The Career of Georges St-Pierre: From Rising Star to MMA GOAT

Published:

Written by:

Khabib and Georges St-Pierre
Khabib and Georges St-Pierre (Twitter)

Many champions have emerged in mixed martial arts (MMA), especially in its most prestigious promotion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Among these champions, a select few have earned the title of GOAT (Greatest of All Time). While there’s no exact formula for determining who deserves this distinction, MMA fans typically judge GOAT status by a fighter’s dominance in the octagon. Several names worthy of this title include Mighty Mouse Demetrious Johnson, The Lioness Amanda Nunes, The Spider Anderson Silva, Jon “Bones” Jones, and lastly, a figure particularly famous in Indonesia, The Eagle Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Jones and Khabib are often considered the most deserving of the GOAT title. Unfortunately, Jones’s reputation has diminished in recent years, particularly after multiple sanctions from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for suspected doping violations. In contrast, Khabib managed to retire at the peak of his career with an undefeated record, never having been cut in a fight, and never having any doping issues. As a result, most MMA fans recognize Khabib as the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Interestingly, if you were to ask Khabib who the MMA GOAT is, he would almost certainly name Georges St-Pierre (GSP), a fighter both he and his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov deeply admired. Let’s explore who GSP is and why Khabib holds him in such high regard.

Introduction to Martial Arts

Georges St-Pierre was born on May 19, 1981, in Saint Isidore, Quebec, Canada. As a nerdy kid who was frequently bullied at school, he took up Kyokushin karate to defend himself. His martial arts talent was evident early on – he earned his black belt by age 12. Later, St-Pierre earned a kinesiology degree from CEGEP Edouard Montpetit. The path to his degree wasn’t easy. Before becoming a professional MMA athlete with substantial earnings, he had to work hard to support himself through college, taking jobs as a garbage collector and nightclub bouncer in Montreal.

Royce Gracie’s victory at UFC 1 in 1993 opened the eyes of many martial artists, including GSP, to MMA as the future of combat sports. Not content with just being a karateka, St-Pierre committed himself to learning Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Since adequate training facilities weren’t available in Canada at the time, he made a grueling 7.5-hour journey from Montreal to New York almost daily just to train. GSP’s sacrifices and hard work paid off. From his debut at TKO Major League MMA on January 25, 2002, no opponent could overcome his ground game. Everyone he took down at TKO succumbed to his relentless ground and pound (GnP).

GSP at TKO Major League MMA
GSP at TKO Major League MMA (Youtube)

St-Pierre’s earnings at TKO were modest, as MMA wasn’t nearly as popular in the early 2000s as it is today, especially in Canada, which wasn’t considered an MMA hub. To supplement his income, St-Pierre creatively used temporary tattoos on his body as advertising space. Fortunately, his impressive performances at TKO caught the eye of UFC president Dana White, leading to his UFC debut against Karo Parisyan at UFC 46 on January 31, 2004. Despite coming in with a perfect record from his five TKO fights, St-Pierre’s UFC debut opened his eyes to a much higher level of competition. His unanimous decision victory over Parisyan didn’t make him overconfident.

Early Success in UFC

Each subsequent UFC fight helped GSP evolve into a better fighter. In his second UFC bout, he defeated Jay Hieron via first-round TKO. Dana White recognized St-Pierre’s extraordinary potential and saw him as the future of the UFC welterweight division. Not surprisingly, his third UFC fight at UFC 50 on October 24, 2004, was for the vacant welterweight championship against then-former champion Matt Hughes. GSP was just 23 years old with a 7-0 record, while Hughes was in his prime at 31 with a record of 35 wins and 4 losses. Unfortunately, Georges St-Pierre suffered his first defeat via armbar in the closing seconds of the first round.

Three months later, GSP returned to Canada to defend his TKO welterweight title against Dave Strasser. He finished his final TKO fight with a kimura submission. GSP then returned to the UFC and began his journey to becoming the greatest welterweight MMA fighter of all time. He faced exceptional fighters like Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, and the legendary BJ Penn, the first person to take the UFC welterweight belt from Matt Hughes. While Penn won the first round of their fight, St-Pierre showed championship mentality in the second and third rounds, dominating the action and securing a split decision victory.

