From the cage to the big screen

Mixed martial arts’ St-Pierre is Ultimate Fighting’s golden boy

For a super scrapper, Georges St-Pierre (also known as GSP) has a mild-mannered personality, but don’t let the introverted composure fool you.

Fans of Ultimate Fighting know all about the former welterweight champion’s split personality; a tiger in the ring and pussycat out of it.

All of that, and more, is explained in his life-and-times documentary Takedown: The DNA of GSP, directed by Kristian Manchester and Peter Svatek.

“It was a good project and it came out well,” said St-Pierre at a downtown Toronto hotel promoting his biopic.

In the movie, the native of Saint-Isidore, Que., reflects on his modest upbringing and early struggles. And then there is his emergence as one of the featured attractions in the popular Ultimate Fighting Championship, the largest mixed martialarts promotion company in the U.S.

In fact, he was recovering from a serious UFC knee injury in 2011 when he decided to co-operate with documentary directors — but with a few misgivings.

“I agreed to it because I had a surgery and I knew I was going to be off for a while,” he said. “I took a big gamble. The documentary could have been a disaster, but it came out well.”

And that’s not because the movie is a glossed-over promotional tool. “That’s why people like it, I think,” StPierre said. “It shows the good things in my life and the bad things, and it has my issues.”

At 32, St-Pierre vacated his Ultimate Fighting welterweight title and withdrew from participating in mixed martial arts battles last year. But he’s been hinting that he might return to fight in the UFC if the right offer comes along, but not any time soon.

“Right now I am off,” he confirmed. “I am very happy with my life. I have never forced myself to fight and I won’t now. I was very stressed and had a lot of things on my mind, but now I feel much better, and I feel if I want to come back I will come back.”

Meanwhile, St-Pierre uses his skills in an upcoming Hollywood blockbuster. He plays one of the villains in the superhero sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier, due out in April.