“There is a difference between a fighter and a martial artist. A fighter is training for a purpose: he has a fight. I’m a Martial artist. I don’t train for a fight, I train for myself. My goal is perfection, but I will never reach perfection.”
Georges St-Pierre grew up in St-Isidore, Quebec, a quiet town of just 2,000 people. As a kid, he spent years being bullied by older schoolmates, an experience that shaped him early. His father introduced him to Kyokushin karate when he was seven, hoping it would give him strength and confidence.
“But life isn’t like a movie,” Georges would later say. “You can do all the karate you want, but when you’re eight or nine and they’re twelve… when you’re alone and there’s three of them… you can’t do anything. That’s the reality.”
By the age of twelve, Georges had already earned a second dan black belt in Kyokushin. He spent his teenage years training with relentless focus, pouring everything he had into martial arts.
Then, in 1993, everything changed. Watching Royce Gracie at UFC 1, Georges saw something that lit a fire. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and how he was going to do it. From that moment on, every hour, every ounce of energy, went into becoming the best version of himself.
When he wasn’t in school or training, he worked the doors at nightclubs and rode the back of a garbage truck before sunrise. Whatever it took, he did it.
And along the way, he discovered something simple and powerful: showing up every day, that’s how you reach goals.
Georges kept growing - as a fighter, and as a person. He added new disciplines to his foundation in karate: boxing, wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
At just sixteen, he stepped into the cage for his first amateur MMA fight and won. He never looked back.
In 2006, Georges “Rush” St-Pierre , or simply “GSP”, became the UFC Welterweight Champion. A year later, he lost the title but in 2008, with the crowd behind him in his hometown of Montreal, he won it back.
And from that moment on, he never lost a single title defense.
Fighting style: Kyokushin karate (3rd dan black belt), Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (black belt), Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling.
Awards
Member of the Canada Sports Hall of Fame
Member of the UFC Hall of Fame
Canadian Athlete of the Year 2008, 2009, 2010 - Rogers Sportsnet.
2010-2011 No.2 Pound-for-Pound Fighter in the World – ESPN
Fighter of the Year 2009 - Sports Illustrated, World MMA Awards, MMAPayout, Inside MMA, MMAJunkie
Finalist - Best Fighter 2008, 2010, 2011, 2018 - ESPY Awards
Most Dangerous Man of the year 2010 - Spike Guys Choice Awards
2008 MMA Fighter of the Year - Black Belt Magazine
Sharpen your skills from fundamental stances to advanced cage techniques with the GSP MMA Academy. Step up your game with world-class strategies that have dominated the MMA scene, all under the mentorship of Hall of Famer, Georges St-Pierre.
“…a more than serviceable entry in the genre that is likeable for all the reasons its author is likeable: it’s aware of its audience, willing and able to share wisdom, and even when you’re sure it’s not telling the whole story, the story it does tell is both generous and charming.”
-Jacob McArthur Mooney, National Post
“The Way of the Fight delivers a great deal more than a book written in that manner could. It is part biography, part self-help, part philosophy. It is a book that, read in the right manner, teaches more than it tells.”
-Trent Reinsmith, Bleacher Report
“Together, along with co-writer Justin Kingsley, the authors execute with razor like focus - not unlike a five round championship bout - a complex yet simple peek at just what drives St. Pierre to near perfection inside and outside of the cage.”
-Mike Straka, Access MMA
“To get a close-up peek at the UFC welterweight champion as you’ve never seen him before, pick up a copy of “The Way of the Fight” at your local bookseller or grab a digital edition online today.”
- Sherdog.com
“St-Pierre the martial artist dissects MMA on a different level and the layers of dedication he has for his craft are, at times, staggering to read about.”
-Loretta Hunt, Sports Illustrated
As the world’s most popular MMA fighter, Georges “Rush” St-Pierre seems almost impossibly tough and dominant. But long before he was “GSP,” as his millions of fans know him, he was just a kid harassed by bullies. But he was also a kid who, thanks to years of practicing martial arts, invented his own way of life.He became a black belt in karate at the age of 12. In his later teens, working as a garbage collector to finance his unique and innovative training methods, GSP learned from repeated losses and ultimately found a way to triumph in a highly competitive field.
With startling honesty, GSP relates the true story of growing up in the martial arts and discovering that his passion for learning and constant improvement makes him happy. By way of fighting, he’s discovered how to succeed; by way of injury, how to maintain perspective on that success. This book highlights the lessons that brought him there, the unique system he invented to combine various forms of fighting arts, and the key people who helped make him world champion.