Takedown: The DNA of GSP

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(CROWD CHEERING IN DISTANCE)

(DANAHER):
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.

AND ONE HAS TO ASK:

"What makes them different?"

(GROWLING)

(CAR HORNS HONKING,

SIREN WAILING)

(DANAHER):
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)

(SPEAKING FRENCH):

(CROWD CHEERING)

(MALE ANNOUNCER): Ladies and gentleman,

4 minutes, 8 seconds!

(MAN GRUNTING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(ROCK MUSIC)

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.

(CROWD CHEERING)

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.

(CROWD CHEERING)

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.

(CROWD CHEERING AND WHISTLING)

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.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(CROWD CHEERING AND WHISTLING)

(GEORGES):
I saw Kristof.

He knocked out the guy

in, like, 9 seconds.

He was, like, amazing.

(MEN):
Yeah!

(CHILDREN SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

(SWINGS CREAKING)

(GEORGES):

I was not a popular kid.

Girls didn't like me.

I didn't have much friends.

(CHILDREN SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

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?

(CHAIN-LINK FENCE RATTLING)

(BOYS SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

I was a very proud person,

so I had a lot of ego.

And even young...

It was a big problem for me.

(BOYS SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

So I come back,

I passed through them,

and I remember I swing

one of them as hard as I can.

(BOYS SHOUTING, INDISTINCT)

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.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(SOFT PIANO MUSIC)

(CHEERING, SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)

- 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."

(CAR HORNS HONKING)

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.

(SIRENS WAILING)

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)

(LAUGHING)

(MAN LAUGHING)

(MEN LAUGHING)

You could start out like this.

(MEN LAUGHING)

(MEN TALKING, INDISTINCT)

There's an interesting question

you can ask about Georges St-Pierre.

And he's very honest about this.

HE'LL TELL YOU:

"I'm not the best wrestler.

"Nor am I the best boxer,

nor the best kickboxer.

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

(CROWD CHEERING)

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?"

(ANNOUNCER):

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.

(BOTH GRUNTING)

(DANAHER):
He's the only student I've had

who taught me more than I taught him.

(CROWD CHEERING)

- 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.

(CROWD CHEERING)

- 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.

(CROWD CHEERING)

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.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Georges lost to a basic submission hold.

It never should've happened.

(CROWD CHEERING, HORN BLOWING)

He lost not so much because

Matt Hughes beat him,

but because he made

a series of obvious mistakes.

(DANAHER):
So, we talked

after this, and he said:

"Train me not so much

in jiu-jitsu, but in fighting."

(CAGE DOOR CREAKING)

And that's when things

started getting interesting.

(DANAHER):
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!

(DANAHER):
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.

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