Georges St-Pierre

Childhood

Georges St-Pierre was born and raised in the farming community of Saint-Isidore, Québec. He is the eldest child of Roland and Paulyne St-Pierre and has two younger sisters. His mother worked at a nursing home, while his father was a flooring and carpet installer.

As a child, Georges St-Pierre was regularly bullied by older schoolmates, ranging from teasing and threats to physical abuse and theft. When he was in grade three, for example, a bully slammed his head into the table because he wouldn’t give up his five dollars.

St-Pierre was introduced to karate by his father at the age of seven. Although he eventually excelled at the sport, his karate skills didn’t help him in the schoolyard. “You can do all the karate you want,” St-Pierre wrote on his website, “but when you’re eight or nine years old and they’re 12, when you’re alone and there’s three of them, you can’t do anything. That’s the reality.”

At the age of 12, St-Pierre received his 2nd dan (degree) Kyokushin karate black belt. He continued to train in karate until his teacher, Jean Couture, died of lung cancer when Georges was 16 years old. Around that time, St-Pierre saw a video of Brazilian Royce Gracie fighting in UFC 1 in 1993 and got hooked on the sport. After that, he began training in wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, boxing and muay Thai, in addition to karate.

Early Years in MMA

St-Pierre attended École Pierre-Bédard in Saint-Rémi, Québec. While in high school, he spent a lot of time in the weight room (which is now named after him) and broke the school chin-up record.

After the death of his karate coach, Jean Couture, St-Pierre worked closely with martial artist Kristof Midoux (known as “the French Hurricane”), a heavyweight fighter in the UFC. St-Pierre approached Midoux and convinced the MMA fighter to let him train at his club. He participated in his first amateur mixed martial arts fight in 1997, defeating a boxer by knocking him out with a kick to the head.

After high school, St-Pierre attended CEGEP Édouard-Montpetit in Longueuil, Québec. When he wasn’t studying or training, he worked at a number of jobs, including collecting garbage, resurfacing floors and being a bouncer at a Montreal nightclub.

By the age of 20, St-Pierre was completely focused on becoming a professional fighter. “When I was young, I was like 20 years old, I didn’t give a damn about anything,” he later remarked. “The only thing in my mind was fighting. I didn’t care about anything else.”

Universal Combat Challenge

St-Pierre made his professional debut in UCC 7 on 25 January 2002, fighting Ivan Menjivar of El Savador at the Verdun Auditorium in Montreal, Quebec. He won with a knockout late in the first round. St-Pierre won his three other Universal Combat Challenge (UCC) bouts before beating Pete Spratt of the United States in TKO 14: Road Warriors in Victoriaville, Quebec, on 29 November 2003.

UFC Career

St-Pierre’s UCC success helped him land a spot in UFC 46 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 31 January 2004. Although his opponent, Karo Parisyan of Armenia, was favoured to win the match, St-Pierre won by unanimous decision in three rounds. A victory over American Jay Hieron on 19 June 2004 gave St-Pierre a chance to fight American Matt Hughes for the UFC Welterweight Championship in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

St-Pierre lost the championship bout to Hughes on 22 October 2004 — his first professional loss. However, he won his next four matches leading up to a highly anticipated fight against American BJ Penn in UFC 58. UFC 58 (Las Vegas, 4 March 2006) pitted eight Canadian fighters against eight American fighters. St-Pierre defeated Penn, becoming one of two Canadians to win his fight (the other was Sam Stout of London,  Ontario).

St-Pierre’s win over Penn set up a rematch against Hughes. On 18 November 2006, St-Pierre knocked out Hughes in the second round of UFC 65 to win the UFC Welterweight Championship. In his first title defense, St-Pierre lost to American Matt Serra on 7 April 2007 in what is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. However, due to a back injury, Serra had to pull out of UFC 79, allowing St-Pierre to fight Hughes for the interim UFC Welterweight title on 29 December 2007. St-Pierre defeated Hughes and got revenge against Serra on 19 April 2008 in a knockout at UFC 83 in Montreal.

In 2011, St-Pierre headlined UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. The event drew 55,724 spectators, the second-largest attendance in UFC history, and set a record for the largest UFC gate outside the United States, with US$12.075 million.

Hiatus

Following his win over American Johny Hendricks on 16 November 2013, St-Pierre announced that he needed a break from ultimate fighting because of personal issues. In the process, he vacated his welterweight title. On 12 September 2017, St-Pierre discussed the reasons behind his absence from the ring in an interview with Newsday. “When I left, it wasn’t because of damage [physical injury]. It was more mental. More anxiety, nervousness. I couldn’t sleep well. I felt like I was claustrophobic. Too much pressure.”

Return to the Ring

On 4 November 2017, St-Pierre made his return to the ring, defeating Michael “The Count” Bisping of England in the UFC middleweight title fight. However, he vacated the title a month later due to health issues related to ulcers in his digestive tract.

Retirement

Georges St-Pierre announced his retirement from mixed martial arts at the Bell Centre in Montreal on 22 February 2019. “It takes a lot of discipline to become and stay champion,” He said. “It also takes a lot of discipline to stop while still feeling that you’re in the best physical and mental shape of your life, but I’ve always planned to leave the sport when I’m at the top and in good health… I intend to keep training and practising martial arts for as long as I live and I look forward to watching the new generation of champions carry our sport into the future.” 

Charitable Work

St-Pierre created the Georges St-Pierre Foundation to “help youth, stop bullying and promote physical activity in schools.” The foundation supports Kids Help Phone, PREVNet (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence) and Bullying.org.

In Pop Culture

St-Pierre has appeared as an actor in a number of action films, including Death Warrior (2009), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016) and Cartels (2017). He has been the subject of such documentaries as The Striking Truth 3D (2010), The Proving Grounds (2013), Takedown: The DNA of GSP (2014), The Boneyard with Georges St-Pierre (2016), which he also produced, and The Hurt Business (2016). He also appeared as himself and as a coach in the reality-TV competition series The Ultimate Fighter (2006–10).

Legacy

Georges St-Pierre is considered one of the best mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters of all time. When he retired from the UFC in 2019, he had a 13-fight winning streak and a career record of 26–2. He set UFC records for the most wins in title fights (13), most wins by decision (12), most takedowns (90), and most successful consecutive title defenses in the UFC welterweight division (9). His victory over Michael “The Count” Bisping in the UFC middleweight title fight on 4 November 2017 made him only the fourth fighter in UFC history to win titles in multiple divisions. Shortly before his retirement at age 37, he was ranked No. 8 in UFC’s official pound-for-pound ranking of current fighters.

Awards

• Canadian Athlete of the Year, Rogers Sportsnet (2008, 2009, 2010)
• MMA Fighter of the Year, Black Belt Magazine (2008)
• Fighter of the Year, Sports Illustrated (2009)
• Fighter of the Year, World Mixed Martial Arts Awards (2009)
• Comeback Fighter of the Year, Sherdog (2017)
• Comeback Fighter of the Year, MMAjunkie.com (2017)
  

MMA Record