http://www.yardbarker.com/rss/user/StPierre Recent Yardbarker Articles: StPierre en-us So for the past two months, I’m training really hard before my fight. Three weeks I spent in New York doing Muay Thai at the Wat with Phil Nurse and all the guys over there, sparring with Shawn Imes, Brad and all those great training partners that I have for Muay Thai training. I’m learning a lot from Kru Phil. I also train in New York in Renzo Gracie Academy under supervision of John Danaher – he’s my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor. I have great training partners there as well. The level of jiu jitsu in New York at Renzo Gracie is better than it is in Montreal, so that’s one of the main reasons why I’m going there and I spend so much time at that Academy. I’m learning new move every day and I met some new friends that I will bring in Montreal for help me train for the fight. In Montreal everything goes well. Oh I always wrestle, box and do my Muay Thai and jiu jitsu in different places, as well as my strength and conditioning. Everything goes well – I just beat my record on snatches with a dumb-bell. Now I can snatch 100 lbs. 3 repetitions with 1 arm, which is something that I never thought I was ever going to be able to do when I first start training with Jonathan Chaimberg because I was struggling to lift like a 60 lb over my head and now I can do 3 reps with 100 lbs. I got so much stronger than I was, and that make me very confident for my next fight, because I know Thiago Alves is a very big guy and very powerful and he has been able to dominate a lot of these guys because of his superior strength and superior size. But I truly believe that it’s not going to work against me. About one month away from my fight, I decided to stay in Montreal and instead of traveling like in New York and Albuquerque, I decide to bring all my training partner in to avoid me to travel, being tired and get stuck with some virus during the airplane transportation. I have many guys who came in town recently - John Danaher from New York came for my jiu jitsu – he showed me some amazing stuff that I will be able to use. I also work with Jean-Charles Skarbowsky, who’s a legend in Muay Thai who spent most of his life in Thailand. He came with two of his top students, and he showed me a bunch of stuff in Muay Thai that I’ll also be able to use during my fight. And the fact that he came with two of his top students – it give me a good idea of what is world-class Muay Thai fighter and it’s gonna help me gauge the speed and the power of a real Muay Thai guy. Also I have some other guys coming in town – one of my friends from New York – Steven Williams came and helped me train for the fight as well. He’s an amazing fighter and he joined the group, you know, in Montreal and helped me out very much to help me for that fight. I also have a bunch of guys coming up for the next couple of weeks like Nathan Marquardt and they’re going to help me get prepared as much as I can for this fight. I’m very excited, I’m very nervous – I remember when I was young, when I started my career, I thought that the nervousness will go away with the time. But I realized that is wrong – because as far as my career goes, the more bigger are the fights and the more pressure I have. I’m always nervous. But I think this nervousness is a good thing, because that’s what keeps me sharp. And even though I’m just as nervous as I was in the beginning, the thing is, with the experience, I learn how to deal with it by control and I know it’s normal and I can sleep better at night. I always have butterflies, but the key is - make the butterflies fly in formation. Being part of UFC 100 – it’s a great honor for me because I know it’s going to be a historical show. Even though the focus is not strictly on my fight like it was last time when I fought BJ Penn, it makes this fight even more dangerous. Thiago Alves is the greatest challenge that I had in my career – he’s gonna be the toughest guy that I fought so far, and that’s what makes him very dangerous is he’s a very confident guy, he’s a gentleman, and he doesn’t have to talk trash. So even though he doesn’t talk trash, I know he’s going to come out very strong and try to hurt me really bad early in the fight. However, I will be very well prepared. I try to focus on what I’m going to do to him instead of focusing too much on what he’s going to do to me. I’m a very busy person during training camp – I try to “keep the main thing the main thing” and the main thing is to win my fight. It’s very important for me that I take away all the distractions – my manager who takes cares of everything of the fight for me has been very busy as well. So we’re both in lockdown mode and hopefully the people around us can understand it. Shari will have more information in her blog, but I know she’s been very very busy getting everything ready for the fight, the website, the Expo, the after party – she takes care of things so I can focus on the main thing. Thank you everybody for the support and I received almost 1300 logos. I will be glad and honored to wear my new logo on my shorts. I look forward to meet the winner at my after party July 11th. For my after party this time I have a new formula – I’m gonna do something more private that will benefit my foundation. Remember, it’s for a good cause, and for me, doing something for kids, it’s a way to give back to the society and it’s a way for me to help the world get better in a way, you know? On my website, GSPFightClub.com, we’re auctioning 50 spots to the after party to benefit my foundation – I hope to see you there. Even though I won’t be there, please come check my booth at the Fan Expo. I will have a bunch of stuff, like bandanas, t-shirts, a lot of things, pictures, autographed stuff that will be there and everybody is welcome. Thanks very much everybody – I really appreciate your support and my main focus is on winning the fight July 11th and after it’s going to be party time. Ha! Ha! Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:50:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/737043 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/737043 I'm in New York right now training, but check out Shari's blog for the logo contest winner. And I promise I'll write more soon about my training.... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:03:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/650013 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/650013 Let me know which one you like best! Wed, 13 May 2009 17:07:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/629440 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/629440 It’s Thursday April 16 - there is a lot of stuff going on in the city of Montreal because it’s the weekend of UFC 97. Even though I’m not fighting, I’m pretty busy training and doing a lot of PR and stuff. On Friday I was invited to a little lunch with a bunch of reporter to promote the new video game UFC 2009 Undisputed. And I had to play for the first time against Dana White in front of everybody – all the reporter. And Dana was talking very loud that he was undefeated, he was 4 and 0 and beat [Michael] Bisping, Rampage Jackson, [Rich] Franklin and then Anderson [Silva] - so it was a very good challenge. I’m not a big fan of video game - I never played UFC Undisputed before. But I used play back in the day…Mortal Combat and Street Fighter on the Super Nintendo, but this game is pretty different and much more improved than the one that I’ve played before. So I pick my character [me] and Dana picked BJ Penn, and as the fight goes on it’s pretty even. And at the end, maybe by some luck, I’m able to knock him out and win the match. Everybody is laughing and I’m the one who is the most surprised of all. And I look at Dana and I yell at him “Ha! That’s your first loss! And I made your first loss in Montreal in front of my people!”. And he look at me and he respond “Are you sure you’re not cheating? I think you put some Vaseline on my remote!”, and I laugh like crazy. Playing myself in the video game was kind of strange - and it was pretty accurate of the moves that I use in real life. They have my Superman Kick, Superman Punch, and all my special move - that’s pretty interesting. I really enjoy it and I think just because of it. I’m gonna buy a video game with UFC Undisputed because it’s a pretty fun game to play. After beating Dana I went to the Fan Club Q&A. It was pretty fun - I could meet many fans and especially one guy made me really laugh. He asked me the question, “What you want to do after your career?”, and then I respond, “I don’t know - maybe trainer or go back to school, but I think I’m gonna still be involved in the sport because I love it too much.” And one guy yell at me “Georges St-Pierre for Prime Minister!”, and all the crowd went crazy. Mike Goldberg and everybody was laughing - it was a pretty funny moment. Then after that I met a Canadian soldier, Jody Mitic, who lost his leg(s) in Afghanistan in the war. At first I was pretty sad to see that, but I was very impressed with the way the guy handled himself and stayed very positive. You know, sometime our life go bad, but we forget that for some people it’s even worse than for us, so it give me more motivation when I see something like that when something bad happen to me. Then at the weigh-in, I look at my two friend Denis Kang and David Loiseau. They were right on the nose - 185. I was very happy and I went back with my manager and had a great dinner at my favorite restaurant, Cavalli. The next day it was UFC 97. Before the show I went training and I had one of my friend who were in town, Eric Owing - he’s a great jiu-jitsu guy. I train with him before the show and then after we all head to the Belle Center for the UFC. I was very disappointed for my friend David Loiseau - unfortunately he work really hard in training camp but the fight didn’t go his way. But I had some kind of consoling when I see Denis Kang – he fought a great fight and win in a unanimous decision. I think the best fight of the night was Shogun vs. Chuck Liddell - what a great performance by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The fight at the end was pretty boring and I felt bad because sometime the crowd was yelling “GSP!” while Anderson Silva and Thales Leites were fighting. And I felt bad - I think it’s kind of disrespectful for Anderson Silva and Leites, even though it make me feel happy a little bit. Sometime the fight doesn’t happen like people want - it’s a question of style and question of match-up. But I still think Anderson Silva is one of the best pound-for-pound in the world with Fedor Emelianenko. I been screaming so much during that show because I was