1 rubbing St-Pierre's back and shoulders, which, the Penn camp claimed, was Nurse applying Vaseline to GSP and what ultimately led to Penn's defeat. The UFC does not allow Vaseline to be applied to the back. It was formally investigated by the UFC and Nevada State Athletic Commission upon the request of the Penn camp, including a letter Penn's mother wrote to Dana White about the incident. Upon investigation, all claims were dismissed as false and warranted no disciplinary action or further investigation. After this so-called "grease gate", it was decided by UFC that fighters must receive the good luck hug from their coaches before having vaseline applied on the face by UFC officials before entering the cage, in order to make sure no vaseline is applied on the body of the fighters.

Next St-Pierre fought and defeated number-one contender, Thiago Alves, at UFC 100. Alves showed promise on his feet standing up in the fight, but St-Pierre's wrestling offensive, endurance and ground control proved too much for the challenger and put St-Pierre en route to a unanimous decision victory, despite suffering a pulled groin muscle in the fourth round. While St-Pierre said in his post fight interview that the injury was sustained in the third round, he later said on his blog that the injury in fact occurred in the fourth round. On July 18, 2009, it was revealed that St-Pierre's groin injury wouldn't require surgery.

A scheduled bout between Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann would have determined the number 1 contender to the UFC Welterweight Championship. In early September, Swick pulled out of the fight due to an injury, effectively cancelling the title elimination aspect of the fight. After Martin Kampmann lost to Paul Daley at UFC 103, a fight between Swick and Dan Hardy was announced for UFC 105, with the winner, Dan Hardy, earning number 1 contendership to St-Pierre's title..

St-Pierre successfully defended his welterweight title against Dan Hardy on March 27, 2010 at UFC 111 which took place in Newark, NJ.St-Pierre dominated the fight, winning every round with multiple takedowns (nine total) and superior grappling. He came close to submitting Hardy at the end of the first round with an armbar and in the fourth round with a kimura, but Hardy refused to tap and eventually fought out of both holds. St-Pierre went on to win the fight by unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44 and 50-45). After the fight, he stated that he was glad to win but was not impressed by his performance, stating that he wanted to finish the fight, whilst giving credit to Hardy's toughness.

Coaching on The Ultimate Fighter 12

On May 7, St-Pierre was announced as one of the coaches for the twelfth season of The Ultimate Fighter. He will coach alongside Josh Koscheck after Koscheck defeated Paul Daley at UFC 113.

2012 Summer Olympics

It was revealed on January 2, 2010 that St. Pierre was considering leaving MMA so he could try out for the Canadian freestyle wrestling team and compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Though many sources have stated (his wrestling coaches in particular) that he is a great wrestler within the context of MMA, it is generally agreed that he would have to spend many years preparing before he can even make the Olympic team. St-Pierre himself actually cleared it up in the interview saying that he was overconfident of himself and that in the end it wasn't a serious statement.

Championships and accomplishments

• MMAPayout
  • Fighter of the Year 2009
• World MMA Awards
  • Fighter of the Year 2009
• Sports Illustrated (SI.com)
  • Fighter of the Year 2009
• Inside MMA on HDNET
  • Fighter of the Year 2009
• MMAJunkie.com
  • Fighter of the Year 2009
• Fighters Only
  • 2008 Submission of the Year
• Rogers Sportsnet
  • Rogers Sportsnet Canadian Athlete of the Year (2008)
  • Rogers Sportsnet Canadian Athlete of the Year (2009)
• TKO Major League MMA
  • TKO Canadian Welterweight Championship (1 time)
• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC Interim Welterweight Championship (1 time)
  • UFC Welterweight Championship (2 times, Current)
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Most Outstanding Fighter (2008, 2009)

