Georges St. Pierre

Georges “Rush” St. Pierre has been training in martial arts since he was six years old. He first trained in Kyokushin karate and has expanded his training to many other fighting disciplines. He has received a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Renzo Gracie in 2006, and has trained with numerous groups including the Montreal Wrestling Club and the Gaidojutsu School in New Mexico. He currently trains with the Triumph Fight Team and the Canadian National Wrestling Team.

St. Pierre is a karate fighter with a natural athleticism and an aggressive striking style and solid ground skills. His MMA record is 13-2 and he has wins against some of the best fighters the UFC has today. He has beaten B.J. Penn, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk and Karo Parisyan. He went 7-0 in his first seven fights and was given a shot at Matt Hughes’ Welterweight title back in 2004, but lost by submission to his boyhood idol. Then he went 5-0 after that loss and was given another shot at the Welterweight Title in December 2006. He had greatly improved as a fighter since 2004 and destroyed Hughes in less than two rounds to win the championship. The UFC then signed him to a six-year contract.

It looked as if St. Pierre would be one of the most dominant fighters the UFC would have atop a division, but Matt Serra would have different thoughts for St. Pierre’s future. After winning Ultimate Fighter 4, Serra was awarded a shot at St. Pierre’s title. Georges was an 11-1 favourite, but was upset when Serra landed a right hook that he was unable to recover from once Serra got him on the ground.

The loss has postponed the third edition of St. Pierre/Hughes and pushed St. Pierre to the back burner of the welterweight division, perhaps temporarily. His next fight is against Josh Koscheck (9-1) at UFC 74 in August. St. Pierre will have to once again prove he deserves the title shot, but it may not take too long before the welterweight belt is around his waist again.