jetta
12-28-2014, 11:17 PM
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Georges St. Pierre
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Here’s a lot about MMA fighter George St. Pierre that most fans already know, like that’s he’s a first degree black belt in jiu jitsu, or that he fought in the Welterweight division in the UFC and was one of the best of his time. Fans probably also know that he’s French- Canadian. His accent is a dead giveaway.
That said, there are also a lot of other little fun facts that most people probably don’t know, and that’s where SportsBreak is stepping in. Georges apparently doesn’t have any celebrities on his cell phone that don’t fight, his favorite city to visit is Miami, and his favorite technological gadget is his iPad. He’s an intriguing character that most people will probably never get to know personally, so this is the perfect opportunity to countdown the 10 things you probably didn’t know about Georges St. Pierre.
10. His Fight at UFC 100 was his Most Watched
Back in 2009, 1.6 million people purchased UFC 100 on pay-per-view, making Georges St. Pierre’s fight with Thiago Alves the most watched fight of his career. You would think that this distinction would be given to his fight against BJ Penn or Matt Hughes, perhaps. Of course, we’re being slightly cute here as that stacked pay-per-view event also featured Dan Henderson versus Michael Bisping, as well as Brock Lesnar defeating Frank Mir for the UFC Heavyweight title. That fight might’ve also had something to do with the gaudy pay-per-view numbers. St. Pierre probably doesn’t care how the UFC got to that number anyway, as he likely earned a nice little bonus for being a participant in the evening.
9. He May Never Be The Best Again
Alright, so this little tidbit of news may or may not be news to you depending on whether or not you follow Georges St. Pierre on twitter. Since he announced he was vacating his championship title and taking a leave of absence, St. Pierre hasn’t been in the news a whole lot. The one tweet that came from his account that is in the news is the one where St. Pierre stated he suffered a torn ACL during training in March. This means that even if he does decide to come back to fighting, which isn’t yet confirmed, there would be an extra long road back for the former champion. It’s a unfortunate injury, because he was the face of the UFC for a long time.
8. He Gets Scared When He Goes Into the Ring
You would think that one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time would be absolutely fearless when he walked into the octagon, but that’s not true in St. Pierre’s case. He’s admitted that his greatest fear when he walks into the cage is that he might not have prepared well enough for the fight. He says he doesn’t fear his opponent specifically, just his own preparedness for the bout. But that little bit of fear is natural in every fighter’s mentality. Luckily for St. Pierre, he does a horrible job showing his fear on the outside, as he’s made quite the handsome living for himself by kicking butt and taking names. What they say must be true: fear really is a great motivator.
7. He’s From a Small Town of 5,000 People
Saint-Isidore, Quebec is where Georges was born and raised. It’s a small country town, as he describes it, so it’s far from a hotbed of mixed martial arts. Georges always wanted to be a professional fighter and he got his inspiration from seeing Royce Gracie fight. Gracie is one of the original legendary figures of mixed martial arts and his inspiration lit a fire under St. Pierre, which led him to the bright lights and big paydays that are commonplace in the UFC these days. So much for raising cattle on a farm, or doing other things that country boys are supposed to do. Also, they do have working televisions in Saint-Isidore, so Georges was still able to get his fill of Montreal Canadiens games growing up.
6. He Suffers From OCD
When you think about it, it’s kind of crazy that an MMA fighter would suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder. You would think that it would really hinder your ability to grapple another man and fight him in a cage, knowing that there’s going to be blood, sweat, and tears everywhere. Mind you, obsessive-compulsive disorder isn’t necessarily synonymous with being scared of germs. Still, many people who struggle with OCD tend to have crazy habits that would drive other people nuts and getting into an octagon to fight just doesn’t seem to mesh well with that. Many people believe that St. Pierre took a break from fighting partially because of his struggles with the disorder.
5. He Was in a Captain America Movie
Captain America: The Winter Soldier came out early in 2014 and the movie features St. Pierre. He plays the villain known as Batroc The Leaper. The character is a mercenary and a master at the French form of kickboxing known as savate. St. Pierre is also French, but French-Canadian, so he’d have to stretch his acting skills a little bit. Writer Michael Waid once described the character as Jean-Claude Van Damme stuck in the 1960’s. Seems like a perfect role for St. Pierre to play, doesn’t it? The role appears to be a great stepping-stone for Georges, who has been dipping his toes into the movie industry ever since he left the octagon.
