“I was very sad...” Georges St Pierre trained Kyokushin Karate from the age of six to to the age of sixteen years old, right up until his Karate master of ten years, Jean Couture, died from Lung Cancer. “When my Kyokushin Karate teacher died I wanted to stop Martial Arts.” He almost quit, the then sixteen year old was understandably devastated the day his sensei died, but fortunately for him and his fans, St. Pierre made the decision to continue his training. He now finds himself on the cusp of his second UFC appearance, not a bad feat considering he is only 23 years old and still lives with his parents. It is an appearance that is due in part, to the passing of his master. “I don’t want to say this, as it is not a good thing, but when he died I started a new style of martial arts, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. (The fact) that he died made me start my career in MMA” From the throes of death, birth is only a stones throw away and wrought of sorrow, St. Pierre’s MMA career was born.

Much like everyone else, his dream of fighting in the UFC began on television, from the first show he ever watched he knew that someday that would be his calling. “I went over to my friend’s house and watched my first UFC. It was when Steve Jennum won the UFC….I knew when I saw my first UFC, it was going to be my sport.” His dream of fighting in the UFC would be realized at UFC 46 where he faced off against and defeated the heavily favored Karo Parisyan, grounding and pounding his way to a well deserved unanimous decision victory. Success has followed St. Pierre in every endeavor he has pursued, but even on the eve of another showing in the “Big Show”, he is keeping his eyes open and realizes that he is only one fall, or one injury away from sitting on the sidelines for good. It is a reality and something that has hit close to home for the young upstart. “One of my friends got injured and now his career is finished. [My girlfriend] is always saying to me “keep your mind open because this thing happened to your friend and it can happen to you.” She is a little bit worried about me but that is good, she wants to keep my eyes open. I know one day I can get injured and my career can be finished. It can happen to anybody, this is a dangerous sport, we don’t play golf.” Golf is the last thing on his mind as he prepares for the second step in his journey of achieving one of his goals. In two years, his hopes to get a title shot in the welterweight division against whoever the champion is at that time. In the meantime he is also preparing to start his first year of university in the fall to study sport science. It is another dream that will be fulfilled in the coming fall season to coincide with that of his dream of fighting in the UFC. 

St Pierre with David "The Crow" Loiseau and his manager Stephane Patry

While his scholastic endeavors are goals that are developed with the perusal of fat textbooks, the 23 year old’s MMA dreams are cultivated on the mat, and training is spent with Angelo Exarhakos at Tristar gym in Montreal Canada, sweating it out with UFC veteran David Loiseau, Steve Vigneault, and Ivan Menjivar among others. He currently wrestles with the Canadian Olympic team, boxes with Canadian Golden glove champion Paul Clavette and is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Brazilian Top Team Black belt Fabio Holanda. It is the same Fabio Holanda who ironically fought St. Pierre’s upcoming UFC opponent Jay Hieron in Hieron’s most recent MMA fight.

St. Pierre’s pro MMA record now stands at a perfect 5-0, with one no contest with fellow UFC 48 cardmate Ivan Menjivar, he has come a long way from his first MMA bout, which was an amateur bout that took place when he was just 16 years old. “When I won my first amateur (MMA) fight. I was 16 years old and I beat a guy that was 25. I was only a Kyokushin Karate fighter and the guy I fought was a boxer. At the time my ground skills were very poor, I didn’t know nothing on the ground.” Georges won his fight by knockout, going low with several leg kicks and then going high with a Karate kick to the head. To this day much of the media has him pegged as a wrestler, or a Jiu Jitsu fighter, but he still considers himself a karate stylist at heart. His amateur MMA record stands at 4 wins and no losses. He even sports an amateur boxing record of 6-0 on top of his pro MMA record of 5-0, with the most impressive victory of all coming over the talented Judo stylist Karo Parisyan in his first UFC fight, a fight that St Pierre claims was the toughest of his career.

That was then, this is now, he knows what Jay Hieron brings to the table and he is prepared for the most grueling battle of his career. He has spent some time with Hieron in the gym practicing wrestling drills together in New York at Rodrigo Gracies academy, an academy where he has spent some time in the past. They will not be strangers when the meet in the Octagon in Las Vegas and he knows that the talented Hieron will be looking to hurt him, which is something that he is now accustomed to. “When I was at school all the guys tried to hurt me to have my money and tried to steal my clothes, I (would) always fight…. I was alone and I started martial arts…I got my ass kicked a lot of times in the street at this time. A lot of people ask me…“Hey Georges you must be undefeated in the street, I think that nobody can beat you.” That maybe now, but when I was young, I think my record was 2 victories and twenty five losses… when you are 8-9 years old and the other guys are 12-13, they are teenagers and you are a kid.” George St Pierre is right, he was a kid, but that was then, and this is now. The young kid who got hurt and beat up for his money and his clothes is no longer. Georges St Pierre the kid has ushered in Georges St Pierre the man and is making his way in the world, one step, one fight, and one dream at a time.  -MMARR-