Issue 046
March 2009
Georges St-Pierre is the model MMA fighter. Physically gifted, continually developing his skills and loved by fans across the world, the French-Canadian is the top welterweight in the sport today. But a challenge awaits: St-Pierre faces the toughest test of his career when he meets BJ Penn in January. Tania Presutti met with St-Pierre to watch him prepare for the fight that could cement his status as one of the best fighters the world has ever seen.
Pinning Georges St-Pierre down for an interview is never easy but, after a few days of waiting, I met him by chance at The Wat, the Muay Thai gym in New York St-Pierre often visits. The polite Canadian fighter agrees to sit down for a quick interview. “But not more than ten minutes, I really need to go back to my hotel,” the champ apologizes. “I need to send a fax to my manager in Vegas – they’re waiting for it as we speak.
“I really don’t like New York that much,” St-Pierre smiles as we sit down at the local Starbucks. “After three or four days, I just want to go home.” But as I look at him across the table, he fits right in with the hip Soho crowd that use Starbucks as their second home. Even though it is technically his vacation time when we meet, he looks sharp and (as always) in good shape.
St-Pierre’s in a brief period of downtime, sharpening his skills with his Muay Thai trainer here in New York. The striking was a key area in which St-Pierre out-worked his most recent opponent, the rugged Jon Fitch. The fight was a treat for fans, with St-Pierre unleashing all manner of attacks in the first couple of minutes.
“I hit him hard and clean several times, and he just kept coming back. I remember knocking him to the floor, I saw his eyes close for a second, and I thought ‘he’s not coming back’, but he did. He was really strong, like I expected. I give him much credit for the fight.” St-Pierre defended his status as champion and broke Fitch’s win streak in the process.
Those who saw the fight will remember the drama didn’t end with St-Pierre raising his arms in victory. Before the reigning champ could say anything, Penn had entered the ring, daring St-Pierre. “I want the next fight, let’s make it happen! Let’s make it happen!” the Hawaiian repeated over and over. These were the moments in which St-Pierre should have been celebrating winning one of his toughest fights to date.
“I understand Penn’s behavior,” he told me. He knows it was all just hype. Never the trash talker, St-Pierre replied, very politely, that he would fight the challengers put before him, saying, “I’m a proud champion, not a chicken.”
“I didn’t take his outburst personally, it's all about the business, I understand that and I respect him. He’s a great fighter.” Looking into his steely blue eyes, one has no doubt that he’s serious.
The reason for St-Pierre’s confidence is no secret within the MMA world. St-Pierre is still a warrior in the making – despite being the reigning champ he’s continually developing his game. He brings something new to the table and appears to be almost in total control, in every fight. His 2007 loss to Matt Serra seems only to have added to his game. A stronger, wiser, more determined Georges St-Pierre emerged from that defeat, as we saw when he had his revenge in April 2008 in Montreal. It is this drive for continual development that sees St-Pierre in New York.
Bam. Bam. Bam. The sounds of kicks and punches fill the hot rectangular room in New York. Even though there are two classes taking place in The Wat, one of the city’s top Muay Thai gyms, a few students are standing ringside watching their coach, Kru Phil Nurse, go toe-to-toe with St-Pierre.
St-Pierre and Nurse are having their first training session since the Canadian successfully defended his title against Fitch. Nurse is one of St-Pierre’s newest coaches, part of the team since the Canadian’s loss to Matt Serra. Though St-Pierre needs little instruction on the finer elements of striking, he sought out Nurse specifically to learn Muay Thai.
In the ring the two men are having fun, circling each other and letting combinations go. This is partly light-sparring, partly a one-to-one, with Nurse passing on some of his many tricks. “It’s a trick kick: you just pretend to front kick, and then you kick here,” he says, burying his heel in Georges’s upper thigh. St-Pierre nods, taking the lesson in with a slight pain that shows itself on his face.
A minute later, Nurse gets a taste of his own medicine. St-Pierre tricks a front kick and plants that same heel kick in the instructor’s upper thigh. Phil Nurse is mumbling ‘good’, and nods appreciatively at his charge. For another couple of rounds, the two men play on with the heel kick and then Nurse introduces a new trick.
“Phil is all about tricks, he’s the best Muay Thai coach I have ever met,” says St-Pierre. “And not only is he a good instructor, he’s a great person. I really like him.” Aside from his encyclopedic knowledge of Muay Thai, and his affable personality, GSP respects that Nurse fought for many years. The Canadian is confident that everything Nurse shows him has been tested in the ring.
The air is warm in The Wat. The ‘beginner’ class is about to finish and the ‘fighter’ class is just starting. Oblivious of the 40 students milling around them, the two men are focused only on each other. Despite the weight difference (about 20lb in Georges’s favor) St-Pierre and Nurse let all manner of attacks go – spinning backfists, flying knees, spinning back-kicks, and the heel kick – but neither man is looking to hurt the other.
Fans who watched GSP defend his title against the durable Fitch might remember the Canadian throwing spinning back-elbows, flying knees, and back-kicks. Though St-Pierre has a long background in karate, these techniques were honed with Nurse only weeks before the fight.
“He is like a sponge,” Nurse says about his student. “I teach him a move by showing it once or twice, and then he just does it.” During their sparring session, Nurse would show St-Pierre a trick, explain the logic behind it, and within minutes St-Pierre would have incorporated it into his game.
It’s obvious while talking to British-born Nurse that he enjoys teaching St-Pierre. “He’s like my prodigy. He learns so fast and he’s disciplined, dedicated, and a smart fighter like me. I liked to fight smart, it was my thing when I was competing. I outsmarted my opponents, and especially in Thailand, where I met fighters much stronger and more experienced than myself. I outsmarted them in the ring. Georges, he’s a very intelligent, fast fighter, and a true athlete.”
