George St-Pierre’s is considered as one of the greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time. However, he didn’t started out like that. He was born in Saint Isidore, Canada in May 19, 1981. As a child, like everyone hard childhood difficulties with his peers when attending school as they would pick on him.
He enjoyed playing hockey and skating, but at age seven switched to Kyokushin Karate and was trained by his father, later his Karate master to help him defend himself in school.When his master died he decided to go into wrestling at age 16, then Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and boxing. Using his skills he served as a bouncer at a night club in Montreal to help him pay his tution fees.
Early Training For MMA
St-Pierre’s having an early introduction into mixed martial arts training was advantageous for his ultimate success in the fight industry. At age 21 he went into professional MMA with a black belt in the Kyokushin Karate.
He began preparing for his UFC 58 fight with B.J.Penn by training with big names like Donald Cerrone and Rashad Evans in a New York City Jiu-Jitsu Academy called Renzo Gracie, he later received his brown belt.
Most of his training happened in New York City in different academies and their he solidified his bond with his closest friends; Jonathan Chaimberg of Adrenaline Performance Centre in Montreal and Head Trainer is Firas Zahabi of Zahabi MMA, out of the Tristar gym.
St-Pierre’s Legacy
Famous known as GSP came into UFC without a real wrestling background but built a legacy for his name. His legendary achievements at a glance are;
• Three-time UFC champion
• Two-weight UFC champion
• Nine consecutive title defenses
• Brought UFC to Canada
• Headlined 13 numbered events
• UFC Hall of Fame, class of 2020
GSP started his UFC career with a perfect 5-0 record. He earned his fame and victory against Karo Parisyan in his UFC 46 fight.
Not all were wins since after his TKO win over his opponent, he lost a fight with Matt Hughes, but racked his fights and later got a rematch with Hughes and defeated him taking the welterweight championship.
Later he lost his title to Matt Serra, but regained it as the undisputed welterweight champion, even outweighing all other eight opponents.
Needless to say, George has had his share of contrivances. On his victory against Nate Diaz, he was to fight Hendricks.His win against John Hendricks was taken with a grain of salt. Also their are issues with drug testing, where he was a propounder. After the matchup with Hendricks, GSP took a break.
He returned in 2017 into MMA and choked Michael Bisping in defeat in the arena. Then Dan White, the UFC President demanded of GSP to fight up in the weight class to regain his titles, but George took retirement February 2019 and was inducted in the Hall of Fame on May 2019.
GSP’s Retirement and Probably Return
St-Pierre’s is the UFC fighter with the second-most wins of all time and as a result he inducted in the Hall of Fame.
Having left room for his probably return, he says that he watches the fights and says he can easily defeat the all the incumbents. However he is yet to confirm his return to fight in the Octagon.