Georges St-Pierre: The Saint of MMA

In April of 2007, a troublesome Lengthy Island underdog named Matt Serra shocked St-Pierre—and most MMA followers—with a barrage of unanswered strikes that compelled the referee to cease the match 3:25 into the primary spherical. Initially, GSP claimed that non-public points affected his focus going into the battle, however after the post-fight adrenaline had worn off he admitted that Serra was merely the higher man that night time. From then on, the Quebec native stopped making excuses and commenced making enhancements.

“Georges clearly by no means wished to lose once more…So we each actually centered on discovering methods to win, and we began breaking down and analyzing fights,” says Firas Zahabi, a longtime buddy and coaching associate who turned GSP’s head coach after his loss to Matt Serra. “We began taking the preparation extra significantly. We turned rather more calculated.”

It’s that religious preparedness that has earned St-Pierre a spot— possibly even the highest spot—among the many greatest fighters within the historical past of blended martial arts.

At 32, GSP already has greater than a decade’s value of expertise in MMA. Moreover his trademark shaved head, the 5’10”, 170 pound St-Pierre is identifable by his lean body, circus-acrobat agility, and spectacular energy. Heavy doses of gymnastics and Olympic weightlifting have stored him in a bodily situation that may disgrace athletes in additional conventional sports activities.

In Canada, GSP’s stardom has made MMA one of many nation’s most watched sports activities, and, by extension, he’s not directly elevated nationwide curiosity in different fight sports activities, like boxing and Muay Thai. His victories have additionally earned him the spoils of a champion. He has his personal health app, and he’s showing in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, due out within the spring of 2014.

Nonetheless, even after six years and almost a dozen wins, what motivates George St-Pierre most is avoiding the bitter style of defeat. 

“You don’t wish to lose,” says St-Pierre, who’s on the lookout for his twelfth straight victory since shedding to Serra when he fights Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 in Las Vegas this month. “You don’t wish to be humiliated. You battle to win, and in any respect prices.”

From the go, GSP has had the sort of battle presence and charisma that’s made him one among MMA’s marquee stars. Between his professional debut, in January of 2002, and his first loss to Matt Hughes, in October 2004, GSP had gained six of his frst seven fights by way of TKO or submission.

“Some guys simply have that factor…that ‘it’ issue…that factor you’ll be able to’t put your fnger on. However they’ve that factor. That’s GSP,” says UFC President Dana White. “He has ‘it.’ He’s an enormous pay-per-view star for us. The most important pay-per-view star within the UFC proper now.”

The “it” issue that White speaks of is a mixture of issues. It’s partially GSP’s cool bravado, partially his action-star seems to be and physique—however one other half is his explosive efficiency within the Octagon. It began someplace, although, nicely earlier than the celebrity, when GSP was only a promising younger fighter attempting to achieve floor on the mat in a still-evolving sport.

“My hardest battle didn’t occur within the UFC. Lots of people don’t understand that. It occurred in a corporation known as TKO. I used to be very skinny, I took the battle, and I fought a man named Thomas Denny. After the primary spherical I used to be so drained I informed my nook to throw within the towel,” says St-Pierre of the 2003 match. “My nook stated, ‘We don’t have a towel; you’re going to die in there.’ I heard the bell, and I went again out and I beat the man up. I used to be like, 20 years outdated.”

With a couple of exceptions, that’s the way in which GSP has fought in each bout since then, with a win-or-die angle that’s each intimidating to opponents and compelling to battle followers around the globe.

In his 2004 loss to Hughes, GSP was controlling the battle towards his extra seasoned opponent till a slip in focus acquired the very best of him. GSP submitted to an armbar with only one second left within the first spherical, costing him the then-vacant UFC welterweight title. “After that loss, he was a person on a mission,” White says. “He doesn’t have many losses, however the guys he has misplaced to he’s come again and annihilated.”

