MMA Legacy 6.30.09: Georges St-Pierre

Posted by Bill Wannop on 06.30.2009

With UFC 100 under two-weeks away, MMA Legacy examines the career of one of the fighters in the three main event matchups as UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre steps into the spotlight. Check out the full column!

Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. With the monumental UFC 100 approaching, MMA Legacy will take a look at the career of one of the fighters in the three main event matchups. This week we continue with the welterweight champion and fellow Canadian Georges "Rush" St-Pierre.

Georges St-Pierre was born on May 19, 1981 (making him 28 years old today) in Saint-Osodore, Quebec, Canada. Like every boy growing up in Canada he loved ice hockey, but also had a love for karate. Due to his family's financial situation however he could not afford to play both, so GSP opted for karate. He started in Kykushin Karate at the age of 7, and learned skills from his father in order to deal with a bully at school. Georges loved karate and continued training until he was 12 years old, at which point shortly after his instructor had given GSP his second degree black belt, his teacher died. This was a tough loss for GSP, and because it was so hard he stopped practicing karate, and instead began to focus on Muay Thai kickboxing. Like most future MMA fighters GSP watched the early UFC shows in awe of how Royce Gracie would take down larger opponents and submit them. Georges eagerly wanted to train in BJJ, but had to wait until he was 16, as this was when a BJJ gym finally opened in his area. He trained his BJJ with Nova Uniao, and at the age of 18 began to broaden his horizons by training in wrestling (Georges actually trained with the Canadian national team) and boxing. GSP went to University and was working towards a degree in administration, as well as he worked as a bouncer at Fuzzy Brossard night club in Montreal in order to make ends meet. His schooling would be put on indefinite hold however, when GSP began to focus on his fight career.

Georges St-Pierre had his first official MMA contest on January 25, 2002 against Ivan Menjivar at UCC 7: Bad Boyz. Georges made short work of Ivan finishing him by TKO in the first round. Georges competed in two more events in 2002 in the UCC organization against Justin Bruckmann and Travis Galbraith winning both fights in the first round by armbar and TKO due to elbows respectively. Georges would thus earn the nickname of Rush due to his ability to quickly finish his opponents.



To start off 2003 Georges had a battle with Thomas Denny at UCC 12: Adrenaline, and defeated him by TKO due to cuts in the second round. He then made his TKO debut going up against Pete Spratt at TKO 14: Road Warriors. Georges won the fight by rear naked choke in the first round, earning the attention of the UFC. After this fight Georges would have his first fight outside of Canada in the big leagues of the UFC.

Georges debut would occur at UFC 46: Supernatural on January 31, 2004 when he faced off against top contender Karo Parysian. In the fight GSP used his takedowns and ground and pound to grind out against a decision over Parysian. Georges second matchup was at UFC 48: payback against Jay Hieron. While Georges debut was impressive in that he scored a victory over contender Karo Parysian, it was not the kind of fight that Rush was used to, in that he could not put Karo away. Georges got back to his old self when he dominated Jay Hieron and ended the fight by TKO due to punches.

Following that victory GSP would be face Matt Hughes at UFC 50: War of 04 for the welterweight title that was abandoned by BJ Penn. In the first round GSP used his jab to set up his takedowns and Hughes well known for his takedowns was having difficulty-getting GSP to the ground. Hughes tried a bunch of takedowns finally being successful, and right as the round ended was able to lock in an armbar for the victory. Following the loss GSP would again fight for the TKO organization at TKO 19: Rage. He would end his fight with Dave Strasser rather quickly by kimura in round 1.



Georges would return to the UFC at UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddel 2 against Jason "Mayham" Miller. In what was a very entertaining fight thanks to the antics of Jason Miller. Throughout the fight although taking a beating Miller played up to the crowd and went back to the corner with a smile on his face despite being beaten and losing a unanimous decision to GSP.

At UFC 54: Boiling Point Georges would face Frank Trigg, and GSP would put Trigg away by rear naked choke in the first round, and followed it up by defeating Sean Sherk by TKO at UFC 56: Full Force, becoming the first fighter to finish Sean Sherk.