UFC Welterweight Champion

St-Pierre’s moment of truth finally came at UFC 65 on November 18, 2006. He would once again face Matt Hughes, the only fighter who had ever defeated him, in a rematch for the UFC welterweight belt. Their second fight was drastically different from two years prior. This time, GSP was far better prepared with a more complete skill set. He nearly won in the first round, with Hughes only being saved by the bell. In the second round, GSP ended the fight with a perfectly executed head kick that knocked Hughes out. Georges St-Pierre was crowned UFC welterweight champion for the first time.

UFC 69 on April 7, 2007, became a historic moment for the UFC, particularly for St-Pierre himself. Anyone who has competed in martial arts knows the feelings of anxiety, nervousness, and fear before a fight. That’s exactly what GSP experienced before his UFC 69 bout against Matt Serra. In a May 2018 interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast, St-Pierre revealed that he was so anxious he couldn’t sleep before the fight – the only time he’d ever felt such pre-fight anxiety. Georges St-Pierre, widely considered the future of the UFC Welterweight division, suffered a shocking first-round TKO loss to Matt Serra.

Harboring feelings of dissatisfaction, disappointment, and anger at himself, GSP transformed his training approach in unprecedented ways. He sought out the world’s best martial arts and fitness experts to develop his body. St-Pierre ensured that every muscle in his body was properly trained, right down to his fingertips. After securing two victories against Josh Koscheck and his old rival Matt Hughes, GSP got his chance for a rematch with Matt Serra to reclaim the UFC Welterweight belt. The rematch took place at UFC 83 on April 19, 2008, in his hometown of Montreal, Canada. The pay-per-view sales for this fight reached $530,000, an extraordinary figure for the UFC at that time.

Growing More Invincible

Explore More:

Georges St-Pierre vs Matt Serra 2
Georges St-Pierre vs Matt Serra 2 (sportsnet.ca)

St-Pierre fulfilled his hometown fans’ hopes with a brilliant victory. GSP faced minimal resistance in his rematch against Matt Serra. The referee stopped the fight in the final seconds of the second round after seeing Matt Serra unable to defend or counter St-Pierre’s relentless knee strikes to his ribs. Following this victory, Georges St-Pierre went on to set the record for most UFC welterweight title defenses in history. He dominated all his opponents so thoroughly that he was considered one of the best welterweight fighters of the era. Yes, you heard that right – at that time, GSP was considered one of the best welterweights, not the undisputed best.

The reason GSP wasn’t considered the sole best welterweight MMA fighter was because there was another equally dominant welterweight fighter in a different promotion (Strikeforce) at the time. This was Nick Diaz, a street fighter who had made his name on the world stage. Although they only met once in the octagon throughout their careers, MMA fans always considered Nick Diaz to be Georges St-Pierre’s eternal rival. Their rivalry was fueled by their completely contrasting backgrounds. Georges St-Pierre was a polished, well-mannered, and educated MMA fighter. Nick Diaz, on the other hand, was rough around the edges, indifferent, and street-grown.

Among his brilliant string of welterweight title defenses, one of the most memorable fights was the rematch against BJ Penn at UFC 94 on January 31, 2009. Though he had won by a narrow split decision in their first meeting three years earlier, BJ Penn was no ordinary contender. After losing to St-Pierre in 2006, Penn dropped to lightweight and became champion in that division. He was ambitious to become the first double champ in UFC history by defeating GSP. However, St-Pierre was simply on another level compared to other fighters. Despite Penn’s best efforts, St-Pierre defeated him after delivering a brutal assault for 4 full rounds.

The Nick Diaz Fight That Never Was

St-Pierre was never satisfied with his abilities. He constantly sought out experts in each martial art discipline. Besides training with his brilliant head coach Firas Zahabi, St-Pierre also learned boxing from Freddie Roach, the trainer of eight-division boxing champion and living legend Manny Pacquiao. For Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, St-Pierre recruited John Danaher, considered a genius in the BJJ world. GSP was admired by many for his humility and willingness to learn from anyone. Imagine – even while holding a world title, he was eager to learn from Joe Rogan, who was primarily an MMA commentator. According to St-Pierre, Rogan had a beautiful spinning back kick (dwi chagi) thanks to his old-school taekwondo training.

Now, let’s discuss the rivalry between Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz, considered their greatest rivalry. GSP and Nick were scheduled to fight at UFC 137 on October 29, 2011. Dana White saw huge profit potential in their matchup and didn’t hesitate to prepare an extravagant press conference to promote the fight. However, Dana failed to account for Nick’s notorious unpredictability. Nick completely no-showed the UFC 137 promotional press conference. Dana was extremely disappointed with Nick Diaz’s irresponsible behavior and ultimately revoked his right to fight Georges St-Pierre.

