Fight Story: Riddum

Posted by Damian Sarcuni on 11.27.2006

The tale of Georges St. Pierre

Welcome to Fight Story, the written history of Mixed Martial Arts. I'm Damian Sarcuni and my editor is Jose Chavez. Together, our goal with this column is to record the history of MMA while showing the epic stories behind each fighter that the record books don't always show. Today's article comes in the wake of a huge title change that had fans worldwide on their feet with anticipation and amazement. Yet the story of the career leading up to that moment is so much more epic, and that will be our focus here.

BUT FIRST!

Corrections

Our previous article, Axe & Ice, was the story of Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell, a look at just how closely their fighting careers are related, and speculation as to whether the fight would ever happen. Unfortunately, we screwed up a few details, and one thing we definitely don't want to do is rewrite history here. As we're a little new at this, slip ups do happen so please bear with us now and in the future.

Terence Tso wrote in with the following:

*Chuck Liddell faced Quinton Jackson in the second round of the tourney, not the first. Chuck Liddell defeated Alistair Overeem in a previous PPV (Total Elimination 2003). The Final Conflict show only had the last 2 rounds of the tourney.

*Secondly, (and I unfortunately have no source to back this up) I have heard that Dana White never paid the wager to Sakikabara, instead claimed that the wager was actually that Chuck would defeat Silva and therefore was nullified when Jackson beat Chuck.

I'm really upset with myself for missing that first one. We did some digging around and found a source for the second. Sherdog.com states that Dana did an interview on the PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 DVD where he explained the specifics of the wager. Thanks for making yourself AND us look like idiots, Dana.

*Lastly, it was pointed out just after the article was posted that I repeatedly misspelled Guy Mezger's last name throughout the article. I make no apologies for this as I took the spelling "Mezgar" from a PRIDE DVD I was using as a source. If they got it wrong, I can too!

Feedback

From Jimmy Hinh:

Living in Australia we get VERY limited MMA coverage. I have to order my DVD's through sherdog.com to see Pride events a year after they happen!

I just wanted to say that it was a very well written article and I can't wait
for that Silva and Liddell fight to happen!

The good news here is that PRIDE is now starting to tap into the international markets, so you just might be seeing more pay per view broadcasts even before Europe of the U.S. does. You also might be able to view some live broadcasts via PRIDE's new net cast website here.

More from Terence Tso:

Just wanted to give props to your new column. The history of the organizations and fighters are a key part of MMA enjoyment for me and, especially with the explosion of interest in MMA within the last year, many new fans should be getting exposure to some of the defining moments in MMA's short history.

That's the idea behind the column. When you read wrestling history, you get to hear all the angles and storylines that go with each match. MMA has those things too, they're just real. Yet looking at a win/loss record in MMA is kind of bland and doesn't nearly explain all the controversy and drama behind each fight, so telling new fans "Don Frye beat Takayama" doesn't nearly cover what actually happened there.

Finally, from Brad van Eden

…Trying to catch Chuck with one punch ain't gonna work because it'll leave you open for his vicious counter hooks and crosses. Trying to take him down isn't going to happen because he's excellent at sprawling the takedowns. Someone like Wanderlei can beat him because he utilizes leg-kicks…something I've noticed none of chucks challengers to date have done. If someone is a counter puncher, numerous leg-kicks are going to disrupt his game plan. Chuck's strength is in his punches but he's never the aggressor and leg-kicks would force him to come out of his counter attacking game plan. I'm convinced that Wanderlei can beat him. Anyways…here's hoping the two of them get it on.

There are just so many factors in this fight that people aren't sure of. Chuck has a rock hard chin and his footwork became world class after his first fight with Randy Coture. It's not easy to bring him out of his game plan at all, but when someone does, Liddell tends to panic and look to his corner for help. That said you can bet that Liddell has a counter for everything he's seen Wanderlei do, so I'm guessing both men will need to widen their game plan options a bit.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in. We had a lot of fun with the first column and look forward to many more.


Riddum: The tale of Georges St. Pierre



When we look over the history of any sport, so much can be said about the famous athletes whose accomplishments earned them the title of "hero". Not only are their achievements an inspiration to their fans, but often we find ourselves striving to do better in the face of the things they have done as well. Yet in some cases, that sense of pride in our favorite athlete is an illusion. We don't actually know these great men and women and for all we know, they could be quite dislikeable in person.

