MMA: All things Georges

As always, I am trying hard to keep tabs on Georges St. Pierre, although it is much easier now that I don't have to chase him around in Canada.

He was becoming so sought after by Canadian friends to "party" and celebrate his win at UFC 87 that he decided to travel to New York to get away from the party scene and train with his old friend and trainer Phil Nurse.

While he was in New York, he found out what a small world it is by learning that his manager and another friend were also in town. So he invited Phil and his wife out with Shari Spenser and his other friend and they enjoyed dinner and drinks together.

Georges said he sweated his drink out at practice the next day, and n spite of having treated Phil to a night out, he had no mercy on Georges and made him work out very hard, although with Rush, that seems to be the whole point.

Somehow, after returning to Canada, Georges must have "lost a day" because he showed up at the airport a day early for his vacation/training trip to Brazil, where he intends to work further on his BJJ at Gracie Barra.

This is getting to be quite an enjoyable routine for Georges, as he says some friends will be meeting him there to work on their skills as well. The surroundings are certainly beautiful for the days when he is not training. No wonder he remains so tan.

Georges stated rather emphatically that he is "not training for anyone in particular," but after his last trip when he realized how much the training had improved his skills, he just had to return again.

Because of a cut above his eye, the doctor had said that he could not spar for three weeks anyway.

Although Dana White has been announcing the fight with BJ for Jan. 31, the big Superbowl weekend, Georges' manager Shari Spenser said in an interview yesterday that "nothing had been signed yet."

Ms. Spenser did mention that the contract negotiations were going well and they were hoping to finalize it soon. This is encouraging and perhaps persuaded Georges to agree to the big weekend fight in January. (BJ has not had a fight since May).

Georges also confirmed his faith in Shari saying he has "the best manager in the world" and he is confident that she is doing everything she can to get him what he needs.

Reading Georges' blogs on the Yardbarker has become a habit for me and I love how much he reveals about himself. He prefers blogging to interviews because he thinks he can better let his fans know about his life. The blogs are often humorous and do give insight into his character.

Hopefully Georges will continue to blog while he is in Brazil; it sounds like once again he will be spending quite a while there.

And as far as Mr. Penn goes, there are reports from his manager, brother Jay D Penn that BJ is gaining weight "the right way" and training with great dedication for the fight.

I sure hope BJ is practicing striking with a closed fist to prevent accidental pokes in the eyes, and I would like to reiterate that BJ definitely needs to prevent any recurrences of eye gouging such as occurred in his last fight with Georges.

Grandma could definitely "come undone" just one more time if there was a reason, although it has been 22 years since the last occurrence.

Better not to push it.