“When I saw Royce Gracie at the first Ultimate Fighting Championship, it was like the Super Bowl of mixed martial arts,” he said in 2005. “You can be a champion in karate, judo or jiu-jitsu, but when you You’re the ultimate fighting champion, you’re the champion of everything mixed up And when I saw Royce Gracie beat everyone and he was one of the smallest guys. From all the competition, I decided that this was what I wanted to do in life.
St-Pierre turned professional in 2002, and after just five fights on the local scene in Quebec, he got the call to fight in the UFC against Karo Parisyan in January 2004. Two fights later, he was in the Octagon with the long-time welterweight champion. Matt Hughes. GSP would lose that night to the Hillsboro, Illinois legend, but he avenged that loss (twice) and over the final 19 fights of his career he went 18-1, avenging also this other loss against Matt Serra.
It was a remarkable run, highlighted by wins over Hughes, Parisian, Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, BJ Penn, Josh Koscheck, Serra, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Dan Hardy, Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Johnny. Hendricks and Michael Bisping.
That makes five UFC Hall of Famers. And after regaining his welterweight title in his rematch against Serra at the first UFC event held in Canada in 2008, GSP reigned for more than five years in one of the toughest weight classes in the sport.
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