Athlete is the word often used to describe the UFC champion. When asked what he feels about this label, St-Pierre laughs: “I’m blessed with good genes. I think I had abs when I was 10 or 12 years old.”
St-Pierre and Nurse were introduced through a student at The Wat. According to Phil, it was a stroke of luck that their meeting actually took place. “That same day, I had classes plus a private lesson with another student, so I nearly didn’t have time to meet him. Fortunately, the private lesson got canceled, and I told my student he could bring Georges. They got here 45 minutes before class, so we put on the gloves and did a 40-minute sparring round,” Nurse recalls. “It was a really good first meeting. Georges never tested me, as some of the fighters who I normally meet have done. It was a very mutually respectful sparring session.”
The two martial artists' personalities clicked immediately, and Nurse has been part of St-Pierre’s coaching team ever since. Once every three weeks or so the two of them meet and train together for three or four days, either in New York or in Montreal. Close to St-Pierre’s fights, Nurse joins the rest of the coaching team for the fight preparation camp and trains continuously with him and the other fighters.
“Before the Fitch fight, I joined the fighter camp and trained with the other fighters too. We also had Roger Huerta on the fight card; it was a really good week. Roger also came here to The Wat and trained – they (UFC fighters) are welcome. I just won’t take in another 170lb fighter.”
The Wat’s resident fighters get to enjoy sparring with those who visit the camp. Both St-Pierre and Huerta sparred with a number of The Wat’s 15 professional Muay Thai fighters. “Georges is actually really cool with the guys and, if he can, he likes to help them out preparing for their fights,” says Nurse.
“You know, I don’t have to fight for a living.” St-Pierre leans in, over the table, his eyes hard on mine as he delivers this bit of information. “I fight because I want to, because I like to challenge myself. I have a college education. It’s something I do because I really like it. I wake up every day with a big smile on my face.
“I like to teach too, and teaching classes and seminars is part of my living,” he says, but he adds that he rarely has time for it these days. “Right now I’m focusing on my own career and my own training, so I only do seminars now – and rarely.” He smiles with confidence when I ask him if he’s a good teacher. “Yes, I am,” he answers without hesitation. “I like to teach. It also teaches me and reminds me of the basics, which is good.”
He laughs when asked how his parents feel about his fighting career. “They were not happy with my choice to begin with, but of course, they respect it now and are happy for me.
“This is my big dream, and I’ve worked hard for it. I train hard and there is a lot of sacrifice in my daily life. I watch my diet, train hard, and don’t party every weekend.” The reigning champion glances at his yogurt with granola from Starbucks’s notoriously unhealthy selection of snacks and almost excuses himself. “Right now I’m on vacation, so I eat anything, everything I want to,” he says with a smirk.
Growing up, St-Pierre was inspired by athletes like Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali, Royce Gracie, and Michael Jordan. He got into martial arts through karate, but says that when he found MMA he found his ‘home’. “I like to train and I like to take all I learn and incorporate it into my game. Right now I’m training Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, boxing, and Muay Thai, and have my base in karate. So I get more tools and I keep becoming a better fighter.”
The ten minutes he limited himself to passed long ago, and St-Pierre looks for the time. He needs to send the fax and then find his friends – he’ll be out partying in New York tonight, and he looks forward to doing so. Just one little question remains, where does Georges St-Pierre see himself in ten years? He stops playing with his empty yogurt can and thinks for a moment before answering. “I really don’t know,” he says. “All I know is that the day that I don’t wake up smiling, I’ll quit.”
The art of the eight limbs
A martial art originating in Thailand, Muay Thai is considered among the most effective of all striking systems. The national sport of Thailand, Muay Thai bouts feature punches, kicks, knees, elbows, and standing grappling.
Perhaps the most famous of Muay Thai stylists in MMA is Anderson Silva, the UFC middleweight champion. Silva is a versatile fighter who is equally adept on the floor, but his kicks, punches, and knees have left many an opponent down and out.
Many top MMA fighters have a background in Muay Thai, and techniques from the art are considered an essential part of any fighter’s repertoire. As a result of his work with the likes of Phil Nurse, St-Pierre has managed to blend his karate background with kicks and punches more often seen in Muay Thai. With dominant victories over Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, and Jon Fitch, GSP is considered one of the most dangerous strikers in MMA.
A year in the life of GSP
The 12 months from August 2007 to August 2008 saw Georges St-Pierre raise his game to a whole new level. Already considered one of the most dynamic fighters in the sport, GSP racked up four consecutive wins in the UFC Octagon, cementing his position as the number one welterweight in the world.
25 August 2007
Possibly the best wrestler in the welterweight division, Josh Koscheck was no easy test for GSP, who was coming back after a shock loss to Matt Serra. GSP outwrestled Koscheck and cruised to an easy decision victory.
29 December 2007
Taking the fight with Hughes on only a few weeks' notice, St-Pierre had been in intensive training with the Canadian national wrestling team when the UFC called him. St-Pierre used this training to good effect, tossing Hughes around before submitting him in the second round in their third meeting in the Octagon.
19 April 2008
Revenge is a dish best served cold, apparently, but the temperature was red hot when St-Pierre blasted through Matt Serra in a rematch in Montreal. The UFC’s largest crowd to date cheered every attack St-Pierre landed as the proud Canadian took back his welterweight title.
9 August 2008
Jon Fitch was on a 15-fight winning streak when GSP stopped him in his tracks. Fitch, an outstanding wrestler, and teammate of Koscheck, had no answer to St-Pierre’s blend of dynamic striking and wrestling. He just about survived the full five rounds but St-Pierre walked away the decisive winner.
