Georges was extremely nice to his legion of Canadian fans and didn’t hold back with his innovative techniques. I highly recommend anyone who is an up and coming mixed martial artist to attend a GSP seminar. The welterweight division of the UFC is known as the deepest talent pool in any fight organization. With two major belt changes happening within a year, the welterweight division is more interesting now more than ever. Both matches were via KO and both involved Canadian Superstar Georges “Rush” St. Pierres a.k.a. “GSP”. The second one unfortunately wasn’t in the Canadian’s favor and was less than a month ago. However, that did not stop the UFC former champion from sharing his knowledge with a group of over 100 participants at a recent seminar in Mississauga, Ontario. The Seminar was at the KOMBAT ARTS TRAINING ACADEMY and was organized by POUND FOR POUND© fight gear. The seminar was the largest I had seen since the days of Royce Gracie back in the early 90’s. (I think Royce still must hold a record here for a seminar for having 300 people!) Anyhow, Georges taught many moves and combinations that he has been using throughout his career. From the famous superman punch to his kicking combinations even to his takedowns up against the cage, GSP never held back sharing the knowledge he acquired through his years of training and competing. Georges also demonstrated some very unique and innovative conditioning drills that I’m sure will have the seminar participants trying to attempt in order to gain the strength and conditioning that GSP is known for. Some of the techniques and drills, Georges admitted that he had to invent in training as conventional martial arts or wrestling techniques did not address particular issues in the Octagon. What I feel is unique about Georges is how he progressed as a fighter. I have followed his career from his first fights in Canada’s TKO organization all the way to his recent loss. When Georges first began he was known as a Karate fighter with some wrestling¦at least to me. He racked up a streak of wins in TKO and was offered a high profile fight with Pete Spratt at TKO 14 and quickly submitted Spratt who at the time just defeated UFC super striker Robbie Lawler. Since than the Rush arrived and made a splash in the UFC defeating the likes of Karo Parysian, Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk and Matt Hughes. What impressed me about the Rush’s seminar is that if a drill or technique was to be demonstrated or run, Georges gladly worked with a new partner each time. It almost seemed like he was eager to train with everyone just as much as his fans wanted to train with him. This hands on approach to the seminar really made it worth it for the people who traveled from afar to learn from the former UFC champ.
In conclusion, the Rush’s seminar got 2 THUMBS UP from me. Georges was extremely nice with his legion of Canadian fans and didn’t hold back with his innovative techniques. I highly recommend anyone who is an up and coming mixed martial artist to attend a GSP seminar.
Special thanks to Joey and Hector from the KOMBAT ARTS ACADEMY (www.kombatarts.com) as well as Shaym Tanna from POUND FOR POUND© (www.pound4pound.ca) for bringing the former champ in.