Background Check: Georges St. Pierre

Georges St. Pierre was born 19th may 1981 in Quebec Canada. He weighs in at 170lbs and is a two time and current UFC welterweight champion. GSP holds a 3rd degree black belt in Kyokushin Karate, has extensive wrestling experience, is a skilled Muay Thai practitioner and is a black belt in BJJ. He started training at the age of 7 and in 1993 saw UFC 1, featuring Royce Gracie, inspiring him to pursue MMA. He had his first MMA bout at the age of 16 and he beat his 25 year old opponent via head kick KO.

St. Pierre was the 2008 and 2009 Sportsnet Canadian Athlete of the year, also in 2009 he was the runner up for sports illustrated Lional Conacher award(the 1st time an MMA fighter has been nominated).He also won the sports illustrated fighter of the year award. He currently trains in the Jackson’s submission team and Zahabi MMA.

Since his UFC debut in 2004, where he beat Karo Parisyan via unanimous decision, GSP has proved himself to be one of the best P4P of all time. His victories include wins over Jay Hieron (TKO round 1), Dave Strasser (kimura Round 1),Jason Miller (Decision),Frank Trigg (sub), Sean Sherk (TKO round 2), BJ Penn( dec), Josh Koscheck (dec) and a victory over Matt Serra who had previously won over GSP by TKO. But his fights against Matt Hughes have been arguably the best. Their first meeting was at UFC 50 where Hughes submitted Georges for the vacant welterweight title, then came the rematch at UFC 65 which saw GSP outstrike Hughes with superman punches and a left hook combo in the first round, then in the 2nd round a left head kick and unanswered punches saw GSP take the win by TKO and become the new champ. In the rubber match Georges submitted Hughes via armbar in the 2nd round to complete a brilliant trilogy of fights.

St. Pierre’s record stands at 19-2(8ko, 5sub) and he will defend his title at UFC 111 against dangerous striker Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy.