GSP

Georges "Rush" St-Pierre is a Canadian professional mixed martial artist and MMA world champion who holds black belts in both Kyokushin karate and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. At age 7, GSP decided to learn karate to defend himself against a school bully, but it was watching Royce Gracie fight in 1993 at UFC 1 that inspired him to one day become a UFC champion.

Thus he began training in additional disciplines such as boxing, wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and competed in his first amateur bout at age 16. He won that match, and continued performing all the way to 2006, when he became the UFC Welterweight Champion. He lost the title in 2007 but subsequently regained it in front of his hometown fans of Montreal in 2008. St-Pierre is known for the strategic approach he uses in developing his gameplans for his opponents, drawing upon skills he learned through competing in local chess tournaments while growing up in Montreal.

His recent accolades include Fighter of the Year 2009 by Sports Illustrated, MMAPayout.com, Inside MMA on HDNet, MMAJunkie.com, and at the Fighters Only World MMA Awards held at the Hard Rock Casino on December 30, 2009. He was also the recipient, for the second time, of Sportsnet’s Canadian Athlete of the Year, and was runner-up for the Lional Conacher Award, the first time a MMA fighter has ever been nominated for the award.

Fast Facts

Nicknames	Rush & GSP
Height	5 ft 10.5 in
Weight	170 lbs
Nationality	Canadian
Born	May 19th, 1981 in Quebec, Canada
Fight Style	Kyokushin, Wrestling, Muay Thai, & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Status	2-Time & Reigning UFC Welterweight Champion
Honors	2008 ESPY Nominee 2008 Canadian Athlete of the Year 2009 Fighter of the Year by Sports Illustrated (SI.com) 2009 Fighter of the Year by MMAPayout.com  2009 Fighter of the Year by Inside MMAon HDNet 2009 Fighter of the Year MMAJunkie.com 2009 Fighter of the Year Fighters Only World MMA Awards 2009 Sportsnet’s Canadian Athlete of the Year,  Runner-up for the Lional Conacher Award, the first time a MMA fighter has ever been nominated for the award.