From there, GSP collected 5 straight victories and ultimately evened the rating with a dominant second-round TKO over Hughes at UFC 65 in November 2006. Then, GSP misplaced his subsequent battle to Serra—who’d earned a title shot with an unimaginable string of wins on The Final Fighter 4 actuality sequence—in a wild first-round TKO that continues to be one of many largest upsets in MMA historical past. That second loss—and the concern of a 3rd—drives GSP to proceed to win. “He turned motivated when he was knocked out towards Serra in his first title protection,” says Phil Nurse, GSP’s placing coach. Since shedding to Serra, eight of GSP’s 11 consecutive victories have come by the use of choice. Though he scored a submission win over Hughes of their rubber match and a TKO over Serra with an onslaught of knees to the physique, GSP has fought each second of each match since July of 2009 with few indicators that he is likely to be slowing down. In that point, he’s gone the space with Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, and, most not too long ago, Nick Diaz. If something, his combating model has solely change into extra calculated.

“He’s using his jab and dealing the space rather well,” says Serra, now retired and operating a number of Brazilian jiu-jitsu colleges in New York. “He’ll beat you up a little bit bit, allow you to rise up a little bit bit, and when he stands up—bam!—he hits you. He’s not simply going toe-to-toe. If he does that it’s solely a matter [of time] earlier than he will get caught.” However GSP defies critics who say he fights to guard a weak chin. “No drawback with that. I can take a punch,” GSP says. “What hurts you is what you don’t see coming.”

And GSP has been damage. He calls Carlos Condit, whom he confronted in November 2012, his hardest opponent ever. “He’s very unpredictable; he’s harmful till the top. He damage me very unhealthy within the battle with a head kick,” GSP says. “Once I stood up from the kick, it was the proudest second in my whole profession.” Nonetheless, with all that he’s completed at simply 32, you must marvel how lengthy GSP will proceed to battle—and the way rather more motivation he can draw from losses solely getting smaller in his rearview. The decisiveness of most of his victories makes you consider that for GSP to fall, it might solely be the “subsequent GSP” who might knock him down.

“I don’t know, the game retains evolving and he retains evolving with it ’trigger he’s been the champion for therefore lengthy,” White says. “He’s acquired a troublesome battle arising with Johny Hendricks, and if he beats Hendricks, he’ll be round for some time.” 

Questions abound in the way forward for any athlete, however what’s by no means been in query is GSP’s dedication to his coaching. His weight loss program is strict, and his time within the fitness center is difficult by anybody’s defnition of the phrase.

“We use Olympic lifting and observe and discipline in coaching,” says Zahabi, the proprietor of Montreal’s Tristar Fitness center. “I don’t like machines, and I don’t like something Olympians don’t use. Olympians refine their coaching so enormously, there’s no want for us to go on the market and reinvent the wheel.”

Zahabi has designed GSP’s coaching in order that the champ is gentle on his toes, but explosive. Nevertheless, GSP and Zahabi have discovered that plenty of standard strategies of constructing energy don’t apply to them. That doesn’t imply that what works for GSP applies to everybody who steps within the fitness center, although.

“We don’t use the bench press. That’s one of many workouts you don’t want, in my view. And when you do, you need to do solely a small quantity,” Zahabi says. “Bench urgent would assist provided that when mendacity down on the ground throughout a battle I needed to push my opponent of of me. It’s very low on the record of the wants of a fighter.”

So, for now, the champ is motivated to remain on high, however he doesn’t get forward of himself. He’s the present proprietor of the document for many profitable title defenses within the UFC, and a win in his subsequent battle would transfer him forward of Hughes on the leaderboard for probably the most victories in UFC historical past, with 19. “It’s a motivation, however I hold my head on the objective, which is simply profitable the following battle,” GSP says.

And like every athlete well-versed in his clichés, GSP swears he doesn’t look again, solely ahead. However now and again, he admits, he nonetheless thinks about shedding. “Yeah, it might occur,” he says. “No person is invincible. It makes me do not forget that I must work exhausting for what I’ve.”

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