Following the victories GSP would face BJ Penn in a number one contender matchup at UFC 58: USA vs. Canada. GSP started out a little rocky, as BJ Penn dominated the stand up game in the first round leaving GSP a bloody mess at the end of the first. However at the start of the second and into the third round GSP seemed more determined then ever, and actually began to push the pace of the fight, and secure take downs, including a huge slam. At the end of the fight in a razor close split decision GSP was given the victory and a rematch with Matt Hughes.

Before he could have his rematch with Hughes, Georges would suffer a setback as he injured his groin while training for the fight, forcing him to withdraw. BJ Penn got the shot instead but Georges was promised a title shot at whoever was champion once he was healthy. He was finally ready for the fight at UFC 65: Bad Intensions on November 18, 2006 against Matt Hughes. In the matchup GSP would use his superior striking and takedown defense to frustrate Hughes. At the end of the first round GSP would connect with a short left hook that would knock Hughes down with GSP looking to finish, only for the bell to signal the end of the round. At the start of the second it was a similar story as GSP just dominated Hughes with the stand up. GSP finally hit a big left high kick and Hughes goes down like a sack of potatoes allowing GSP to get on top and finish him, to become the new champion.

Following the victory, GSP would have to defend this title against the winner of The Ultimate Fighter Reality show the comeback against Matt Serra at UFC 69: Shootout. In a fight where everybody expected an easy win for GSP, the complete opposite happened. In the opening round GSP looked somewhat lost as he could not seem to hit Serra and find his range. Serra looked completely relaxed and simply waited for his opportunity and landed a shot square on the chin of GSP. GSP stumbled went to the ground got back up, only to be hit again with a clean shot from Serra. GSP in desperation went for a single leg takedown, which Serra easily avoided and started to rain down punches until GSP taped out giving Matt Serra the welterweight championship and shocking the world! After the fight GSP attributed his poor performance to a lack of focus, and soon after removed himself from his management and entourage.

With the loss GSP was knocked down and was forced to pull himself up and start the climb back to the top, in order to become champion again. His first fight back was against accomplished wrestler Josh Koscheck at UFC 74: Respect. In this fight GSP really showed his true wrestling skills as he was able to take Koscheck down at will and utilize his ground and pound while most expected Josh to have an advantage in that area. Whenever Josh attempted a takedown GSP either sprawled or reversed it to end up on top. While GSP could not finish Koscheck he did dominate the fight enough to earn the unanimous decision victory, bringing his MMA record to 14-2, and moving him closer to a title shot.

The title shot would be closer then he thought as a scheduled fight between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra had to be cancelled due to a back injury to Serra. With Serra out the UFC arranged an interim title match between Matt Hughes and GSP at UFC 79: Nemesis. The fight was dominated to an even greater degree then their previous meeting by GSP, as GSP avoided all of Hughes takedowns while taking Hughes down at will. In the second round after GSP nailed a sweet throw on Hughes to gain side control, GSP was able to lock in a triangle/armbar type hold which forced Hughes to verbally submit as his arm was trapped under GSP's body. GSP looked unstoppable in this performance.








Following the win over Hughes, GSP would face off against the man who took the title from him in a unification bout against Matt Serra in his home town of Montreal Canada at UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2. In the fight St-Pierre took Serra down and used his ground and pound to control the fight (and to not get hit with a big shot again). In the second round GSP took Serra down and Serra moved into the turtle position where GSP rained down repeated knees to the body. The referee stopped the action after Serra stopped defending the knees, giving GSP the undisputed title.

Georges always believed that to be the true champion you have to be able to successfully defend the title. GSP would attempt to do that against Jon Fitch at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy. Fitch displayed great heart to stay in the fight as GSP dominated with strikes and wrestling knocking down Fitch multiple times and passing his guard on the ground with ease (no one else before had passed Fitch's guard). GSP earned a unanimous decision victory in another dominating performance.