4. His Hollywood Crush Is Jessica Biel
Of all the things you could possibly ask Georges St. Pierre, we wouldn’t think talking about celebrity crushes would be his topic of choice. Regardless, there will be very few MMA fans, or men in general, that would disagree with his selection of Jessica Biel as the hottest woman in Hollywood. She’s been in some notable movies like Total Recall, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and Hitchcock. More importantly, Biel is smoking hot. She’s got a gorgeous face and a body that matches it. Too bad for St. Pierre that the young starlet is already married to pop sensation Justin Timberlake. Look at the bright side, Georges! If St. Pierre and Timberlake ever had to fight for Biel’s heart, Georges would have more than enough experience under his belt to take out Timberlake.
3. His Favorite Video Game Growing up was Tetris
Georges doesn’t consider himself to be a video game fanatic by any stretch, but his favorite video game growing up was the classic Tetris. Those of us of a certain age can’t possibly forget the catchy background music and the frustration of knowing that we couldn’t fill all of those gaps and make lines fast enough. Most of us never reached the end of the game to see what happens, but luckily with sources like YouTube, we can all now witness what beating the last level in the game actually looks like (at least the GameBoy version of it). Who knows if St. Pierre was any good at it? We wouldn’t fault him for not being good at it, as most of us at one point or another probably wanted to throw our GameBoy’s against a wall in frustration because of the never-ending frustration Tetris caused us all.
2. His Net Worth Is $25 Million and Counting
One thing about the UFC that differs from traditional boxing is the way the money is paid out and the amounts that the fighters get. Consider how often boxer Floyd Mayweather is in the news for raking in $30-$40 million for a single fight. By comparison, most UFC fighters would be considered broke, making less than $100,000 per fight. But not St. Pierre. Estimates suggest that he took home close to $5 million for his last fight last year. He got a set fee just for showing up to the event, a bonus for winning, and an additional bonus based on the number of viewers that purchased the fight on television. Add his take-home winnings from fighting to his endorsement deals with Coca-Cola, Under Armour, Electronic Arts, and Bacardi and it’s easy to see that he’s raking it in.
1. He Has A Passion For Paleontology
Paleontology is the science of studying fossils to determine the evolution of various organisms. Apparently, St. Pierre finds this fascinating. So much so that he plans to finish school studying the subject. Who would have thought that he would retire from MMA fighting to go back to school? Not that he needs it, with the money that he has in his pocket, but it’s good that he wants to keep learning. It gives kids a good example to look up to. The funny part about St. Pierre’s passion is that old-school dinosaurs can also be found in boxing and other traditional sports that didn’t think the UFC would ever last as a mainstream sport. See what we did there?
122
Here’s a lot about MMA fighter George St. Pierre that most fans already know, like that’s he’s a first degree black belt in jiu jitsu, or that he fought in the Welterweight division in the UFC and was one of the best of his time. Fans probably also know that he’s French- Canadian. His accent is a dead giveaway.
That said, there are also a lot of other little fun facts that most people probably don’t know, and that’s where SportsBreak is stepping in. Georges apparently doesn’t have any celebrities on his cell phone that don’t fight, his favorite city to visit is Miami, and his favorite technological gadget is his iPad. He’s an intriguing character that most people will probably never get to know personally, so this is the perfect opportunity to countdown the 10 things you probably didn’t know about Georges St. Pierre.
10. His Fight at UFC 100 was his Most Watched
Back in 2009, 1.6 million people purchased UFC 100 on pay-per-view, making Georges St. Pierre’s fight with Thiago Alves the most watched fight of his career. You would think that this distinction would be given to his fight against BJ Penn or Matt Hughes, perhaps. Of course, we’re being slightly cute here as that stacked pay-per-view event also featured Dan Henderson versus Michael Bisping, as well as Brock Lesnar defeating Frank Mir for the UFC Heavyweight title. That fight might’ve also had something to do with the gaudy pay-per-view numbers. St. Pierre probably doesn’t care how the UFC got to that number anyway, as he likely earned a nice little bonus for being a participant in the evening.
9. He May Never Be The Best Again
Alright, so this little tidbit of news may or may not be news to you depending on whether or not you follow Georges St. Pierre on twitter. Since he announced he was vacating his championship title and taking a leave of absence, St. Pierre hasn’t been in the news a whole lot. The one tweet that came from his account that is in the news is the one where St. Pierre stated he suffered a torn ACL during training in March. This means that even if he does decide to come back to fighting, which isn’t yet confirmed, there would be an extra long road back for the former champion. It’s a unfortunate injury, because he was the face of the UFC for a long time.
8. He Gets Scared When He Goes Into the Ring
You would think that one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time would be absolutely fearless when he walked into the octagon, but that’s not true in St. Pierre’s case. He’s admitted that his greatest fear when he walks into the cage is that he might not have prepared well enough for the fight. He says he doesn’t fear his opponent specifically, just his own preparedness for the bout. But that little bit of fear is natural in every fighter’s mentality. Luckily for St. Pierre, he does a horrible job showing his fear on the outside, as he’s made quite the handsome living for himself by kicking butt and taking names. What they say must be true: fear really is a great motivator.