Georges "Rush" St. Pierre has now passed his first truly great moment in the young history of mixed martial arts. He has dethroned one of the most dominant champions of all time, Matt Hughes. In doing this, Georges has shown us not just his drive, determination, and skill, but he has also shown his true personality and true nature, and the fans have embraced this wholeheartedly. St. Pierre is a truly likeable person and there are few who aren't pleased and proud to see him finally get the championship belt he so richly deserves.

GSP's own fighting history also tells a tale of dominance and excellence in every aspect of the MMA sport. Georges is just as dangerous on the ground as he is standing up and throwing punches. His total package ability is not just evened out, but also pushes the limits of both aspects. He out strikes the top strikers and out wrestles the best wrestlers. In short, GSP is the new breed, and defines the term "Ultimate Fighter".

It's fitting then that GSP has made his career mostly in the Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion, where he has earned a reputation for being not only an incredible fighter but also an all around nice guy. His soft spoken personality has won over thousands of fans, but there was a time when even this champion was a virtual unknown. It's amazing to see the growth of an all around fighter such as GSP, and looking back, we may just find the blueprint for the mixed martial artist of tomorrow.


Chapter 1 – The Great White North

St. Pierre was drawn to the martial arts at the early age of 7, when he first began to learn Kyokushin style karate. He would later go on to train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu after his karate teacher died. He has also trained in boxing and wrestling, and thus has been practiced in all the necessary cross training for professional MMA since he was a child. He has allied himself with the Triumph Fight Team, which includes fellow Quebecois David "The Crow" Loiseau, Ivan Menjivar, and Jonathan Goulet.

The Triumph fight team originally began fighting for the UCC promotion, one of the largest in Canada. Ironically at the first event where all four men were present, UCC 7 – Bad Boyz, St. Pierre actually fought AGAINST future teammate Menjivar, scoring a TKO nearly five minutes into the fight. Five months later, St. Pierre showed his diversity by submitting Justin Bruckmann with an arm bar in the first round at UCC 10. GSP's next significant named win would come from grappler Travis Galbraith, as St. Pierre earned another TKO two minutes into the first round (Galbraith later went on to have an awful gladiator costumed ring entrance at PRIDE's first Real Deal event in the U.S.). These quick wins and tremendous offense earned GSP the nickname of "Rush" which he still carries to this day.

Georges' last match in the UCC would be against Thomas Denny, who could not finish the fight due to a cut in the second round. From there, Georges had another significant win over famed Jiu Jitsu stylist Pete Spratt for the TKO welterweight championship at TKO 14 – Road Warriors. When GSP submitted Spratt with a rear naked choke, the grappling world took notice and the UFC came calling. Georges was brought in at UFC 46 to see if he could fair as well against another famous Jiu Jitsu practitioner in Karo Parisyan. Although Georges could not finish Parisyan, he exhibited a dominating performance that left no doubt in the judges mind, or Karo's, for that matter. GSP was awarded the win and earned his spot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.


Chapter 2 – Getting Ahead of Yourself



Since Georges was the TKO welterweight champion, and since he was usually able to finish his opponents so quickly, the UFC top brass expected big things from GSP. In his fight with Parisyan, GSP delivered exactly what the UFC was looking for, with slick submission escapes, dominating striking and tremendous grappling ability. GSP was able to showcase all of these skills in just one fight. He had gained even more popularity with hardcore fans simply over his loveable French Canadian accented trash talk, "No one can handle my Riddum!"

St. Pierre was placed against another undefeated UFC contender, wrestler Jay Hieron. Georges had actually trained with Hieron one year prior to their UFC match, which made things even more interesting as both men were aware of each other's skill first hand. Although Hieron was able to shrug off most of St. Pierre's shoot attempts, GSP absolutely dominated Hieron in striking. GSP was able to stagger Hieron 3 times with repeated punches and eventually the referee called a stop to the match at just one minute and forty two seconds into the first round. This time, GSP showed the UFC just why he earned the nickname "Rush" and followed up the win with a huge break dancing and acrobatic victory celebration.

