Georges Saint-Pierre, the kind samurai who conquered the world inside an octagon

There are martial artists who transcend barriers, who break stereotypes, who mark an era. Georges Saint-Pierre (Quebec, 1981) is one of them. The Canadian revolutionized the UFC panorama without making a lot of noise, faithful to his samurai style, being kind, but at the same time fierce inside the octagon, showing a professionalism that has rarely seen in this sport. The cult of the body, the care in the manners, the awareness of being an example for young people. It had everything, including two belts in two different weight divisions in the UFC, the medium and the wélter, being in this last category where he defended his title nine times.

GSP, as this champion was known, was known within the cage for his versatility, his impressive physical capacity, his discipline and his excellent technical skills in different combat modalities. His main ‘background’ was karate, but he was also forged in wrestling, in Brazilian jiujitsu and boxing. It was in 2006 when the UFC belt was built for the first time and, although it losing it, he demonstrated, pulling his constant overcoming philosophy, which was made to be a dominant champion. After achieving the interim title in 2007 against Matt Hughes, he unified him against Matt Serra, the man who had won him a year earlier. Since then, He chained nine consecutive successful defenses in the welter weight.

Already in 2013, after a historical streak of victories in combat by the UFC belt, he decided to hang the Guantillas. Although it would be temporarily. «I don’t like fights, I hate them. It is unbearable. The feeling of stress. Not knowing if they will humiliate you or hurt you. It’s very difficult … But when you want a fight, it’s really worth it. The higher the risk, the greater the reward. That’s why I did. Not because I love to fight. I loved winning, ”Georges Saint-Pierre said when he asked him about his career. And it is that ambition that pushed him, four years later, in 2017, to return to fight directly for the average weight title, a higher weight division, in front of Michael Bisping.

It was in the UFC 217. And Saint-Pierre managed to overcome the British, becoming one of the privileged few who have opened two different belts of the UFC. Now, it was time to put an end to his career, in style. He officially retired from the competition in 2019, leaving a legacy as one of the greatest athletes in the sport of mixed martial arts. In addition, in parallel, I had already begun to make cameos in the cinema. So much that he managed to appear in films such as Captain America or Kickboxer. Undoubtedly, a friendly superstar that, with its tireless discipline and dedication, inspired a generation of fighters and helped popularize the MMA in both Canada and worldwide.