Georges “Rush” St-Pierre is a Canadian mixed martial artist, actor, and former UFC champion in two weight classes. Often referred to as GSP, he is commonly regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. A native of Quebec, St-Pierre had a troubled childhood and started taking Kyokushin Karate lessons when he was seven years old. By the time he turned 16, he was learning wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and boxing. St-Pierre began his professional career in January 2002 at the Ultimate Combat Championship in a match against Ivan Menjivar. He won the bout and went on to fight in UCC for another three matches before making his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 46 against Karo Parisyan, a match that he also won. In the ensuing years, he won UFC Welterweight Championship three times and UFC Middleweight Championship one time and was listed as the Canadian Athlete of the Year by Rogers Sportsnet for 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2013, St-Pierre vacated his Welterweight title and went on a four-year-long hiatus from the sport. He eventually returned in November 2017 to defeat Michael Bisping for the middleweight belt. However, he had to vacate soon after due to health issues.