It's important to put GSP's career into perspective at this point. Although he was absolutely dominant in all of his performances, and although he was the TKO welterweight champion, GSP had only had a total of seven professional fights at this point. Of the two of those fights which took place in the UFC, both of these were preliminary fights, matches that occurred on the undercard at the beginning of each card. Although GSP was clearly considered a great fighter at this point, and a talent worthy of UFC showcasing, his experience level was far from that of most of his competition.

It's with this in mind, that we must consider the amount of adversity GSP must have faced in the challenge which followed all those wins. At UFC 50, George St. Pierre was given a title shot against Matt Hughes, the most dominant welterweight champion ever.


Chapter 3 – Ultimate Adversary



GSP had gone from the UFC preliminaries to the main event in a mere three fights. Hughes (who had around 40 professional fights experience at this point), on the other hand, had recently lost the UFC welterweight title to B.J. Penn via a submission. However, the wrestler was back in the running already as Penn had vacated the title, and Hughes sought to go through GSP as a mere delay to regaining what he still viewed as his title.

St. Pierre started off the fight with early offense, striking Matt quickly and shooting in to put Hughes on his back. Although Hughes was quickly back up, GSP's speed and footwork were incredibly fast and he used his strength and momentum to toss Hughes around while still picking him apart with strikes. Hughes showed some striking of his own but primarily used it to attempt a takedown. Soon enough Hughes was able to pick GSP up and bring him to the ground up against the cage. Hughes reached in for a kimura or key lock submission, but GSP was quick to block it and get back to his feet.

Hughes did his best to put pressure on GSP but the Canadian countered with a trademark spinning back kick to Hughes' midsection, knocking him into the cage. GSP didn't follow up however, and his lack of aggression would later cost him. Matt got Georges to the ground again and passed his guard, although GSP was able to add in a few shots on the way to the ground.

Then the sequence that welterweight fans would never forget happened. Georges attempted to escape from the floor and get up but Matt held his hips which brought them into the center of the cage. Matt started to ground and pound into GSP, but St. Pierre used the opportunity to move onto his side. Matt began pounding into GSP harder and quickly switched over to side mount. GSP rolled into it, grabbing Hughes' right arm. The move was a fake. Hughes spun around at the last second while passing his legs above GSP's head. Then, grabbing GSP's wrist, Matt fell onto his back into a textbook counter: an arm bar submission. With just one second left to go in the first round, Matt Hughes regained his belt and handed George St. Pierre his first MMA loss.


Chapter 4 – Long Hard Road



Hughes hadn't just beaten St. Pierre, he had dismantled him. By finishing the fight, a fight he was losing, so fast, Hughes had left no doubt in anyone's mind that there was no one left who could challenge his new title reign anytime soon. GSP, although filled with respect for the champion, was livid with himself. He felt he had given Hughes too much respect in their fight and swore that next time he would not hesitate to finish Matt when he had the chance.

Before he could worry about the UFC, however, GSP still had to take care of his TKO welterweight championship. Once again, however, GSP proved his dominance against anyone not named Matt Hughes when he submitted Dave Strasser in the first round with a kimura submission at TKO 19 – Rage in Montreal. Still exhibiting dominating performances, GSP was back in the UFC in April of the next year against the unpredictable and charismatic Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

In many ways, Miller would gain more fame from this fight than GSP himself. Although GSP handed Miller a major beating in striking and mostly matched him on the ground, Mayhem pretty much laughed and smiled through most of it. Georges earned the decision win and started back down the road to another shot at the UFC welterweight title. The next victim to fall prey to the "rush" was Frank Trigg, who had gained some fame by almost beating Matt Hughes in an earlier match by capitalizing on an illegal blow the referee did not see.

GSP did not have the same trouble Hughes did and quickly submitted Trigg with a rear naked choke in the first round. An amusing backstage video would later show Hughes and GSP sitting around discussing a rematch, where GSP swore he would never pull such a dirty trick against Hughes. This spoke volumes of the respect Matt and Georges had for each other, and showed that the two fully intended to go at it again.

GSP would follow up with another win against sometime UFC veteran Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk at UFC 56 – Full Force, winning via TKO due to strikes in round 2. GSP got on his knees, begging for another title shot. However, he had one more obstacle in his way: the returning B.J. Penn, one of the few men to hand Matt Hughes a loss.


