St. Pierre attracts a crowd

When ultimate fighter Georges "Rush" St. Pierre enters a gym, you make way.

More than 50 mixed martial artists, kickboxers and wrestlers alike stepped back to welcome the Canadian UFC welterweight champion and coach of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter, which is entering its fourth season. The 25-year-old from St. Isidore, Quebec, was in the city to give a four-hour clinic.

"He's a guy who is going to become the next (world) welterweight champion of the UFC," said Mark Henry, sensei at Brockville's Impact Zone Martial Arts Centre, the club which hosted St. Pierre's visit.

"If we had had any more people (for the clinic), we would have had to find a bigger venue," Henry said of the turnout from clubs from throughout eastern Ontario that packed the Brockville Gymnastics Academy.

"He's the number one guy in Canada," said Brockville Ontario Kickboxing Institute coach Mark Johnson, who brought five of his fighters to get some hands-on training with the popular ultimate fighter.

"Georges has set himself apart because he beat B.J. Penn," added Johnson of St. Pierre's win over the American fighter, known as The Prodigy, earlier this year.

St. Pierre fit the Brockville visit in after wrapping up filming in Las Vegas of The Ultimate Fighter and before he begins training for his next fight.

St. Pierre will fight Matt Hughes for the world welterweight title on September 23 in Anaheim, California. He enters the match with a mixed martial arts record of 13-1-0, along with a knockout record of five and a submission tally of four.

The Quebec fighter, who stands five-feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds, is a Canadian Jiu-Jitsu champion, a TKO world and TKO Canadian welterweight champion. St. Pierre is featured in this summer's edition of Uum magazine in an article which takes note of the fighter's "meteoric and well-deserved rise to the top."

On Saturday, however, St. Pierre provided instruction to others interested in the sport. He travels throughout the country helping promote mixed martial arts.

"We're all here to help each other," St. Pierre told the group.

He began by showing students warmup techniques and moved into holds and takedowns.
"He's my favourite fighter. He's a great athlete," said Kingston's Tyler Hopkins, who has been boxing about three years.

"He makes it pretty easy to understand," said Hopkins, who was one of many participants St. Pierre called up to give hands-on instruction in fighting and defensive techniques.

Sporting a fleur-de-lys tattoo on his right calf, St. Pierre won over the crowd with his easy-going style and his ability to convey techniques in simple terms.

"He knows his stuff," said Heather Montrose, a third-level teacher under lead instructor Stan Chisholm at Kingston Martial Concepts.

"A lot of information was covered," said Henry, adding he plans to invite St. Pierre back to Brockville for a follow-up session. "The next time he comes back, hopefully he'll be a world champion."

By DEANNA CLARK - Published in Section B, page 1 in the Monday, July 17, 2006 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.