Fighter Breakdown: GSP

Name: Georges St. Pierre

Nickname: GSP, Rush

Weight class: Welterweight (champion)

Martial arts background: Georges started his martial arts career at the age of seven when he took up Kyokushin karate to defend himself against bullies at school. He would continue until reaching the black belt level. Georges also took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, and boxing.

Striking breakdown: He has great boxing and powerful kicks, although he doesn't utilize them as much as he used to. He has shown some susceptibility to getting hit, although he's become much more confident in his recent fights. There was a period where he was timid after being TKOd by Matt Serra. Georges has above average power and is certaintly capable of stopping his opponents on the feet, but he prefers to not plant himself or commit to combinations too often.

Grappling breakdown: He is frequently referred to as the best MMA wrestler in the sport and he hits upward of 70% of his takedown attempts. He also has strong top control and is generally able to hold down his opponents for long periods of time. Thiago Alves was able to get out from under him in the early rounds due to his sheer strength, but most have a hard time. His submission offense is above average but under utilized. He is also very good at defending submissions, having only been stopped once by them against Matt Hughes.

Strengths: GSP's biggest strengths are his wrestling, strength, and conditioning. Very few fighters can keep up with the pace he sets for a fight. He's always pushing forward and trying to advance when on the ground. While he expends a lot of energy doing this, his opponents lose even more and tend to gas out early.

Weaknesses: He's not strong off his back, so a fighter that can take him down might be able to grind out a win. He also has a somewhat susceptible chin, although few have been able to connect cleanly and consistently, so it's almost a nonissue.

Game plan: Georges tends to stand for the first few minutes of a fight and beat up his opponents on the feet while they fear the inevitable takedown. This gives him a distinct advantage because most are tentative to throw kicks or really engage for fear of being taken down and beaten up for a round. In the later rounds, Georges tends to go for takedowns more frequently and is able to hold people down more easily due to his incredible cardio. Most of his wins using this style have been mid-late stoppages or one-sided decisions.

Notable fights:

His fight against Karo Parisyan was important for several reasons, the primary one being that this fight was the UFC Debut of “Rush.” Many fighters crumble under the pressure of fighting in the big leagues, and even if they can handle the nerves, there’s always the progressively more dangerous opponents than what one faces in local promotions. Known for his grappling (Parisyan is considered one of the greatest Judo-to-MMA practitioners ever), many expected Karo to dominate the up-and-comer, but the exact opposite happened. It was the beginning of what would be known as GSP’s legendary grappling credentials.

Matt Hughes is special in the fact that he is one of the two people to have ever defeated Georges St-Pierre. Considered the greatest welterweight in the world at the time of the contest, he was by far GSP’s biggest test during their first match. It was also for the Welterweight Championship - the first five round fight for St-Pierre. Nervousness and inexperience contributed to a first round submission (Arm-bar) loss. It was a loss that Rush learned from, much to the dismay of the rest of the Welterweight division. In a future rematch, also for the title, Georges overwhelmed Hughes by keeping the fight standing and picking him apart with strikes, earning a TKO victory early in the second round. This was GSP’s first Welterweight championship victory. In the rubber match, St-Pierre returned a favor from his first loss, submitting Hughes with an arm-bar, winning him the UFC Interim Welterweight Championship.

The second and only person to defeat GSP is Matt Serra. Matt won a welterweight tournament (See: The Ultimate Fighter 4) to win the right to face the winner of St-Pierre-Hughes 2, which was St-Pierre. Serra was a gigantic underdog coming into the fight, as he wasn’t even ranked as a top ten fighter at the time, and Georges was coming off of a victory over the formerly dominate champion in Hughes. None the less, Serra demonstrated huge punching power and pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time, stopping GSP in the first round with punches. In a rematch, St-Pierre quickly demonstrated that the first loss was by chance, and dominated Serra for a second round TKO stoppage by way of knees to the body. As of this fight, Georges has avenged both of his losses and has since been undefeated.

Future: GSP will probably remain the welterweight champion for a long time. There are no real prospects in the WW division that can pose a threat to him.

- Mike Swick comes to mind as a possible contender, since he has long reach and stopping power, but he's still a fight or two away from title contention and he'd still have terrible odds. He has also shown somewhat improved [although largely untested] wrestling.