Georges St-Pierre vs Carlos Condit
Georges St-Pierre vs Carlos Condit (Twitter)

Interestingly, leading up to UFC 137, Nick Diaz wasn’t the only one with issues – St-Pierre suffered an ACL injury during training that required surgery and 10 months of rehabilitation. During St-Pierre’s recovery, Carlos Condit won the UFC interim welterweight belt from Nick Diaz at UFC 143 on February 4, 2012. After recovering from his injury, GSP returned to the Octagon to defend his UFC welterweight belt. Most people worried St-Pierre wouldn’t return to peak performance after his injury. However, in the first round of the fight, Georges split Condit’s head open with a spectacular elbow strike. Georges St-Pierre went on to win the fight and reclaim his position as the undisputed UFC welterweight champion.

Completing Unfinished Business

UFC 158 on March 16, 2013, featured the long-awaited fight between Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz. St-Pierre was well aware of Nick’s advantage in striking volume, so he didn’t allow the fight to stay standing. Nick Diaz struggled to handle St-Pierre’s relentless takedowns and the ground and pound that followed once Georges secured dominant positions. Nick tried to provoke emotions with trash talk, but GSP remained composed until he ultimately won the fight. Even after more than a decade, St-Pierre admits he’s still sad that he couldn’t become friends with Nick Diaz. He also feels sorry that Nick had to retire at a young age due to pressure from the athletic commission.

After defeating Diaz, St-Pierre had to defend his title again that same year at UFC 167 against Johny Hendricks. From the opening bell, everyone witnessed something unusual - the typically invincible St-Pierre was being dominated by his challenger. Georges absorbed many clean shots to the head that left his face bloodied and battered. Meanwhile, Hendricks remained unmarked and fresh throughout the fight. When the final bell rang, Hendricks and his team celebrated victory. However, in a shocking and controversial decision, only one of the three judges scored it for Hendricks. The other two judges felt St-Pierre had won the fight.

In his post-fight speech after the Hendricks bout, St-Pierre announced a temporary retirement from MMA, which infuriated Dana White. Understandably so, as GSP was MMA’s biggest star and UFC’s most valuable asset at the time. Dana wouldn’t let St-Pierre leave without a proper UFC farewell. GSP had a compelling reason for his hiatus - it was a protest against the UFC’s lack of action against athletes suspected of doping. Eventually, Dana White acknowledged George’s reasoning, and the USADA era in UFC began. Since then, several athletes have been caught using performance-enhancing drugs. Many previously dominant fighters seemed to lose their edge after USADA’s arrival, including Johny Hendricks.

Double Champ and Retirement

After a four-year absence, St-Pierre returned to the octagon. This time, however, he wasn’t competing at welterweight but at middleweight, pursuing double-champ status. His legendary status earned St-Pierre the privilege of an immediate title shot against UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping at UFC 217 on November 4, 2017. The GSP vs. Bisping press conference became one of the most entertaining and amusing. We all know St-Pierre as the UFC’s most polite fighter, rarely using profanity or trash talk against his opponents. During the press conference, Bisping tried to sell the fight with his silly antics and continued to disrespect St-Pierre, but GSP only responded with smiles.

Becoming a UFC double champ is no easy feat - only a select few fighters have achieved it. Even striking genius Israel Adesanya couldn’t accomplish this when he was defeated by Jan Błachowicz in his attempt to unify the UFC Middleweight and Light Heavyweight titles at UFC 259 on March 6, 2021. St-Pierre not only achieved this prestigious accomplishment but did so after a four-year layoff. On that UFC 217 night, St-Pierre showed he hadn’t lost his touch despite the long absence, and we could even see his evolution as a fighter. After landing a left hook to Bisping’s chin, Georges followed up with ground and pound before finishing the fight with a rear naked choke (RNC).

Unfortunately, history repeated itself as St-Pierre announced his retirement after the fight, this time permanently. GSP’s retirement at that time dashed many people’s hopes of seeing a dream match between Khabib and St-Pierre. In an April 2021 interview with Joe Rogan, St-Pierre admitted that Khabib was the one opponent who could bring him back to the octagon. However, St-Pierre said the moment to fight Khabib had passed, at least three years since then (2021). Meanwhile, Khabib himself, in an interview with a Russian podcaster, admitted there was only one opponent who would make him return to the octagon, even at age 50 - Georges St-Pierre.

Related Posts.