Georges St. Pierre

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Georges St. Pierre
Statistics
Nickname	Rush, GSP
Height	5 ft 10.5 in (179 cm)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg)
Nationality	Canadian
Born	May 19, 1981 (age 25)
Town of birth	Saint-Isidore, Quebec, Canada
Fighting style	Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Kyokushin, Muay thai
Mixed martial arts record
Wins	13
By knockout	6
By submission	4
Losses	2
Draws	0

Georges "Rush" Saint-Pierre (born May 19, 1981), often referred to as GSP, is a Canadian mixed martial arts fighter and the former UFC Welterweight Champion. He holds notable wins over Matt Hughes, B.J. Penn, Frank Trigg, Karo Parisyan and current UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk. MMAWeekly.com ranks him the #1 ranked 170 lb (77 kg) fighter in the world. [3]

1 Biography
2 MMA career
3 MMA titles
4 MMA record
5 Trivia
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] 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.^[1] He started learning Kyokushin karate at age seven to defend himself against a school bully.^[2] He took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) after his karate teacher died, and has also trained in wrestling and boxing.

St. Pierre currently trains with Triumph Fight Team and the Canadian National Wrestling Team, among others. 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.^[3] St. Pierre is also a former member of the Canadian Top Team. He also spent time training in Quebec City, and in Montreal and did grappling training with BTT Canada coach and former fellow TKO Competitors Fabio Holanda (who cornered many of his fights). He has also trained with Patrick "The Predator" Cote, and spent some time in the Montreal Wrestling Club.

Recently, GSP began training with Rashad Evans, Nathan Marquardt, Keith Jardine and many others at Greg Jackson's Submission fight school. This is seen as controversial, because Diego Sanchez (Thought by many to be the next in line for a title shot after Matt Serra) considers Jackson's Submission fighting his camp.^[1]

[edit] MMA career

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St. Pierre had dreamed of becoming a UFC champion since watching Royce Gracie fight in 1993 at UFC 1.^[4]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.” Georges won his fight by knockout, going low with several leg kicks and then going high with a Karate kick to the head. To this day much of the media has him pegged as a wrestler, or a Jiu Jitsu fighter, but he still considers himself a karate stylist at heart.^[5] He made his octagon debut at UFC 46 where he defeated Karo Parisyan by decision. After winning against Jay Hieron at UFC 48, he faced Matt Hughes at UFC 50 for the Welterweight title, but was defeated by armbar submission in the first round.

After his loss to Matt Hughes, GSP rebounded with a win over Jason Miller at UFC 52 and then fought such notables as Frank Trigg at UFC 54 and now Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk at UFC 56.

At UFC 58, St. Pierre defeated former UFC welterweight champion B.J. Penn to become the #1 contender for the UFC Welterweight title. St. Pierre won the match by a split decision and was set to face then champion Matt Hughes on September 23rd at UFC 63.^[6] 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.^[7] The UFC had announced afterwards that St. Pierre would have the opportunity to fight for the title when his condition had fully healed.

St. Pierre was also seen as a trainer on The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback on Spike TV, vocally supporting fellow Canadian, and training partner, Patrick Côté.

At UFC 63, GSP made an appearance to support fellow Canadian MMA fighter, David "the Crow" Loiseau. At that time he was seen pushing David to fight his fight against Mike Swick. At the same event, after Matt Hughes had defeated BJ Penn, GSP stepped into the ring to hype up his fight against Matt Hughes by stating that he was glad that Matt won his fight, but that he was "not impressed" by his performance.

According to announcer 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 was merely trying to hype the fight.

St. Pierre challenged Matt Hughes again at UFC 65 for the UFC Welterweight title. The fight lasted two rounds and St. Pierre was dominant in each. 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.

The UFC has also announced a third bout between St. Pierre and Matt Hughes. Scheduled to take place in Montreal, this will be the first UFC event held in Canada, and according to St. Pierre, a dream come true. According to the UFC this fight has been postponed to a not-yet-determined date.

On the 30th of January 2007, St. Pierre signed a six fight deal with the UFC.^[8]

At UFC 69 Georges St. Pierre lost the Welterweight title to Matt Serra via TKO (strikes) at 3:25 of Round One. Serra caught St. Pierre with a right hand that caused GSP to slip on the edge of the fence, and fall onto the canvas.^{[citation needed]} During a series of attempts to get back up, Serra followed it up with punches and John McCarthy stopped the fight.

[edit] MMA titles

1x UFC Welterweight Champion (former)
TKO Canadian Welterweight Champion (former)

[edit] MMA record

13 wins (6 TKO's, 4 submission, 3 decisions), 2 losses (1 submission, 1 TKO), 0 draws, as of April 7, 2007.^[9]
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time	Notes
4/7/2007	Loss	Matt Serra	UFC 69: Shootout	TKO (Strikes)	1	3:25	Lost UFC Welterweight Championship
11/18/2006	Win	Matt Hughes	UFC 65: Bad Intentions	TKO (Strikes)	2	1:25	Won UFC Welterweight Championship
3/4/2006	Win	B.J. Penn	UFC 58: USA vs Canada	Decision (Split)	3	5:00
11/19/2005	Win	Sean Sherk	UFC 56: Full Force	TKO (Strikes)	2	2:53
8/20/2005	Win	Frank Trigg	UFC 54: Boiling Point	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	1	4:09
4/16/2005	Win	Jason "Mayhem" Miller	UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00
1/29/2005	Win	Dave Strasser	TKO 19-Rage	Submission (Kimura)	1	1:52
10/22/2004	Loss	Matt Hughes	UFC 50: The War of '04	Submission (Armbar)	1	4:59	Match was for UFC Welterweight Championship
6/19/2004	Win	Jay Hieron	UFC 48: Payback	TKO (Punches)	1	1:42
1/31/2004	Win	Karo Parisyan	UFC 46: Supernatural	Decision (Unanimous)	3	5:00
11/29/2003	Win	Pete Spratt	TKO 14-Road Warriors	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	1	3:40
1/25/2003	Win	Thomas Denny	UCC 12-Adrenaline	TKO (Cut)	2	4:45
10/11/2002	Win	Travis Galbraith	UCC 11-The Next Level	TKO (Strikes)	1	2:03
6/15/2002	Win	Justin Bruckmann	UCC 10: Battle for the Belts	Submission (Armbar)	1	3:23	Won Canadian Welterweight Championship
1/25/2002	Win	Ivan Menjivar	UCC 7-Bad Boyz	TKO	1	4:50