sitting with Lorenzo Fertitta right in front, and I was yelling instruction to my friend - so I end up losing my voice and it take me a couple of days to get back to it. (That’s why I haven’t blogged in a while.) The Sunday after UFC 97, I head to New York for training at Renzo Gracie’s Academy with John Danaher and also at The Wat with Phil Nurse. Training was great and I had a chance to meet Brian Fox who made a painting of me. It’s the most accurate painting that I’ve seen of myself in my whole life. This guy is amazing - he’s got an incredible talent and it was a pleasure for me to meet this guy. Training is going very well. I had a chance to roll with some of the best jiu jitsu guys, spar with some of the best muay thai guys in the sport and it make me a better fighter every time. I came back for the weekend in Montreal - time to rest a little bit and train with my home guys. But right away on Sunday I was supposed to go in Albuquerque - my plane got canceled after waiting three hour in the airport. Pretty bad - I’m very bad lucky with the plane, but it’s because of a storm in Chicago that I would have missed my connection and they decide to cancel my flight and [reschedule] it the next day. So I made it to Albuquerque on Monday - I came in Albuquerque to help out Rashad for his fight against Lyoto Machida and to be able to spar with some of the guys there to help me out, too. I think Rashad is gonna do well with Machida. Training camp is going well for him - he look very, very sharp. And I can’t wait – it’s gonna be a very interesting fight. I want to finish by saying “thank you” to the fan who send me their logo for the contest. I have more than 500 entry. It’s gonna be very hard to pick the best one because they are all pretty good. Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:48:05 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/611229 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/611229 Please, fans, help me design a new logo! Check out the details at my website: GSPFightclub.com! Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:19:52 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/598716 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/598716 ...this is for my fans in the US. More blog soon, I promise. Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:55:21 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/595894 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/595894 ...this is for my fans in the US. More blog soon, I promise. Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:51:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/595892 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/595892 I had so much fun on the set that day! Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:44:14 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/571279 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/571279 Today I shot a commercial for Gatorade - I'm proud to be the first MMA athlete to be sponsored by Gatorade, and also proud for the sport - it shows how far it has come. It's really an honor for me to be the company of such other great athletes. Tomorrow I shoot the movie "Death Warrior" - I'll write more in a few days when I have some time. Thanks to everyone for all their support! Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:57:38 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/556020 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/556020 Hey everybody - I just found out you can watch me filming the movie "Death Warrior" online. I know I'm a better fighter than I am an actor, but this is fun! http://www.movieset.com/deathwarrior/news/ds6crm/Live-Death-with-George-St-Pierre-on-the-set-of-Death-Warrior Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:23:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/555984 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/555984 Yesterday, my cornermen Greg Jackson and Phil Nurse filed their response to BJ Penn's letter to the NSAC. (If you want to read all 17 pages, you can download it from http://mmapayout.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/gsp-nsac-response.pdf. We also gave the Commission a DVD showing the breathing technique used in the past - you can download it from http://www.box.net/shared/cfl37yh0la). It's now in the Commission's hands - I'll blog more later about my recent trip to Europe. Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:08:52 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/524413 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/524413 I was coming from Toronto in a connection flight, and as soon as I landed in Vegas, all the people in the airport at the gate where I came in started screaming at me "GSP" and start to applaud. This was the first time something like that happened to me - I felt like I had a lot of support of my fellow Canadian fans. So I went out of the gate with my luggage and everybody applaud me and some people came for pictures and I shook hands, took picture, then I pass security and I headed to the hotel. It was amazing to see since the Primetime show how the sport is getting more popular. You know, every year the sport gets more popular, but this time it really took a big, big step because of that. I had a lot of pressure, and I had a hard time sleeping all week long, constantly thinking