Takedown: The DNA of GSP

: When you look at the sport of mixed martial arts,

there's a mysterious element to it.

If 2 people enter a cage and there can be only one winner,

the odds of victory should be roughly 50/50.

And if you look at the career

of the average mixed martial arts athlete,

that's exactly what happens.

They win one, they lose one. They win one, they lose one.

But then there are the champions.

"What makes them different?"

(CAR HORNS HONKING, SIREN WAILING)

: I used to teach a beginner's class.

We would introduce people to the sport of jiu-jitsu.

And one night, Georges walked in. I had no idea who he was.

He just looked like a young, athletic fellow

and came in like anyone else.

He spoke very little English in those days.

He knew that you paid money to train.

BUT HE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO ASK: "How much do I pay?"

Georges walks in, takes all his money out of his pocket

and just puts it on the table and looks at me.

And that's how he would pay. He would just walk in.

In the end, it became, like, a weekly thing.

And then, after a couple weeks:

"I can't take any more of this. Just keep your money!"

And he would come in and train.

(BIRDS CHIRPING, DOGS BARKING IN DISTANCE)

:

: Ladies and gentleman, 4 minutes, 8 seconds!

Baby, bring me back to the house.

Yeah, I found my way back home.

I found my way back home.

The first time I wanted to...

that I heard about mixed martial arts

is I was at my friend's house.

He rented a DVD.

The guy that won the tournament was Royce Gracie.

He was smaller than everyone else.

He looked, literally, like a kid fighting a grown man.

And right away, when I see him win, I got inspired

and I wanted to become like him,

and I wanted to become champion as well.

After the mixed martial arts came in here, it was made...

It was on the Native American reserve in Kahnawake,

because it was illegal at the time.

: I saw Kristof.

He knocked out the guy in, like, 9 seconds.

He was, like, amazing.

: Yeah!

: I was not a popular kid.

Girls didn't like me. I didn't have much friends.

When you're not cool, you hang out with not-cool people.

Things are hard.

I remember I was at school.

I was not listening to what the teacher was explaining to me.

I was thinking about how I'm gonna get out of school,

reach the bus before the kids, uh...

grab me and beat me up, you know?

I was a very proud person, so I had a lot of ego.

And even young... It was a big problem for me.

So I come back, I passed through them,

and I remember I swing one of them as hard as I can.

I took such a beating.

(CHILDREN SCREAMING AND SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

I knew I was doing the right thing, and I was like:

"Man, these guys, next time they mess with me,

"they know, at least, I'm not an easy target."

And, you know, I was a proud person, you know.

I always wanted to be respected.

- He began taking the beginner's class,

and I noted immediately he was physically strong.

Nothing crazy, just a good, athletic fellow

who seemed to be very interested in the sport

and trained with gusto and enthusiasm.

But really nothing exceptional.

There was nothing that made me look at him and say:

"My God, one day this guy's gonna be a world champion."

As I trained with him more,

I discovered that he was, in fact, travelling all the way from Montreal.

And he would show up most weekends.

And I also learned that he had very little money.

He would stay at very, very cheap flophouses in the city.

And I was immediately impressed by his enthusiasm.

I had students

who complained about coming 15 minutes from Brooklyn to class,

and this guy was coming 7 hours from Montreal,

coming across an international border.

As the weeks and months went by

he just kept showing up, showing up.

(MAN LAUGHING, SPEAKING FRENCH)

(MAN LAUGHING, GEORGES TALKING, INDISTINCT)

(BELL RINGING, MEN TALKING, INDISTINCT)

:

You could start out like this.

There's an interesting question you can ask about Georges St-Pierre.

And he's very honest about this.

"I'm not the best wrestler.

"Nor am I the best boxer, nor the best kickboxer.

"Nor am I the best jiu-jitsu guy."

And yet, his career clearly shows him dominating

extremely talented people

who, apparently, have greater skills than him

in all of these areas.

(ANNOUNCER TALKING, INDISTINCT, CROWD CHEERING)

SO YOU GOTTA ASK YOURSELF A QUESTION: "How is that possible?"

: And down again!

- And that's a fascinating question. How did it happen?

Not just once, but throughout his career.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!

- Georges was merging skills from different martial arts,

in ways that his competitors couldn't keep up with.

: He's the only student I've had who taught me more than I taught him.

I see tons of guys

who people think have the potential to be big stars.

You never know until they really get to a level

where they start to fight the best in the world.

Georges St-Pierre was just dominating, destroying guys at that level.

As Georges progressed,

he had some early successes in the UFC

and perhaps before his time,

was put in to fight Matt Hughes for the world championship

at a very young age.

He fought a dominant world champion...

with no more than 10% to 15% of his potential

and was winning the fight.

Made a critical error, a beginner's error, really.

Georges lost to a basic submission hold. It never should've happened.

He lost not so much because Matt Hughes beat him,

but because he made a series of obvious mistakes.

: So, we talked after this, and he said:

"Train me not so much in jiu-jitsu, but in fighting."

And that's when things started getting interesting.

: Turn and mount. From half-guard scenario.

Let's give it a try, fellas.

As he goes to elbows, then score, score, score!

Good. Now flatten him out. And now...

Beautiful!

: Beautiful!

I have a wonderful crew with me,

of trainers and training partners that I'm lucky to have.

- The guy who puts it all together is Firas.

Firas Zahabi, who is his head trainer,

who's another brilliant, brilliant guy.

Having guys like Danaher, having guys like Firas Zahabi

and having this tight mind-group.

: Beautiful!

- No egos. All trying to figure out what is the best way

for Georges to overcome this fighter.

- In the beginning, I used to beat people by overpowering them.

But in UFC, this is more like a chess match.

At one point, it's not athletic, you know?

It's also brain and analyzing stuff.

Georges is excellent

at finding his opponent's weaknesses. And that's why I always say,

he's the perfect counter-fighter. He's the perfect antagonist.

Whatever you do well, he'll avoid and take you into the realm

where you're weakest.

If you look at Georges

he's the best in the world at dictating the direction of a fight.

Why? 'Cause he's the master of shoot box.

Shoot box enables me to determine:

Will this fight stay standing or will it go to the ground?

If Georges wants it to go to the ground, it will.

If Georges doesn't want it to go to the ground, it won't.

If you came in tight...

Boom! See, now I have time to move.

I have distance to follow you.

Yes, sir!

- Georges is one of those guys, when you teach him something,

when he's just getting the hang of it,

and he's just kind of feeling his way through it.

And then he goes home,

and the next day, he comes back and he has it perfectly down.