Why Georges St-Pierre couldn’t be cooler
John Danaher: “The only logical conclusion is that Mr. St-Pierre is personally responsible for the majority of his development in the area that brought him his success.”
Georges St-Pierre is the best welterweight of all time, and at UFC 217 became only the fourth fighter in UFC history to win a belt in two divisions. In a sport overflowing with trash talk and ego like a stopped toilet, GSP is a humble martial artist.
For me, I stay natural, I stay authentic to who I am,” said St-Pierre, as transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting. “I’m not good at trash talking, I’m just not good at it. If I try to do it, I’d make a fool of myself and I’m going to lose. First, English is not my first language, I think French in my head, and it’s like a rap battle, I’m just not good at it. I pick my fights very carefully, I fight where I’m strong.
GSP doesn’t even hang on to his championship belts. The latest one went to his wrestling coach, Victor Zilberman.
https://twitter.com/GeorgesStPierre/status/928077171335290882
The smartest man in Jiu-Jitsu, John Danaher, one of St-Pierre’s brain trust of coaches, offered insight into what makes GSP so very great. As an aside, the fact that Reebok can’t come up with a rashguard for Danaher is proof alone that they don’t deserve to me in MMA. #SortaSerious
” An interesting part of the story behind any great athlete is the influence of various teachers and coaches upon his and her development,” he wrote on his social network. “A feature of Mr. St-Pierre is that he had a long time affiliation with highly specialized coaches. He had specialist boxing coaches, culminating in Freddie Roach, specialist Muay Thai/kickboxing coaches, of whom Firas Zahabi was foremost, specialist wrestling coaches, mostly from the Montreal Wrestling club (the importance of Montreal Wrestling club, particularly Victor Zilberman and Gia Sissaouri, in Mr. St-Pierre’s development has never been sufficiently acknowledged in the MMA press – they were a tremendous resource throughout his career). I was the ground/jiu jitsu specialist.
“However, THE REAL KEY TO MR ST-PIERRE’S SUCCESS IN MMA WAS NOT IN ANY ONE ASPECT OF THE SPORT, BUT RATHER IN THE INTERFACES BETWEEN EACH SKILL AREA SO THAT HE WAS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, THE KING OF UNIFYING DISPARATE SKILLS INTO A SEAMLESS WHOLE. No one coach taught him this – his coaches were specialists – but he was the quintessential all-rounder.
“The only logical conclusion is that Mr. St-Pierre is personally responsible for the majority of his development in the area that brought him his success. He was not a passive learner – BUT AN INNOVATIVE SELF-RELIANT INTEGRATOR. Whatever assistance myself and others may have offered, the primary credit must go to Mr. St-Pierre himself. Watching his adaption of our specialized knowledge into his own integrated art has been a privilege.”
The greatest of GSP is built on a number of pillars, one being a humble martial artist. Another is his coaches, the well known Freddie Roach, Firas Zahabi, John Danaher, and the undeservedly less well known Victor Zilberman.
