Former UFC champion Georges St-Pierre has been appointed to the Order of Canada.
St-Pierre was among the eighty-three names listed for the honor, which were first named on April 17, and the list was released on Tuesday.
In addition to his MMA career, St-Pierre is being credited for his foundation to assist youths against bullying and helping to promote physical activity, as well as scholarships for athletes.
St-Pierre, 44, was born in Saint-Isidore, Quebec, and launched his MMA career in January 2002. He came up through the Quebec MMA scene with UCC (later TKO) and debuted in the UFC in January 2004 with a win against Karo Parisyan.
He was fast-tracked to a title fight with then-champion Matt Hughes at UFC 50 in November and was submitted with one second remaining in the first round. St-Pierre would win his next five fights, including victories against Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, and BJ Penn, to earn a rematch with Hughes.
In November 2006, he stopped Hughes in their UFC 65 rematch, but lost the title in his first title defense against Matt Serra in a massive upset. It would be the last time St-Pierre would lose a fight as he regained the title from Serra one year later in Montreal and defended the title nine times.
Through that span, he became among the greatest fighters of all-time and part of some of the UFC’s biggest cards, including a rematch with BJ Penn in January 2009, beating Thiago Alves at UFC 100, beating Josh Koscheck in Montreal in December 2010, headlining UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre against Jake Shields, beating Nick Diaz in Montreal in March 2013, and his final welterweight fight against Johny Hendricks in November 2013.
St-Pierre moved up to the middleweight class in November 2017 and beat Michael Bisping by technical submission at UFC 217. After developing colitis, St-Pierre relinquished the belt and never fought again as he announced his retirement in February 2019.
He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2020 and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.
The Order of Canada has recognized over 8,200 Canadians since 1967.
