On July14, 2008- Chicago Fitness Center was pleased to host a surprise visit from Georges "Rush" St. Pierre , also known as “GSP.” Georges arrived at CFC, home of the U.S. Shidokan Headquarters, with his team which included, Vale Tudo trainer Firas Zahabi, strength trainer John Chaimberg, and good friend UFC veteran and fellow Shidokan black belt, Shonie “Mr. International” Carter. Shidokan is considered the “Original MMA”, in that their competitions require each fighter to compete in three different fighting disciplines per match, i.e., Bareknuckle Karate , Kickboxing and Grappling. For those who don’t or didn’t know, GSP studied and received his black belt in Shidokan through the Shidokan Canada Branch.

As soon as GSP stepped through the doors of CFC, he immediately greeted and shook hands with the staff and fans awaiting his arrival. Many of the people who had met him that day could not stop talking about how much of a humble gentleman the UFC Welter-weight World Champion is. He was polite and very anxious to train at CFC. Georges and his trainers then took a quick tour of the gym, given by the owner of CFC and U.S. Shidokan President, Shihan Eddie Yoshimura. Team GSP were ready to train once they saw the size and variety of equipment that CFC has to offer.

When the team started training, they were eager to use our state of the art Shidokan dojo for their warm-ups and stand-up training. GSP had and impressive array of pad work which his trainers used Thai pads to complete different varieties of punch / kick combos and many flying elbow, knee, and punch techniques. When it came time for GSP and his team to train their ground game, it was a short trip to CFC’s octagon where they surely delivered some “Easy Punishment” to each other.

At first, Team GSP ran through some familiar takedown drills many of which are taught at CFC. Chicago Fitness Center’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor Kevin Little, was proud to see a single leg ankle sweep in which he teaches Friday night’s grappling class, being used by UFC’s welterweight champion. Shihan Eddie Yoshimura was equally impressed by GSP’s Vale Tudo instructor Firas Zahiba, “That guy is like a snake.”

It was only a short while before it got hot and heavy in CFC’s octagon. Team GSP rolled six rounds with some of CFC’s very own. Amongst them was Sensei Kevin Little who rolled two rounds with Georges St Pierre and humbly admitted defeat to a knee bar delivered by the UFC champion. It didn’t look like “Mr. International” Shonie Carter was having the easiest time out grappling St Pierre either, almost being caught in a triangle choke.

When Team GSP was all done training, Shihan Eddie Yoshimura presented Georges St Pierre and his team, with a few tokens of appreciation, in which he gave the champ an official Japan Shidokan Do-Gi, and U.S. Shidokan Grappling kimono. GSP was very surprised and expressed a great deal of gratitude to the U.S. Shidokan President by bowing and sounding out with a great big OSU!

“You guys are really cool, this is a great place to train at…. with UFC coming to Chicago in October, the doors are will be opened up for us to come to town more, this will be the only place we train at.”-Georges St Pierre

“Man, this is a big place! I like the atmosphere, kickboxing ring, octagon…. you guys even have tanning beds! I promise you that we will come back… You can come visit us in Montreal or New Mexico anytime!”-Firas Zahiba

“From all the Shidokan members who were fortunate enough to meet, train, talk or take pictures with GSP, it was a fantastic experience. All we can tell you is if or when you get the opportunity to meet GSP, you will understand what a true Martial Arts Champion is in every sense of the word...”-Shihan Eddie Yoshimura