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Mixed martial arts superstar to visit P.G.

He is one of the most famous athletes in Canadian history. He is mixed martial arts superstar Georges St. Pierre and, on May 24, GSP will be in PG. About 1,000 people will get to be in the same room with this icon of the octagon.
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Georges St. Pierre gestures during a weigh-in at the Bell Centre in Montreal before UFC 83 in 2008.

He is one of the most famous athletes in Canadian history.

He is mixed martial arts superstar Georges St. Pierre and, on May 24, GSP will be in PG.

About 1,000 people will get to be in the same room with this icon of the octagon. The exclusive event is set for Northland Hyundai, where general manager Kyle Bachman and Citizen Special Events manager Norm Coyne worked together for more than 18 months to set St. Pierre's stage.

"Prince George and all the north has been so good to Hyundai. We wanted to create something special to say thank you," said Bachman. "We wanted to offer an event that made people excited and [that was] unique and showed our customers how important they are to us."

St. Pierre was still actively defending his UFC world title when the idea was first concieved. It prevented him from immediately accepting the invitation, but he indicated he would be interested when the time was right.

GSP vacated his UFC welterweight title in Dec. 2013 and coming to Northland Hyundai was on the table.

"When this was coming together for us, we didn't know he was going to be in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. We didn't know he had a book [The Way of the Fight] coming out," said Bachman. "A lot of that extra fame and publicity has come about... recently and only adds to the wow-factor, and our appreciation that he still had every intention of coming to Prince George."

It is the kind of dedication and commitment you'd expect from St. Pierre, a former garbage collector and night club bouncer born in a small, rural town who got a black belt in karate to fend off bullies and thieves at elementary school. He went on to black belts in four other martial arts, while also studying boxing and wrestling as his talents in the sparring ring began to take off in main events.

St. Pierre lost only two professional fights - Matt Hughes in 2004 and Matt Serra in 2007 - and he defeated both those fighters in rematches.

He ended the first chapter of his pro career with a 25-2 record. He set the benchmarks for the most fights and most time in the ring in UFC history. He put the belt on the line a record nine times.

Outside the mixed martial arts community, he was named Canada's Male Athlete of the Year three times and Sports Illustrated named him overall fighter of the year in 2009, among many other honours.

"One of the things that shines most about Georges St. Pierre is his attitude with the public," said Bachman. "As much as he was a devastating force in the ring, and as much as the celebrity spotlight was on his every move, if a controversy ever came up it was never to do with his overall character. He made mistakes like people do, but he always faced life with a positive spirit. He has maintained that no matter what his accomplishments or setbacks in the ring. That's a big part of his inspirational history."

Northland Hyundai is considering the possibility of a brief public appearance for GSP while he is visiting their location in The Gateway.

The main event, though, will have St. Pierre inside the Northland Hyundai showroom with a limited number of invited guests. There are two ways to be one of those guests.

One is to be a customer at their Prince George location during the month of May. Anyone who purchases a vehicle from Northland Hyundai in May will receive a pair of passes to the event.

The second way is to enter your name on the event's website, www.meetgsp.ca, to win a pair of tickets.