Georges St. Pierre remembers when Royce Gracie submitted his way through UFC 1, winning the tournament-style event with a rear-naked choke of Gerard Gordeau.

The sight of the lithe Brazilian overcoming the competition made an everlasting impact on the Canadian who will defend his welterweight title against Thiago Alves at UFC 100, July 11.

“Yes, for sure, I remember the first time I saw UFC, I saw Royce Gracie winning the first tournament,” St. Pierre said. “And, that’s the precise moment that I became inspired to do what I do right now for a living.

“The fact that he was using a martial arts weapon that nobody knew at the time, which is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and he was smaller than all the guys and he was able to win. That’s what – that’s what really inspired me.”

Ninety-nine UFCs ago things were much different than they will be when St. Pierre (18-2) and Alves (16-3) step into the cage for their highly-anticipated fight and that’s not lost on either. MMA was an “underground” sport, put down by politicians and relegated to pay-per-view only status. Today, the UFC is making inroads into the mainstream.

“Well, I think the media has a lot to do with it,” St. Pierre said. “They’ve been following the sport more and more, and I think that’s what gives credibility. Before, the sport was not mainstream, it was – for many people there was things like human cock fighting. It was a barbarian sport. Now, I think even the media, they start following the sport around and they talk about us like real athletes and that’s what we are, we train like real professional athletes, that’s our full-time job.”

St. Pierre has, perhaps, been doing his full-timer better than anyone else in the world as of late. In his TKO victory over BJ Penn at UFC 94, St. Pierre imposed his will with ease. At UFC 87, he won a unanimous decision over Jon Fitch and at UFC 83 and UFC 79, he dominated Matt Serra and Matt Hughes, respectively. No doubt, the performances have paid off. St. Pierre’s T-shirts are all over the place. Women swoon at the sight of him, and MMA fan boys are quick to throw his name out there, rightfully so, as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Yet, during Thursday’s conference call for his fight against Alves, St. Pierre sounded like a man who was handling the fame well. That, and he sounded fairly concerned. Alves, he promised, would be his toughest fight to date.

“Well, I truly believe, first of all, that if you would put Thiago Alves and B.J. Penn in a fight, I would bet all my money on Thiago Alves, no doubt about it,” he said. “In this fight, for a lot of people, seems less dangerous for me because Thiago Alves is a gentleman. He’s not somebody that needs to talk trash to promote himself. He’s a very respectful guy. So, that’s what makes him even more dangerous.

“And, skill wise he’s bringing a lot more problems on the table than everybody I’ve fought so far,” he continued. “And, that’s for this reason that even though it’s the card – the card of UFC 100, is not only focusing on my fight with Thiago Alves, it’s also on Brock Lesnar and all the other fighters. I think if you look at the last fight that I had on that like BJ Penn card – the main focus was my fight with BJ Penn. So, it looked like that fight was more dangerous but it was not.”

Alves heads into the fight with seven-consecutive wins – his last four victories coming against Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Karo Parisyan and Chris Lytle. His strong points – his striking and Muay Thai abilities – have forced St. Pierre to do his homework. According to the champion, each time Alves steps into the octagon he does so as a better version of himself and that has created a multi-faceted approach to the fight. Many expect St. Pierre to use his exceptional wrestling to take Alves to the ground and do his damage there. But, St. Pierre insists that isn’t necessarily the case. He has been focusing on how to fight Alves standing up, in the clinch and on the ground. In camp, he brought in Muay Thai guys, boxers and, he says, he got better.

“Do you – how do you take him out of his comfort zone in every aspect of the game?” he said. “It’s not only a question of where the fight happens because its mixed martial arts, everything can happen and you have to use all range of weapons.

“You know, Thiago has devastating leg kicks,” St. Pierre said. “But, that’s not the only thing that he’s got. He’s got great knees. A great left hook. And, he’s got a good – very good heavy hand too. I’ve been studying a lot of tape, and I do have a specific strategy that I will use to take him out of his comfort zone, but it’s like when you play cards you don’t want to show your hand. When I fought BJ Penn I had a strategy, but Thiago Alves is a way different fighter than BJ Penn so it’s going to be a different strategy. It’s going to be something else that I’m going to do to him. But, it’s like I said, when you play cards, you don’t want to show your hand.”

So, not a lot of talk about the game plan from St. Pierre, but plenty of admitting what’s ahead. The boy that fell in love with MMA watching Royce Gracie in the first UFC will be one of the headliners of the 100th UFC and coming out on top won’t be easy.

“BJ Penn, no, but you have named Matt Hughes, Koscheck and like all those guys,” he said. “The guy that I’m fighting, Thiago Alves has beaten those guys. So, for me, fighting Thiago Alves is something very exciting for me because he has beat those guys, and he has beat them even in – I would say, in a better fashion than I did. So, I’m very excited about that fight and that’s why – my motivation has never been that high because it’s a great challenge for me and I have never been so pumped up for a fight. And, for me, Thiago Alves is even in the name – in the name, Thiago Alves is even higher than Matt Hughes and all those guys that I’ve beaten because he’s even more dangerous.”

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