The way of the fight by Georges St-Pierre – Summary

You don’t have to be a fan of MMA to read The way of the fight by Georges St-Pierre.

Georges St-Pierre was respected so much in the mma community because he was a tremendous fighter and he was a great person outside the ring. His fighting style was very unique and technical.

He fought to win, but he fought intelligently. He was never a dirty fighter. He was very good at using his size and athleticism to his advantage. His striking was very good and he could take you down at will. He could punch hard and had good kicks.

The main thing about him was that he set a good example for his fans. He was a very respectable person outside the ring. He was never into drugs or alcohol and he never ran into any trouble with the law.

Who is the greatest of all time (GOAT) or the pound-for-pound greatest fighter when it comes to MMA or should there even be such a thing?

If you would like to have that conversation then the usual suspects would include Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson, Fedor Emelianenko, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Georges St Pierre.

I think Georges St Pierre is the greatest fighter of all time in Mixed Martial Arts.

He’s not undefeated nor does he have the highest number of title defenses it’s because he fought clean, lapped the welterweight division twice, and fought fighters who had a higher concentration than Tropicana at the time and still came up on top.

His only weakness was to fighters who were named Matt. Namely Matt Serra and Matt Hughes and he avenged those losses in dominant fashion.

He took a 4-year Hiatus from the sport and moved up a weight class in 2017 to fight Michael Bisping for the Middleweight belt where he won that fight via rear naked choke putting him in an elite class of fighters winning belts in two weight divisions and cementing his legacy as one of if not the greatest of all time in Mixed Martial Arts.

The way of the fight by Georges St-Pierre

The way of the fight was written while Georges was rehabbing a torn ACL. He describes in detail how he got involved in Mixed Martial Arts, his painful childhood where he was constantly bullied, and his mentors and parents who played a crucial role in making him the man that he is today.

Fear is a common theme in the book. GSP talks about fear very openly in the book. He says he does not like fighting but he enjoys the training and the technicality behind it. He says the 2 to 3 days he had to step inside the octagon in a year were the worst days of his life.

He says that he has a lot of anxiety and nerves leading up to a fight and wishes that the world would end before his fights. He has OCD he’s obsessive compulsive.

Everyone is afraid but the one who does not accept it is crazy. Fear is very normal but it should be controlled and used to your advantage if not it’s going to be very detrimental to you.

Cus D’Amato Mike Tyson’s trainer also said of fear, “You must understand fear so you can manipulate it. Fear is like fire. You can make it work for you: it can warm you in winter, cook your food when you’re hungry, give you light when you are in the dark, and produce energy. Let it go out of control and it can hurt you, even kill you and destroy everything around you.

Georges St-Pierre’s Childhood

GSP was bullied relentlessly as a child. Humiliated numerous times by bullies on public occasions, jumped on by guys older than him, outnumbered and beaten while going to school in the bus on a daily basis.

This begs the question.

Why would anyone want to be a fighter? Fighting/confrontation is something we try to avoid all our lives yet some people go all in. It could be one of two main reasons:

1. They have no option and they have to put food on the table.
2. They have past trauma and learned to fight to protect themselves and realized this can also be a way of life.

GSP learned to fight to protect himself from the bullies. He was enrolled into Karate as a young kid by his father.

The truth is that bullying has helped Georges make him who he is. Without it, without those obstacles, he might not be where he is today. The story would be different. He overcame adversity and the made the obstacle his way.

You can catch GSP’s interview with Joe Rogan on Youtube. Find GSP’s Incredible Story on Meeting His Childhood Bully from min 2:04:14. Revenge is better than forgiveness what an amazing quote that’s another reason why GSP is the GOAT.

Georges St-Pierre’s Fighting Style

GSP was not the best Kickboxer, wrestler or Jiu Jitsu fighter but he still made his opponents look like they didn’t belong in the octagon with him. He dominated guys in their own game too.

He took his opponents to where they were at their weakest and would dictate the direction of the fight. GSP was the master of Shoot box. He is obsessed with the fight game and has a great team of trainers that put it all together.

He has the likes of Firas Zahabi, Kristof Midoux, John Danaher, Greg Jackson, Freddie Roach, Phil Nurse and Greg Jackson by his side and he also flies the best training partners from across the globe to prepare him for his fights. He’s not cutting corners anywhere.

Georges St-Pierre’s Mentality

GSP had two losses in his career one was to Matt Hughes where he challenged for the welterweight belt and lost via armbar in the first round and the other was to Matt Serra where he lost by TKO in the 1st round while defending his belt.

There are 2 important lessons here. A lesser fighter without the mental fortitude, and a weak corner would have never been the same after these losses but George was different.

GSP fought Matt Hughes in 2004 and even to his own liking was pushed too early for the belt and wasn’t ready yet. He lost to a basic submission hold and didn’t fight to his potential. However in the rematch GSP would dismantle Hughes with a head kick and TKO him with Ground and pound and win the belt.

When GSP fought Matt Serra he brought the hype that was surrounding him. He thought Matt Serra didn’t belong in the ring with him and it cost him dearly.

It was the only fight in his entire career where he slept peacefully before the fight and had no nerves heading into the octagon. He had an off day to say the least and was wobbled early and before he could get his bearings together he was TKO’d by Serra and lost the belt just after winning it.

GSP says this was the most humiliating loss in his career as a mixed martial artist and vowed to never let anything like this happen ever again. It took a while for GSP to get over the loss and reclaim his belt. He carried the loss way too closely and it affected him in many ways.

“A friend of mine told me it was like I was carrying a brick with me every day, everywhere I went. And the thing about carrying a brick is that it gets heavier and heavier with time. My buddy’s proposed solution was to actually get a real brick, write Serra’s name on it, and carry it everywhere with me.

This way I’d realize the kind of weight I was carrying with me everywhere, and the amount of energy it took to keep it slung onto my shoulder. And so I literally got the brick and wrote down his name. I took it with me for car rides to the gym. I carried it in my bag. When I went to bed, I placed it on the desk just outside my door, so that the moment I walked out of my room in the morning, I’d see it and be reminded of it.“

One night I looked at the brick and I knew I had to throw it away this is not a healthy to live and let the past be in the past and it’s time to move on. We’ve all made mistakes but letting go of the past can be the hardest thing to do.

GSP had to undergo an ACL surgery which is generally a career killer in sport. Atheletes with an ACL injury never come back or are never the same. He was out for almost a year where he had to recover while his competition was getting ahead.

He had to get his confidence back and learn how to walk let alone fight again. He made one of the best comebacks against Carlos Condit after 19 months winning a unanimous decision and subsequently defended the belts against Nick Diaz and Johnny Hendricks.

He took some time off the sport in 2013 came back after 4 years beat Bisping in 2017 for the middleweight belt and retired from the sport.

Georges St-Pierre is the greatest Mixed Martial Artist fighter of all time.

The fighters of today will be greater than the fighters of yesterday and the fighters of tomorrow will be better than the fighters of today but put Georges St-Pierre in any era and I believe he will find a way to come out on top.