Georges St-Pierre

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. St-Pierre was ranked as the #1 welterweight in the world for several years by Sherdog^[12] and numerous other publications.^[13][14][15] In 2008, 2009 and 2010 he was named the Canadian Athlete of the Year by Rogers Sportsnet.^[16][17][18] Fight Matrix lists him as the top MMA welterweight of all time and most accomplished fighter in MMA history.^[19][20]


He 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 (2,204 days) while defending his title nine consecutive times. 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.^[21][22]

Early life

St-Pierre was born in Saint-Isidore, Montérégie, Quebec, to Roland and Pauline St-Pierre on May 19, 1981.^[23] St-Pierre has two younger sisters.^[24] St-Pierre had a difficult childhood, attending a school where others would steal his clothes and money.^[25] 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.^[26] St-Pierre attended high school at École Pierre-Bédard where he held the school record for number of chin-ups done.^[27][28] After graduation he enrolled in kinesiology studies at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit.^[29] 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.^[30] Already a 2nd dan Kyokushin karate black belt at age 12, his first professional fight was at age 20.^[31]


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".^[32]

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.^[33][3][4] 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.^[34][35]


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.^[36] In September 2008, St-Pierre earned his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Bruno Fernandes.^[37]


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. 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. Between 2006 and 2009, St-Pierre trained in Muay Thai under Phil Nurse at the Wat in New York City.^[5]