GSP Does It Again

[Priest]

UFC champ Georges St-Pierre repeats as Canadian Athlete of the Year

by MMAjunkie.com Staff

Again proving mixed-martial-arts fighters can earn mainstream recognition, Georges St-Pierre today was named Sportsnet's Canadian Athlete of the Year.

The 28-year-old UFC welterweight champion also won the award in 2008.

Fan voting determined the winner, and St-Pierre beat out fellow Canadian Sidney Crosby, who captained the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins and won the NHL's 2009 Stanley Cup.

St-Pierre, who was born in and fights out of Quebec, fought twice in 2009. In one of the biggest UFC fights of the year, St-Pierre defeated B.J. Penn in a UFC welterweight title defense at UFC 94 in January. The dominating performance led St-Pierre to a fourth-round TKO victory and a career 2-0 record over Penn, who currently holds the UFC's lightweight belt.

Seven months later, St-Pierre defeated top contender Thiago Alves, whom many had labeled the fighter most likely to dethrone the champ. St-Pierre, though, won all five rounds in a dominating performance and earned scores of 50–45, 50–44 and 50–45 for the unanimous decision win.

St-Pierre has consistently ranked among the top pound-for-pound fighters in MMA with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and famed heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko.

St-Pierre also raised his profile in 2009 after signing a major, multi-year sponsorship deal with sports apparel giant Under Armour last month. Additionally, in March, he became the first MMA fighter to sign a deal with Gatorade and joined a list of its sponsored sports figures, including Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. St-Pierre, who is represented by CAA and managed by Shari Spencer, also made his silver screen debut in the 2009 movie releases "Never Surrender," "Hell's Chain" and "Death Warrior."

St-Pierre next fights in March, when he takes on British fighter Dan Hardy in the main event of UFC 111 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.