The Way of the Fight
Page 20
Firas and I discuss this all the time.
“I could hardly know anything else if I did not even know myself.” Socrates said that, and the way I understand it, a person has to truly know himself before he can start even considering understanding the rest of society. Self-examination gives you a base to work from, and then you can tackle bigger questions.
One of the keys to learning for me has been to not get so hung up on the past. It’s important to remember the past, but that doesn’t mean you have to torture yourself with it by reliving it every single day. Once I got over my anger and rage from childhood, once I stopped feeling like a victim, I was able to open myself to great sources of learning. I had to channel that part of my life, especially the emotional recovery, as I dealt with an injury that has traditionally been the bane of competitive athletes across disciplines.
I am only thirty-one years old as I write this story, but it’s entirely possible that in five or ten years, my outlook will have changed on many of the things that have been discussed herein. Maybe I’ll have the same core beliefs but have more vivid illustrations to describe them. No doubt, with age, I’ll feel differently, which most certainly affects everyone’s outlook. I’m cognizant that the goal for me over time will be to vary my regimen according to my personal goals and, of course, my aging body’s individual requirements. Once I hang up my hand wraps for the final time as an MMA competitor, I’ll have to find another path to follow. But even though I can’t fight forever, movement is my life force, and I’ll use the experience of my recent rehabilitation—which made this book possible—to keep questioning things, to learn more about myself and the world.
Progress, I’ve learned, comes from openness.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks are in order: To my mom and dad, for recalling stories from my childhood home. To my coaches Kristof Midoux, John Danaher and Firas Zahabi, for playing such a big role in my life, inside and outside the octagon. To all my coaches and training partners over the years, too many to list here. To my Canadian agents, Rod Beaulieu and Phil Lepage, and my U.S. agents at Creative Artists Agency, with a special nod to Nez Balelo, Mike Fonseca and Simon Green. To my editor Adam Korn, whose leadership elevated the contents of this book. To my friend Justin Kingsley and researcher Guinness “Smed” Rider, for their patience and hard work on this project. And a special thanks to all of my fans, for always being there for me.
About the Author
GEORGES “RUSH” ST-PIERRE, also known as “GSP,” is a Canadian professional mixed martial artist and world champion who holds black belts in both Kyokushin karate and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Recognized as one of the planet’s best pound-for-pound MMA fighters and all-around athletes, as well as a three-time Canadian Athlete of the Year, GSP lives in Montreal and travels around the world to work with the best coaches and training partners in all disciplines.
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Credits
Cover photograph by Justin Kingsley, Sid Lee, Contrast Photography
Cover design by Richard Aquan
Section opener photographs courtesy of Justin Kingsley
Copyright
THE WAY OF THE FIGHT. Copyright © 2013 by Georges St-Pierre. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-219563-0
EPub Edition © MAY 2013 ISBN 9780062195678
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