Georges St-Pierre is a name synonymous with discipline, resilience, and legacy. The MMA icon is stepping off the mat and onto the stage with Instinct of a Champion, a live show that offers fans a rare look beyond the octagon. We spoke to Georges St-Pierre ahead of his upcoming show in Meridian Hall on Sept. 29.
The show is called Instinct of a Champion. What does instinct mean to you?
Every goal, everything you want to accomplish, always starts with a dream. For me, it was instinct — after that, I needed to trust myself. When you say instinct of a champion, it’s also about how to trust yourself. It also becomes how you prepare yourself to go on the journey to achieve your goal.
How does stepping on stage at a soft-seat theatre like Meridian Hall compare to stepping into the Octagon, facing someone who wants to knock your head off?
[Laughs] It’s not as scary to mess up, I guess. But the thing is, I’m at my best when I improvise. I’ll be there with a friend of mine — he’s the one who wrote my book, Justin Kingsley. The book was a best-seller. So when Tony came to me and talked to me about that project, I was all in. You know, when you write a book or make a documentary, you’re not in contact with people. And I feel that nowadays we’re losing that human touch. It’s a world dominated by social media. So we want to offer fans a very unique experience.
What’s one truth about yourself you’ll share on stage that fans might not expect?
There are a lot of things — but one thing is, I never liked to fight. I love to win. I love being with my teammates, my coaches. I love the sport. But I despise fighting. I hate it. It’s unbearable — the stress, not knowing if you’ll be humiliated, if you’ll be hurt, or maybe even if you’re going to die. For me, it’s unbearable.
You’ve said greatness is built day by day, choice by choice. Can you share a specific choice that changed your life forever?
Every day. It’s not one choice. Every day, you’re confronted with different choices. And sometimes, doing the right thing that gets you closer to your goal — it’s not the easiest thing. The more you force yourself to do things that are hard, the better you get at doing them. It’s like a muscle you activate — it grows.
What do you hope people feel or take away from the live event?
I’m going to share life experience — but also how I deal with fear and stress. How I domesticate fear. I think a lot of people deal with stress and fear in everyday life. I learned how to deal with it and how to use it to enhance my performance. A lot of people roll their eyes — they think it’s esoteric stuff. But it’s true. Mental preparation is very important. In sports, it’s often what separates champions from contenders — the mental part.
What would you say to your Toronto fans to get them to come to your show?
First, it’s a unique experience. It’s personal — stuff they might relate to. They’ll be able to take it and apply it to their life. I lived a very extreme life. Not everyone fights in a cage. So the stress I had to face was extreme, and it required extreme measures. But people can scale it down to their own life and apply the same principles.
You went from being bullied as a kid to becoming a world champion. What part of that kid still lives in you today?
I’m still a kid. I try to keep my heart young. I try to have fun in everything I do. And that’s one thing I wanted for that evening — to have fun. I want people to have fun with me. We’re going to have a great night.
