Georges St-Pierre has revealed why he presents friends and loved ones with his belts and why he doesn’t invest too much meaning in the material
For the Canadian legend, recognizing those who have helped him achieve the iconic status he holds today is more important than self-flattery (transcription via Bloody Elbow):
“Every belt that I’ve won from the beginning, I always gave it to someone that was there to help me through my career,” St-Pierre said during a recent appearance at the New York Stock Exchange. “My first belt, I gave it to my mother, because my mother was the one that was most important to me. Then I gave it to Firas, then I gave it to John [Danaher], I gave it to different people who was there from the beginning.”
St-Pierre revealed that the UFC stopped awarding him belts during his lengthy title run at 170-pounds:
“After a while, at welterweight, they stopped giving me the belt, so I couldn’t give it away,” he said. “Now that I won a new belt, they gave me the middleweight belt, so I gave it to Victor Zilberman, who was my wrestling coach for more than 15 years.
“When I gave him the belt — he was a former USSR wrestler — and I think that was the first time I saw him smile ever, so it made me very happy.”