7. He’s From a Small Town of 5,000 People
Saint-Isidore, Quebec is where Georges was born and raised. It’s a small country town, as he describes it, so it’s far from a hotbed of mixed martial arts. Georges always wanted to be a professional fighter and he got his inspiration from seeing Royce Gracie fight. Gracie is one of the original legendary figures of mixed martial arts and his inspiration lit a fire under St. Pierre, which led him to the bright lights and big paydays that are commonplace in the UFC these days. So much for raising cattle on a farm, or doing other things that country boys are supposed to do. Also, they do have working televisions in Saint-Isidore, so Georges was still able to get his fill of Montreal Canadiens games growing up.
6. He Suffers From OCD
When you think about it, it’s kind of crazy that an MMA fighter would suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder. You would think that it would really hinder your ability to grapple another man and fight him in a cage, knowing that there’s going to be blood, sweat, and tears everywhere. Mind you, obsessive-compulsive disorder isn’t necessarily synonymous with being scared of germs. Still, many people who struggle with OCD tend to have crazy habits that would drive other people nuts and getting into an octagon to fight just doesn’t seem to mesh well with that. Many people believe that St. Pierre took a break from fighting partially because of his struggles with the disorder.
5. He Was in a Captain America Movie
Captain America: The Winter Soldier came out early in 2014 and the movie features St. Pierre. He plays the villain known as Batroc The Leaper. The character is a mercenary and a master at the French form of kickboxing known as savate. St. Pierre is also French, but French-Canadian, so he’d have to stretch his acting skills a little bit. Writer Michael Waid once described the character as Jean-Claude Van Damme stuck in the 1960’s. Seems like a perfect role for St. Pierre to play, doesn’t it? The role appears to be a great stepping-stone for Georges, who has been dipping his toes into the movie industry ever since he left the octagon.
4. His Hollywood Crush Is Jessica Biel
Of all the things you could possibly ask Georges St. Pierre, we wouldn’t think talking about celebrity crushes would be his topic of choice. Regardless, there will be very few MMA fans, or men in general, that would disagree with his selection of Jessica Biel as the hottest woman in Hollywood. She’s been in some notable movies like Total Recall, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and Hitchcock. More importantly, Biel is smoking hot. She’s got a gorgeous face and a body that matches it. Too bad for St. Pierre that the young starlet is already married to pop sensation Justin Timberlake. Look at the bright side, Georges! If St. Pierre and Timberlake ever had to fight for Biel’s heart, Georges would have more than enough experience under his belt to take out Timberlake.
3. His Favorite Video Game Growing up was Tetris
Georges doesn’t consider himself to be a video game fanatic by any stretch, but his favorite video game growing up was the classic Tetris. Those of us of a certain age can’t possibly forget the catchy background music and the frustration of knowing that we couldn’t fill all of those gaps and make lines fast enough. Most of us never reached the end of the game to see what happens, but luckily with sources like YouTube, we can all now witness what beating the last level in the game actually looks like (at least the GameBoy version of it). Who knows if St. Pierre was any good at it? We wouldn’t fault him for not being good at it, as most of us at one point or another probably wanted to throw our GameBoy’s against a wall in frustration because of the never-ending frustration Tetris caused us all.
2. His Net Worth Is $25 Million and Counting
One thing about the UFC that differs from traditional boxing is the way the money is paid out and the amounts that the fighters get. Consider how often boxer Floyd Mayweather is in the news for raking in $30-$40 million for a single fight. By comparison, most UFC fighters would be considered broke, making less than $100,000 per fight. But not St. Pierre. Estimates suggest that he took home close to $5 million for his last fight last year. He got a set fee just for showing up to the event, a bonus for winning, and an additional bonus based on the number of viewers that purchased the fight on television. Add his take-home winnings from fighting to his endorsement deals with Coca-Cola, Under Armour, Electronic Arts, and Bacardi and it’s easy to see that he’s raking it in.
1. He Has A Passion For Paleontology
Paleontology is the science of studying fossils to determine the evolution of various organisms. Apparently, St. Pierre finds this fascinating. So much so that he plans to finish school studying the subject. Who would have thought that he would retire from MMA fighting to go back to school? Not that he needs it, with the money that he has in his pocket, but it’s good that he wants to keep learning. It gives kids a good example to look up to. The funny part about St. Pierre’s passion is that old-school dinosaurs can also be found in boxing and other traditional sports that didn’t think the UFC would ever last as a mainstream sport. See what we did there?