Georges St-Pierre, a native of French-speaking Quebec, survived a difficult childhood to become an MMA star and is now set to come out of retirement for a Madison Square Gardens showdown.
“There is nothing bigger than this,” St-Pierre said in a statement over the upcoming fight, adding, “I’m fighting for the world title against the guy who has the record for most wins in UFC history. I’m fighting for my legacy. I’m fighting also to be among an elite group of fighters to hold the title in two different divisions. … It’s never been done before. If I do it I’ll be the first one to do it. I can’t think of a better scenario. I’m very excited,” according to MMA Junkie.
Holding the UFC welterweight title for the better part of a decade, St-Pierre has had his highs and lows before his hiatus; let’s take a look at all that led up to the November fight.
St-Pierre’s net-worth is around £18.3 million
His current net worth is said to be around £18.3 million (around $24.3 million in USD), according to The Sun. His rise to such a high net worth might surprisingly have had origins in St-Pierre fighting off against bullies as a kid.
The Early Years
St-Pierre was bullied a lot as a kid, with kids stealing his lunch money and clothes; as he detailed on his own website, “Being bullied when I was a little kid played a huge role in who I am today. It made me.” To defend himself against bullies, St-Pierre took karate to learn how to defend himself. Eventually, he took up wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and boxing at the age of 16. Having also found work as a bouncer, he eventually went professional at 21.
2004-2006
St-Pierre made his professional debut at UFC 46, in 2004, defeating Karo Parisyan, later beating Jay Hieron in the first round of his next match. He eventually won the UFC Welterweight Championship in 2006 against Matt Hughes.
2007-2013
That said, you cannot win everything and that eventually fell to St-Pierre. On April 7, 2007, St-Pierre lost his title in his fight with Matt Sera. His last professional defeat, he spent the next six years fighting back, eventually winning the belt back from Serra in a rematch. Proving his worth, he hasn’t lost a single title defense since then. Eventually, he retired in November 2013, after a tenth successful defense of his title.
2014-Present
Upon vacating the title and taking a hiatus from UFC, he announced plans to return to professional fighting in 2016. With plans to return to his next match earlier this year being canceled, he will finally make his return on November 4, 2017, at UFC 217.
St-Pierre is hopeful about the future, especially the newest fight. “I’m very happy,” he added in a statement, “This has been four years in the making working very hard. I never took a break. I’ve always trained, training for fun. Now I’m training for performance, and I have one goal in mind, and that’s to become world champion again.”
