Report cites John Danaher’s rising influence over GSP
After amicably splitting from longtime strength and conditioning coach Jonathan Chaimberg prior to his UFC 124 bout with Josh Koscheck…
After amicably splitting from longtime strength and conditioning coach Jonathan Chaimberg prior to his UFC 124 bout with Josh Koscheck in December, Georges St-Pierre announced today that he is moving on from his relationship with manager Shari Spencer and will be announcing new representation soon.
Prior to the fight with Koscheck he began doing in gymnastics and Olympic power lifting and spent handful of days training with New York-based trainer Eric Owings and acclaimed boxing trainer Freddie Roach. Despite spending the lion’s share of his S&C and boxing training time the past few years with Chaimberg and Canadian boxing greats-turned trainers Howard and Otis Grant, St-Pierre chose to release a P90X-type workout series with Owings and asked Roach to help corner him against Koscheck.
One explanation for Georges’ dramatic changes in training and personnel is the influence of jiu-jitsu coach John Danaher on not only his game plans for fights, and his training choices, but also on his life in general. The highly-regarded Renzo Gracie black belt instructor is a philosophy major who fancies himself somewhat of a pseudo life coach to the athletes he trains. It’s said that St-Pierre has accepted him as a guru and that the New Zealander has his ear on everything from what methods of training are best and whom he should train with (Owings is a student of Danaher’s) to which techniques to employ in his fights.
One source close to St-Pierre said that there is a growing concern that he is valuing Danaher’s typically jiu-jitsu-heavy game plans over coach Greg Jackson’s, whom many consider to be the top of the heap in that area.