about the fight and all the people that having been helping me for this. And I didn't want to let nobody down and I wanted to perform as well as I am supposed to. For me it is very important because I always feel like I'm not alone into this and it's like a team work. So even though I am alone in the Octagon, all the work that we put all together it's not only by myself - it's all the people from France, Brazil, United States , Canada, Quebec, who came and flew in Montreal that helped me out for this one. This time it was a little bit different - it was the best preparation ever because I brought two of my own cooks - Ross and Jennifer from Montreal. I know these people because they cook in my favorite restaurant , Cavalli, in Montreal so I brought them for a week to cook for me to help me out for cutting my weight down because I am doing a diet to cut the carbs and the sodium. I did the diet and their food was amazing! I am going to bring them all the time - it made a plus in my preparation for the fight; I have never had an easy weight cut as much as this. After the weigh-in, it was great - we had the dinner, all my friends who flew from Montreal were there. We went to eat at Panevino's restaurant in Las Vegas - we were about 20-30 people. After the dinner was finished, I say "bye" to everybody and I start to put myself in the fighting mode, which is like I put a circle around me and I don't let nobody from the outside getting in - only my training partners and my corner men. Later that night we eat at the hotel - my cook prepared a good pizza for me and I had a great night of sleep. I didn't sleep much, but I slept better than normally I do before a fight. I was nervous as hell - I have never been nervous like that for a fight. But I know the more I am nervous, the better I perform because my reflexes and my reaction time get much faster. The day of the fight I was in the locker room and Dana White brought Wayne Gretzky's wife, and Wayne Gretzky's sons to meet me. It's amazing, because Wayne Gretzky's one of my childhood idol. Unfortunately he wasn't there, but I get to shake the hand of his wife and his sons. I fought a great fight, I did I stick to the game plan - it was amazing. BJ Penn is built like a boxer, and we have been studying a lot of tape, a lot of his training footage - so I know that with clinching with him, he would have built up a lot of lactic acid in his shoulders and because of his physical type he has a hard time taking out the lactic acid to make it evacuating so it make his hand very heavy and very slow after that. So my strategy was to clinch him and to work a lot to the body and on the ground. I was hitting a lot with my elbow in the middle section all the time because of his very flexible thoracic cage, he has a very weak body so I stick to the game plan. Even though the body does not do much damage it make people really tired and it really pay off for that fight. On the ground he always use a move called the Hip Eyes when he put his foot on his opponents hips and he stood up - so I knew that as soon as he opened up his guard I was controlling his ankle, elevating his leg and standing up before he does. So that's why he would not be able to stand up from me. Also, to not let him use his rubber guard was very important for me to not let him control the over-hook, to not let him wrap my arm, all the time soon as wrap my arm, swim inside and get the better position and keep my body in a vertical position to avoid his rubber guard to not let him elevate his leg. I did very well, I work the body a lot, I clinch a lot in the first two round then after I really felt like I took control of the fight and I broke him mentally. It was a great fight - I had a lot of fun. After the fight, we went to the after party - so many people it was crazy. I stayed in Vegas until the following Tuesday. We partied the other night, but still Vegas ? it's not like it used to be for me - it's getting pretty crazy. It's very crowded - everywhere I went, I couldn't move. I went back in Montreal - Montreal is different - the sport is not as popular. I partied with my friends. I had a great, great time. I really need a vacation - I know Thiago Alves is next but right now I just try to not thinking about it. I went to the Grammy's on Sunday - great experience - had a great time. People really took care of me. Right now I'm heading to Denver, going to help Nathan Marquardt for his upcoming fight. It's his last week of his training - he came to help me out and I will to do the same thing for him. Next week I plan to go in England to see the UFC to support my friend and maybe stop by a friends as well to see some of my old friends, some of the guys who came to help me out with my training and just to have a good time also with them. Thank you very much & I will talk to you guys soon. . . Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:21:33 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/505524 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/505524 The following is an official statement from me and my camp regarding recent allegations: * * * * * * George St-Pierre's successful welterweight title defense at UFC 94 was the direct result of his disciplined preparation and skillful execution of a masterful gameplan. Any implication to the contrary would diminish the significance of what was perhaps the biggest fight in MMA history. St-Pierre states: "I have never cheated in my life, and as my fans know, I am deeply committed to upholding the integrity of the sport. My entire camp and I have been completely open about what happened during my fight at UFC 94 ? we have nothing to hide. One of my cornermen did use an energy technique to help with my breathing that involves rubbing my back. He's also done this in my previous fights. If there was any Vaseline left on his hand after he put it on my face, it was unintentional, and I do not believe it made the slightest difference in the outcome of the fight. Of course it's up to the UFC, but I would be happy to offer BJ a second rematch. I am confident the outcome will be the same." Team GSP is currently enjoying our victory celebration and we will soon turn our attention and focus toward Georges' next competitor ? Thiago Alves. * * * * * * I'm currently enjoying my victory and will travel to L.A. this weekend to go to the Grammies. I promise another entry soon to talk about my victory and my post-fight celebration! Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:02:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/500867 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/500867 ...won't stay in Vegas! We're giving my fans a souvenir rally bandana to wear to the fight - Shari has details on her blog on how to pick yours up. See you in the stands Saturday night! Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:54:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/491143 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/491143 Thanks everybody for your patience ? I've been crazy busy because of my training camp and the shooting of the Primetime. It took a lot from me to do that. I had the best training camp I ever had before ? I'm in the best shape of my life. People from USA, Brazil, France & Canada have been helping me a lot to make this a success. The only disappointment during my training camp was that my good friend & training partner, Denis Kang, lost his first fight in the UFC. I think he was doing pretty well until he got caught ? he was putting an MMA clinic on his opponent ? standing up, on the ground, well everywhere. I'm sure he's going to come back stronger next time and we all learn from our mistakes (I can talk to you about this from firsthand experience). I'm glad to tell you that one of my longtime friends & training partners, David Loiseau, is back in UFC as well ? according to the rumors, he will be fighting Ed Herman in Montreal card in April at the Bell Center. It's been a month that I've been living in a hotel right next to the gym because my apartment got flooded and I had to do some construction work after all. All that was captured during a reality show called UFC Primetime. It was a good experience for me ? I've been in reality show before, but I've never put as much time into one as this one required. I've been lucky because all the camera crew were so nice, that some times they gave me time to breathe and spend some time by myself. I remember I went out one night with them during my training camp and I was drinking water at a booth, but I ordered a bottle of vodka for them and distracted them with the alcohol. Ha! Ha! Shari tells me the show is breaking records in ratings, so I know it's worth the effort and I thank everybody for watching. This past week I had a public training at the gym for the media ? I can tell you there have never been as many reporters at the gym as there were on Wednesday. It means the sport keeps growing up more and more time after time. Friday I had my last hard training session and I was bombarded by a ton of fresh guys on me ? 5 guys who were hunting me every round. It was my best performance in training that I have ever done before. Even though I was exhausted at the end, I felt like my training was so hard that my opponent will not be able to give me as much intensity as my training partners did. Saturday night I went to see the NHL All-Star Skills Competition at the Montreal Bell Center ? I saw my friend George Gillett, who always make me laugh like no one does. He was making a joke to me, saying that he was trying to sign me up for one day of hockey to fight some of the guys in the league to protect the Montreal Canadien players. I told him in all honesty that on the ice, I would probably get my ass kicked, but not on the floor against any one of them. Right now I'm writing this blog from the plane on the way to Vegas, with my manager Shari Spencer typing while I'm talking?I never seen somebody type that fast in my life, by the way. Ha! Ha! I can't be more ready than I am for my fight, and I don't know what BJ Penn have done for his training camp, but I know that I've done everything that I could have done for this, and that I am a way better fighter than I was when I fought last time. I know it's gonna be really hard, and I might have to endure more pain than I ever have before, but I haven't done all those sacrifices for nothing. Thanks everybody for the support and I will write you next time after my fight when I will be STILL, the UFC WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD! Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:34:26 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/487720 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/487720