Montreal fighter Georges St. Pierre is back squarely in the mixed martial arts limelight and that includes his personal life, it seems.
The tabloid Star magazine reported that actress-singer Mandy Moore has a crush on GSP, which has since escalated into reports they are dating (Britain's Sun) and Moore is in love (American Girls blog, www.usgirl.org). Other Internet outlets following the Star report simply described Moore as “crushing hard” on the Canadian.
Moore was in the Bell Centre crowd in Montreal last month when St. Pierre regained his welterweight title.
So what is the skinny on GSP outside the cage?
A spokeswoman for the 26-year-old St. Pierre says UFC president Dana White introduced Moore to the fighter backstage prior to one of the Canadian's Las Vegas bouts last year. The two are not romantically involved, although St. Pierre “did say that he would date her if given the opportunity,” according to the spokeswoman.
It appears the ball is now in Moore's court. The 24-year-old has previously been linked romantically with actors Zach Braff and Wilmer Valderrama, musicians Greg Laswell and Ryan Adams, and tennis star Andy Roddick.
UFC fighters and the ladies also figure in Chuck Liddell's entertaining autobiography “Iceman.” Liddell notes that after a night of celebrating his UFC 47 win over rival Tito (The Huntington Beach Bad Boy) Ortiz, he brought some company to his room. “A lot of company. I can't remember how many women, but I know it was more than two.”
White came to Liddell's hotel room the next morning and found two women asleep in the living room, two more in the bathroom and another in bed with Liddell. “None of us had any clothes on,” the unmarried fighter said.
In the “we didn't really need to know” department, Liddell adds he ended that morning by having sex while doing a phone interview with a radio station.
“Again, I'm not trying to brag,” wrote Liddell. “That is just the way it was. What else can I say? It's good to be a winner.”
Chase Gormley is hoping third time's the charm when he takes on fellow American Eric (Big E) Pele in the co-main event of MFC 16: Anger Management on Friday night in Enoch, Alta.
Gormley, 24, is the third opponent for Pele (11-4), replacing Gary (Big Daddy) Goodridge and Wayne Cole. That meant the six-foot-three 265-pounder has had less than two weeks to prepare, but Gormley says he's ready to fight.
“I've had a few fights that fell through in the last few months so I was actually in shape,” he said. “That's the only reason I took the fight. It was just convenient for me because I was actually looking for a fight, so it actually worked out perfectly to tell you the truth.”
Gormley (5-0) was slated to make his pro debut at 18 but put his fighting career on hold when he got a wrestling scholarship to Montana State Northern and then Lindenwood University in Missouri, where he was an NAIA all-American and placed fourth in the U.S.
Now based in Los Angeles, Gormley is managed by Ed Soares, whose clientele includes middleweight champion Anderson Silva and interim heavyweight title-holder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Soares is a longtime Gormley family friend.
Fighting is in the Gormley blood. His father boxed and his brother, fighting as heavyweight Josh Dempsey, was ranked as high as fourth in the world in 1997-98.
Gormley trains full time during the week — his coaches include IFL veteran Antonio McKee — and works weekends as a bouncer at the Red Rock club on Sunset Boulevard.
After fighting in smaller circuits, Gormley is looking forward to the Maximum Fighting Championship.
“I feel like the MFC's going to be kind of like a huge step up from where I was so it's going to be nice to be actually treated like an athlete instead of just another body to throw in there,” he said.
And as for Pele, Gormley plans to test the 38-year-old's conditioning.
“I definitely think he wants to stay on his feet. So pretty much my job is to make him work, hit him with big punches and really see how his cardio is, test him out, see if he does have a gas tank.”
NOTES — Spike TV is airing Chuck Liddell's epic UFC 79 battle against Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva on May 31 (10 p.m. ET), following the TV debut of the documentary “Ultimate Iceman: Chuck Liddell” (9 p.m. ET). ... Some tidbits from Liddell's autobiography: Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality TV show cost the UFC US$10 million to produce. Spike TV paid nothing for the show, providing only the airtime while the UFC had to find the advertising. Liddell made just US$800 a week during the show. UFC president Dana White gave Liddell a US$330,000 Ferrari “for being a guy the UFC counts on.” ... The International Fight League will debut a hexagon-shaped ring on Aug. 15, at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. Dubbed “The Hex,” the six-sided surface will measure 24 feet (7.3 metres) across and 27 feet 8 inches (8.4 metres) end-to-end and will be enclosed by five ropes. The IFL currently uses a traditional boxing ring.