After the fight, BJ Penn, the current lightweight champion, was granted a rematch against GSP for the welterweight title. BJ was attempting to be the first fighter in the UFC to hold two titles in two different weight classes at the same time. The match was set for UFC 94: St-Pierre vs. Penn 2, and was one of the most anticipated matchups in UFC history. In the fight GSP used his superior size and reach advantage to out strike and outwrestle Penn, taking Penn who is known for his takedown defense down at ease and initiating his ground and pound. After four rounds of beating from GSP, BJ's corner threw in the towel giving GSP the victory. There was some controversy in the victory however, as it was noticed between rounds that GSP's corner men, after putting Vaseline on the Georges face, rubbed his chest and back, in a breathing exercise. The NSAC members cage side immediately noticed this and used a towel to wipe the substance off of GSP before the start of the round. After the fight, Penn complained that the Vaseline made GSP more slippery that disabled his ability to perform submissions and sweeps from the ground and he lodged a formal complaint. The complaint was dismissed as the commission felt that it would not have affected the outcome of the fight.

GSP was named the Canadian Sportsman of the Year as voted by Sportsnet as well he is the first fighter to be sponsored by Gatorade. GSP although still young has already left a legacy in MMA. He moved up the ranks very quickly and became UFC champion. He then lost that title in his first defense, as perhaps all the early success went to his head and he lost focus. However he now seems to have regained that focus and since winning his title back has looked unbeatable.

Future Outlook GSP's next fight is at UFC 100 against #1 contender Thiago Alves. This is an interesting matchup for GSP, as he is used to having the size and strength advantage and against Alves I am not sure if he will. Alves is a dangerous striker but also is relatively young and tends to make mistakes in fights. Another problem with Alves is due to his size he must cut a lot of weight and has shown difficulty in making the 170 lbs limit. This will be the toughest test for GSP, but if he can use his takedowns to neutralize Alves' striking (something that wrestler Josh Koscheck was unable to do ), he will come away with the victory. If GSP can make it past Alves, he has for all purposes cleaned out his division, with no real obvious number one contender. If he could defeat Alves in dominating fashion perhaps a matchup with Anderson Silva may be around the corner. Nonetheless GSP should continue to dominate in the welterweight division, creating an even bigger legacy in MMA in the many years to come.

Credit: UFC.com
Wikipedia.com
MMAJunkie.com

Various News
This really was a slow news week, with nothing major happening. So instead of going over the minor news (which the other columns on this site do a much better job of anyway) I will briefly touch on the Lashley-Sapp fight.

Bobby Lashley Takes Out Bob Sapp
Another impressive performance by Bobby Lashley this week as he took on tough competition in the form of Bob Sapp. What was most interesting about this fight was that Lashley was giving up around 65lbs to Sapp, but still was able to dominate him. He had the perfect game plan, which was to get the fight down on the ground to tire out Sapp, and then if Sapp is able to get back to his feet go for the KO when he was fatigued. Sapp's strategy was not so good, as he basically ran into the takedown.



Lashley then used his wrestling to hold him down and ground and pound. I know a lot of people are complaining that Lashley showed his inexperience by staying in half guard and not advancing to side control or mount, but I feel that this was more a strategy by Lashley then inexperience. Lots of wrestlers like to ground and pound from half guard (Randy Couture) as it gives then more control of their opponent, makes it extremely difficult to sweep or stand up, and you can still get off some good shots. Had Lashley went to mount or side control, the veteran Sapp may have easily reversed positions or simply been able to stand up. Lashley did deliver some good shots, and Sapp had to tap not once but twice before the official stopped the fight. Below is the first tap out.


How the official missed that I will never know, but it didn't faze Lashley as he kept pounding until he got the second tap.



My feeling on Lashley is that he is advancing well in MMA and that as long as he can utilize his wrestling that he will be able to defeat all the lesser fighters on the MMA independent circuit. I would love to see him in Strikeforce or DREAM and see him face some tougher competition or perhaps face a BJJ or submission fighter, to get a real indication of where he is. It would have been awesome had Lashley been on the upcoming season of the Ultimate Fighter!

That wraps things up for this week. Over the next couple weeks I am headed to Africa and Dubai, I will still be able to write the weekly column but I will be limited with the news and analysis of upcoming MMA shows so bear with me. Next week we conclude our build to UFC 100 with a look at the Legacy of a true veteran of MMA Dan Henderson. We will chronicle his first run in the UFC, to him become a dual champion in PRIDE and leading to his upcoming fight with as Dan would put it, Micheal "Douchebag" Bisping.


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