The eyes of the combat sports world will, once again, be firmly fixed on the dunes of Saudi Arabia this weekend for the incredible undisputed light heavyweight title showdown between 20-0 Artur Beterbiev and 23-0 Dimitry Bivol.
Whilst boxing fans are divided on who they think will leave the Kingdom Arena with all four belts in tow: there’s one combat sports legend who’ll be watching with bated breath, hoping for another Beterbiev masterclass… Consensus greatest UFC fighter in history, Georges St-Pierre.
How did UFC icon GSP and boxing champion Beterbiev become good friends?
Russia vs Canada; Boxing vs MMA; the unlikely friendship between Artur Beterbiev and GSP might catch one or two sports fans by surprise, but it’s an alliance that was actually forged all the way back in 2013.
That was when a sprightly Artur Beterbiev, who had only just made his professional debut, walked into TriStar MMA Gym in Montreal in the hopes of one day becoming the undisputed champion of the world.
Luckily, TriStar already had a world champion training under its roof who could help Beterbiev reach his lofty title aspirations, MMA icon Georges St-Pierre, with the two quick to form a friendship that would last over a decade.
As Beterbiev couldn’t speak any English at the time, the two warriors talked through a translator and would find themselves bonding over their shared passion for hand-to-hand combat.
“We would talk about fighting; he’s a boxer, I’m a mixed martial arts fighter, so we had a lot of things in common,” GSP told ESPN back in 2019 in the lead-up to Beterbiev’s clash with Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
“If you know about the art of war, the spirit, the mental of the game is pretty, pretty similar, and so I think we developed over time some type of camaraderie, and we started hanging out… We’d go to a restaurant and his English got so much better since I’ve first met him. I couldn’t really speak to him, [but] now his English is much better.”
“He’s a good guy, he has helped me when I needed help,” acknowledged the Russian boxer, teasing how they’d often find themselves talking about health routines in the heat of a steam bath.