Chapter 5 – Return of the Rush



Georges faced a lot of early adversity from the very dangerous Penn, but was able to steal the fight back from him in the later rounds winning the close decision. He later sustained a groin injury during training which left Hughes to battle against B.J. Penn before GSP could get his shot. During the time that the match was being promoted, footage was released of GSP and Hughes working as trainers on the popular Ultimate Fighter reality TV series. This footage showed that Hughes had in fact been pestering GSP for some time about their upcoming match, and while GSP did his best to avoid it, Hughes pushed for confrontation.

When his rematch with B.J. Penn came around, Hughes pulled out a win in the third round. However, GSP was not impressed and interrupted Hughes' victory celebration at UFC 63 to say so. It was now clear that the respect between the two fighters had diminished somewhat and things had become a bit more personal. GSP would later go on to apologize to Matt for interrupting his celebration (something Hughes had never done to an upcoming opponent) but he also maintained that Hughes' performance against Penn was lacking.

Although GSP was granted his rematch, there was much confusion amongst the public. Hughes had avenged his only loss, but did not look dominant against Penn or GSP at any time. Could either of these men beat him, or was Hughes destined to dominate the welterweight division for an even longer period of time?

The answer came at UFC 65 – Bad Intentions. St. Pierre made the most of his rematch with Hughes, one of the most anticipated rematches ever. Although Hughes attempted to make the most of his improved boxing ability, St. Pierre came out strong again, dealing heavy damage with strikes and shrugging off two of Hughes' takedown attempts. However, two misplaced kicks landed in the area of Hughes' groin, and GSP had to become cautious of more accidental low blows which would cost him the match. Despite this, St. Pierre finished out the round with an explosive flying punch, or superman punch, that nearly knocked Hughes out at the end of the first round.

The fans could see Hughes was visibly in trouble as he looked to his corner for help, and this would prove to be GSP's key to victory. Since GSP was focused on low kicks through most of the match, in the second round he looked down to make sure his aim was proper. When Hughes saw this, he anticipated and moved in to counter, St. Pierre threw a fast high kick to Hughes' head, sending him to the canvas. In an aggressive flash, St. Pierre was on top of Hughes hitting him in the head with elbow after elbow until the referee called a stop to the match and awarded GSP the UFC welterweight title in the second round. The fans were on their feet as the road to the championship belt for one of the most amazing and fan friendliest fighters in the UFC came to its end. GSP hoisted the belt high, and promised to the fans to keep the belt in North American territory always.

GSP also sent a message to Matt Hughes, to keep improving, and that they would surely fight again. Hughes recently stated in an online journal that he has already been granted a rematch from the UFC although the specifics are not available. Hughes insists he can do better, and the two champions seem destined to clash one more time.


On Record

Thank you for reading Riddum: The tale of Georges St. Pierre. Like a story straight out of Rocky III, Georges St. Pierre is now at the top of the welterweight food chain and it does not seem that the division holds many challenges for him. Recently Matt Serra, the master of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu who won the fourth Ultimate Fighter challenge, earned a title shot against Georges. Although Serra has defeated St. Pierre's teammate Ivan Menjivar, there are very few who give Serra a fighting chance against someone as well rounded as St. Pierre. With that in mind, today's on record question is:

Aside from Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, where will Georges St. Pierre's next big challenge come from?

Damian: This one is tough. Serra deserves more of a chance than most people give him, I think, but we've excluded him from the running anyway. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the UFC will push their borders a bit and seek competition for GSP overseas. We might see a few interesting rematches, particularly against B.J. Penn, but with the rumors of fighters like Ryo Chonan getting signed to the UFC and PRIDE at their doorstep, I'm guessing that GSP will be called upon to backup his words and defend the title for the north American continent.


Jose: Looking at UFC's current welterweight division, I don't think Serra will be a big challenge for Georges at all. I believe B.J. Penn poses the one threat to GSP's title at this time. They'll probably look to give Diego Sanchez a shot soon, but I don't think he stands a chance now either. Matt Hughes needs quite a bit of time if he hopes to regain the title and putting him in a rematch in 4 or 5 months will get him trounced again. He would really need time to develop an effective strategy. No other fighters really qualify for a shot, so the UFC will probably have to bring in some top welterweight talent soon to make things interesting.