St. Pierre, Alves winners no matter what happens at UFC 100 1/8
Published Wednesday July 8th, 2009
LAS VEGAS - UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre says he is fighting for his legacy. Challenger Thiago Alves says the title is his destiny.
But no matter who leaves the cage with the 170-pound crown Saturday night at UFC 100, both men can already be called successes.
After his win over Jon Fitch at UFC 87 last August, St. Pierre walked into a bank in his hometown of St-Isidore, Que., and opened an account in his parents' name. Then he put in more than enough money to pay off their mortgage, car loan and anything else. A dream came true, he called it.
"I don't want my parents to pay any more debt for the rest of their life," he told the banker.
St. Pierre (18-2) has won the title, lost it and reclaimed it. He has looked after his family and his future. Now he is fighting to leave his mark in mixed martial arts.
The 28-year-old from Montreal is coming off a dominant win over lightweight champion B.J. Penn at UFC 94 in January. He now has two wins over Penn and two over former welterweight title-holder Matt Hughes.
He has avenged losses to the only men to beat him: Hughes and Matt Serra.
"My goal is to be known as the best MMA fighter in history," St. Pierre said Wednesday.
Some already see the Canadian as the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA today. Others put him in the top drawer, along with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and former Pride heavyweight star Fedor Emelianenko.
"To be the best, you have to fight the best guy," said St. Pierre. "Now I'm already champion, so I don't fight to be champion any more. I fight for a legacy. I want to be an icon. I want to be known when I retire as the guy who not only made the difference in the Octagon but also outside the Octagon."
St. Pierre comes from humble beginnings on the South Shore, a suburb of Montreal. His father spent more than 60 hours a week on a floor-recovering business, installing carpet and ceramics.
His mother nursed the elderly.
That work ethic was passed down to their son. In his late teens, St. Pierre held down three jobs, working as a bouncer at the Fuzzy Brossard nightclub, working at a floor recovery store and working for the government teaching activities to delinquent kids.
To this day, he remains proud that he earned his own floor recovering certificate. It's proof to him that he fights because he wants to, not because he has to.
Alves (22-4) is his latest challenge, a slab of a man with explosive punches and kicks. The American-based Brazilian has won his last seven fights.
Alves looks like he belongs on a muscle magazine cover. Come Friday, he will have somehow slimmed his five-foot-nine body into 170 pounds. Some 29 hours later, when the cage door swings open, he will weigh 195 pounds.
Alves is brimming with confidence, saying he has known he would become a world champion at 25 since he was 15. Now 25, Alves says it's his time.
"If anybody can beat Georges St. Pierre, I'm the man for it. And I will knock him out. I have no doubt in my mind. I'm ready.
"Its been a long road, man. Its been 10 years for me to get here. . . . I think I was born to do this."
Alves was 19 when came to the U.S. from Brazil to further his fighting career with American Top Team in south Florida.
"It was really scary," he recalled. "I'm like a momma's boy, man. Never been more than two weeks away from my family before I moved here. I got here with no English and $70 in my pocket.
"Thank God everything worked out," he added. "But that's the thing. When you want something and you want it really bad. And you put all your work into it, you just make it happen."
To this day, Alves helps his family financially every month.
Alves says he has two homes: Brazil and the U.S. But he says he loves the U.S. because it's where dreams can come true. He also says he learned some lessons along the way. Banned eight months for using a diuretic, he lost track of his dream.
So what did he do for the eight months?
"I just partied," he said with a smile. "I had a little bit of money and I had eight months."
Did the partying get old, he was asked?
"It did. And it didn't," he said, drawing laughs. "But when it got time to get serious, I got really serious. And thank God, I'm here."
If he wasn't a fighter, Alves isn't sure what he might have done for a living.
"Maybe a stripper, I don't know," he joked."
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