George "GSP" St. Pierre

Georges St-Pierre (born May 19, 1981), often referred to as GSP, is a Canadian professional mixed martial artist. He is currently the Welterweight Champion of the UFC, and is ranked as one of the top "pound-for-pound" fighters by multiple MMA sources.

St-Pierre has been lauded by many media outlets for his skill, and he is currently ranked by multiple MMA publications as the number-one welterweight in the world.

In 2008, he was named the Canadian Athlete of the Year by Rogers Sportsnet, as well as the Most Outstanding Fighter by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a U.S.-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization. Estimated in 2008 to be worth $1 billion while controlling 90% of the mixed martial arts industry, it is the largest mixed martial arts promotion in the world.

Zuffa, LLC, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, owns and operates the UFC. The UFC focuses on the heavier weight classes in MMA, whereas its sister promotion, the WEC, focuses on the lighter weights.

The UFC began as a single-event tournament to find the world's best fighters, irrespective of their style (including boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, karate, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, among many others). Although there were a limited number of rules, promoters marketed fighting in the UFC as no holds barred, and contests were often violent and brutal. Early UFC fights were less sport than spectacle, which led to accusations of brutality and "human cock fighting" by Senator John McCain and others. Political pressures eventually led the UFC into the underground, as pay-per-view providers nixed UFC programming, nearly extinguishing the UFC's public visibility.

As political pressure mounted, the UFC reformed itself, slowly embracing stricter rules, becoming sanctioned by state athletic commissions, and marketing itself as a legitimate sporting event. Dropping the no holds barred label and carrying the banner of mixed martial arts, the UFC has emerged from its political isolation to become more socially acceptable, regaining its position in pay-per-view television.

With a cable television deal and expansion into Canada, Europe and new markets within the United States, the UFC has experienced a remarkable surge in popularity, along with greater mainstream media coverage. UFC programming can now be seen on Spike in the United States and Canada, as well as in 34 other countries worldwide.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques, from a mixture of martial arts traditions and non-traditions, to be used in competitions. The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground. Such competitions allow martial artists of different backgrounds to compete.

Modern mixed martial arts competition emerged in American popular culture in 1993 with the founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Originally organized with the intention of finding the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat situations, competitors of various arts were pitted against one another with minimal rules for safety. In the following decade, MMA promoters adopted many additional rules aimed at increasing safety for competitors and to promote mainstream acceptance of the sport. The name mixed martial arts was coined by one of the developers of these rules, Jeff Blatnick, a former Greco-Roman wrestler and Olympic gold medalist. Following these changes, the sport has seen increased popularity with pay per view reach rivaling boxing and professional wrestling.

Pride Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC for short) was a mixed martial arts organization based in Japan. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events. As one of the most popular MMA organizations in the world during its ten years of operation, Pride broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide.What is Pride?, Official Pride site. Last retrieved December 5, 2006 Pride also held the largest live MMA event audience record of over 70,000 people at the Pride and K-1 co-production, Shockwave/Dynamite, held in August 2002, as well as the audience record of over 67,450 people at the Pride Final Conflict 2003.

In March 2007, Dream Stage Entertainment sold Pride to Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta III, co-owners of Zuffa, which owns rival promotion the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). While remaining legally separate entities with separate managements, the two promotions were set to cooperate in a manner akin to the AFL-NFL merger. However, such an arrangement did not materialize, and in October 2007, Pride Worldwide's Japanese staff was laid off, marking the end of the organization as an active fight promoter. As a result many of the Pride staff left to form a new organization alongside K-1 parent company Fighting and Entertainment Group. This new organization founded in February 2008 is entitled Dream.