‘I knew he was champion material’… Georges St-Pierre shares unlikely friendship with Artur Beterbiev and will be cheering him in undisputed clash with Canelo Alvarez conqueror

The eyes of the combat sports world will, once again, be firmly fixed on the dunes of Saudi Arabia this weekend for the incredible undisputed light heavyweight title showdown between 20-0 Artur Beterbiev and 23-0 Dimitry Bivol.

Whilst boxing fans are divided on who they think will leave the Kingdom Arena with all four belts in tow: there’s one combat sports legend who’ll be watching with bated breath, hoping for another Beterbiev masterclass… Consensus greatest UFC fighter in history, Georges St-Pierre.

Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty ImagesHow did UFC icon GSP and boxing champion Beterbiev become good friends?Russia vs Canada; Boxing vs MMA; the unlikely friendship between Artur Beterbiev and GSP might catch one or two sports fans by surprise, but it’s an alliance that was actually forged all the way back in 2013.

That was when a sprightly Artur Beterbiev, who had only just made his professional debut, walked into TriStar MMA Gym in Montreal in the hopes of one day becoming the undisputed champion of the world.

Luckily, TriStar already had a world champion training under its roof who could help Beterbiev reach his lofty title aspirations, MMA icon Georges St-Pierre, with the two quick to form a friendship that would last over a decade.

As Beterbiev couldn’t speak any English at the time, the two warriors talked through a translator and would find themselves bonding over their shared passion for hand-to-hand combat.

“We would talk about fighting; he’s a boxer, I’m a mixed martial arts fighter, so we had a lot of things in common,” GSP told ESPN back in 2019 in the lead-up to Beterbiev’s clash with Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

“If you know about the art of war, the spirit, the mental of the game is pretty, pretty similar, and so I think we developed over time some type of camaraderie, and we started hanging out… We’d go to a restaurant and his English got so much better since I’ve first met him. I couldn’t really speak to him, [but] now his English is much better.”

“He’s a good guy, he has helped me when I needed help,” acknowledged the Russian boxer, teasing how they’d often find themselves talking about health routines in the heat of a steam bath.

WOW: Former Bellator star says there’s a boxing champion that hits harder than ‘Any of MMA heavyweights that I spar with’“When we went together to Russian Sauna, we talked there about some different things like exercise, and if you look at him now, he still trains like a champion,” Beterbiev told Morning Kombat in 2023.

“I tell him ‘You are very good,” and he says, ‘No you’re better than me’ but he’s like that you know – he’s a kind person, a great gentleman.”

Georges St-Pierre ‘knew’ that Artur Beterbiev would become world championIncredibly, even all the way back in 2013, GSP understood that Artur Beterbiev would one day go on to become a dominant king over the boxing ring.

“I knew he was champion material right away in the beginning, but to be a champion and to stay a champion, you need the physicality, you need the mental [toughness].

“He’s a very nice guy with a good heart, and I didn’t want to be one of these guys that tried to step into his private life, but I knew for a fact that he’s a diamond.”

Even if the two superstars hadn’t crossed paths all those years ago, GSP believes that Beterbiev would have carved his own; one that still would’ve ended in undisputed glory.

“Artur would have found a way to do it by himself. If the door was closed, he would have cracked it open and got in. I just maybe opened a door for him to make it a little bit easier to make that path, but I think he’s a smart guy.”

So, what is it about Beterbiev that makes him such a terrifying opponent to face? According to the legendary UFC double champ, it all comes down to his forward pressure.

“He puts an incredible amount of pressure on and it’s a pressure that makes his opponents become claustrophobic; they panic and they don’t know what to do… When I see him fight sometimes, I see it within his opponents’ eyes, they fear him, they know what’s going to happen.”

BKFC: Feldman campaigns for a bare-knuckle match-up between two of the most fearsome rivals in combat sportsYet aside from his incredible skillset as a boxer, ‘Rush’ also admires the dedication and discipline that Beterbiev brings to each and every aspect of his life.

“One thing I’ve learned with Artur is that in life sometimes you try to get the better thing, the best thing, you know, as an athlete, and he’s compelled and he’s happy with the simpler pleasures of life [like] eating with his family, and he’s a happy man.

“He doesn’t need to be the flashy thing that we dream about as a kid. He doesn’t need that. He’s a happy man with the simpler pleasures of life and that’s what I admire of him, and I think it’s very important. Sometimes we forget how lucky we are.”

Artur Beterbiev faces Dimitry Bivol this weekend in undisputed title showdownIt’s boxing fans who are the lucky ones, with Beterbiev set for an almighty showdown with undefeated champion and dreaded conqueror of Canelo Alvarez, 23-0 superstar Dimitry Bivol.

Two days out and that outstanding clash in Riyadh is essentially a pick-‘em fight, with the consensus opinion being that it’s going to end in either a Beterbiev KO or a Bivol decision.

Yet it’s worth one last look back at the unlikely friendship with the UFC legend, who predicted all those years ago that “When I see the big picture of Artur Beterbiev, he’s unifying all the titles, and he’s the best boxer and champion.”

In ‘Rush’ we trust: Artur Beterbiev vs Dimitry Bivol goes down this weekend, live from Saudi Arabia.

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