GSP continues his tradition of giving his belts to those that helped him win them.
It hasn’t even been a week and Georges St-Pierre has already given up his middleweight belt. Just not in the way you’d expect.
The two division UFC champ is known for giving the belts he wins to coaches and friends, and this latest 185 pound strap was no different. St-Pierre posted a picture on social media late Tuesday night as he handed it over to Victor Zilberman of the the Montreal Wrestling Club.
Happy to give my new middleweight belt to coach Victor. I owe a big part of my success in the octagon to the Montreal Wrestling Club & YMHA! pic.twitter.com/bHx8YPEHsM
— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre) November 8, 2017
“Happy to give my new middleweight belt to coach Victor,” GSP wrote. “I owe a big part of my success in the octagon to the Montreal Wrestling Club & YMHA”
St-Pierre has been training at the Montreal Wrestling Club for years, and his work there was so impressive that he contemplated an Olympic run back in 2010. While that never materialized, he continued to use his wrestling skills to great advantage in the Octagon.
Up until UFC 217 when Michael Bisping had his greatest success cutting St-Pierre up from off his back at UFC 217, that is.
There’s still questions as to whether Georges St-Pierre will stay at 185 or move back down to 170. He didn’t sound eager to keep fighting at middleweight in his victory speech over Bisping, and his striking coach Freddie Roach also implied he wouldn’t stick around.
Unfortunately for him, his bout agreement for the Bisping fight included a clause that forces him to defend his belt against interim champ Robert Whittaker. But as we learned from the GSP vs. Bisping fight itself, it’s gotten harder for the UFC to force a fighter to do what they want these days.