Mixed martial arts record

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes ***
		Josh Koscheck							Defending UFC Welterweight Championship
Win	20–2	[ [Dan Hardy] Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 111: St.Pierre vs. Hardy	02010-03-27 March 27, 2010	5	5:00	Newark, New Jersey	Defended UFC Welterweight Championship
Win	19–2	Thiago Alves	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 100	02009-07-11 July 11, 2009	5	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada	Defended UFC Welterweight Championship
Win	18–2	B.J. Penn	TKO (Corner Stoppage)	UFC 94: St Pierre vs Penn 2	02009-01-31 January 31, 2009	4	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada	Defended UFC Welterweight Championship
Win	17–2	Jon Fitch	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 87: Seek and Destroy	02008-08-09 August 9, 2008	5	5:00	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Defended UFC Welterweight Championship, Won Fight of the Night
Win	16–2	Matt Serra	TKO (Knees)	UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2	02008-04-19 April 19, 2008	2	4:45	Montreal, Quebec	Won Undisputed UFC Welterweight Championship
Win	15–2	Matt Hughes	Submission (Armbar)	UFC 79: Nemesis	02007-12-29 December 29, 2007	2	4:54	Las Vegas, Nevada	Won Interim UFC Welterweight Championship, Won Submission of the Night
Win	14–2	Josh Koscheck	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 74: Respect	02007-08-25 August 25, 2007	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada
Loss	13–2	Matt Serra	TKO (punches)	UFC 69: Shootout	02007-04-07 April 7, 2007	1	3:25	Houston, Texas	Lost UFC Welterweight Championship
Win	13–1	Matt Hughes	KO (headkick and elbows)	UFC 65: Bad Intentions	02006-11-18 November 18, 2006	2	1:25	Sacramento	Won UFC Welterweight Championship
Win	12–1	B.J. Penn	Decision (Split)	UFC 58: USA vs Canada	02006-03-04 March 4, 2006	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	11–1	Sean Sherk	TKO (Strikes)	UFC 56: Full Force	02005-11-19 November 19, 2005	2	2:53	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	10–1	Frank Trigg	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	UFC 54: Boiling Point	02005-08-20 August 20, 2005	1	4:09	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	9–1	Jason Miller	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 52: Couture vs Liddell 2	02005-04-16 April 16, 2005	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	8–1	Dave Strasser	Submission (Kimura)	TKO 19: Rage	02005-01-29 January 29, 2005	1	1:52	Montreal, Quebec
Loss	7–1	Matt Hughes	Submission (Armbar)	UFC 50: The War of '04	02004-10-22 October 22, 2004	1	4:59	Atlantic City	For Vacant UFC Welterweight Championship
Win	7–0	Jay Hieron	TKO (Strikes)	UFC 48: Payback	02004-06-19 June 19, 2004	1	1:42	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	6–0	Karo Parisyan	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 46: Supernatural	02004-01-31 January 31, 2004	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada	UFC debut
Win	5-0	Pete Spratt	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	TKO 14: Road Warriors	02003-11-29 November 29, 2003	1	3:40	Victoriaville, Quebec
Win	4–0	Thomas Denny	TKO (Cut)	UCC 12: Adrenaline	02003-01-25 January 25, 2003	2	4:45	Montreal, Quebec	Non-Title Bout since Denny is a US Citizen.
Win	3–0	Travis Galbraith	TKO (Elbows)	UCC 11: The Next Level	02002-10-11 October 11, 2002	1	2:03	Montreal, Quebec	Defended UCC Welterweight Championship
Win	2–0	Justin Bruckmann	Submission (Armbar)	UCC 10: Battle for the Belts 2002	02002-06-15 June 15, 2002	1	3:54	Gatineau, Quebec	Won UCC Welterweight Championship
Win	1–0	Ivan Menjivar	TKO (Punches)	UCC 7: Bad Boyz	02002-01-25 January 25, 2002	1	4:59	Montreal, Quebec	MMA debut

Entrance music

St-Pierre is noted for using French language rap music (from either France or Québec) during his entrance walks.

Acting career

St-Pierre has acted in two films, both written by martial artist Hector Echavarria. He plays Shaman in Death Warrior, and Georges in Never Surrender.

See also

• List of male mixed martial artists

External links

• UFC profile
• Official website
• Professional MMA record for Georges St-Pierre from Sherdog
• Official Blog
• Facebook
• Twitter

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