Just four months ago, Ultimate Fighting Championship legend Georges St. Pierre was ringing in the New Year with the Cree Nation of Norway House in Manitoba. “Welcome to Norway House, champ!” said Denis Swanson as he filmed the mixed martial artist standing in front of an eight-by-four-foot hole cut out of a frozen lake.
“I am about to experience the coldest water I’ve ever had,” exclaimed St. Pierre, surrounded by community members and local firefighters. “Because I am here with the Cree Nation of Norway House and nature is giving us all this for free. Let’s go!”
Shedding the traditional blanket and beaded skin boots gifted to him by the First Nation, St. Pierre plunged into the freezing water as the crowd cheered. “It’s not fun,” St. Pierre said through gritted teeth, once sitting neck-deep in the glacial lake water. “But the benefits, they come after.”
The experience struck a chord for the retired fighter, who returned to visit a Cree community this month, this time in Eeyou Istchee as a special guest of Ouje-Bougamou. The community hosted the Montreal Fight League’s “MFL 36 Ouje Fight Night” April 14, and St. Pierre was there to take in the mixed martial arts action.
The Ouje-Bougoumou martial arts scene is not just about legendary figures like St. Pierre showing up as a VIP guest, but also about the reason he was there – to see rising local stars like Quinn Blacksmith and Albert St. Pierre.
Both from and fighting out of Ouje, these two Cree fighters have been ringing the bell on a national level. Blacksmith has made waves in the MFL as the youngest two-time champion while boasting a 3-0 record. Teammate Albert St. Pierre also remains undefeated in his young 2-0 career going into MFL 36.
For Blacksmith, street fighting was a part of growing up. “My buddies would get into fights, and we ended up having to defend ourselves,” he said.
In 2020, things changed for Blacksmith; he started practicing mixed martial arts for self-defence, training through a fitness program offered in the community. Now 21, Blacksmith is the youngest two-time champion in the MFL. But he learned more than self-defence.
“I know from personal experience that it helped me a lot with my anger,” he said. “Emotions can be high when you’re a young teenager and you need MMA to control them, to harness them. I hope that one day kids will see that.”
At MFL 36 Ouje Fight Night, the air was charged with anticipation as fans witnessed thrilling victories from rising Cree stars. Although Blacksmith didn’t compete, the night belonged to hometown hero Albert St-Pierre, who clinched the MFL Light Heavyweight Championship with a stunning KO/TKO victory over Brandon Uguccioni in Round 3.
With this win, St-Pierre’s record rose to an impressive 3-0, securing his position as the number three ranked fighter among Canada’s Amateur Light Heavyweights.
This success goes back to 2020 when Ouje-Bougoumou asked Maz Mas to establish the fitness program that Blacksmith joined. Mas turned the fitness program into a fight team, something he said could act as an outlet for young men to “let their aggression loose” in a healthy way, while burning off energy in the gym. Working with the first group of fighters, Mas said he noticed how strong many of them were.
“I tell them that all they’re missing is some discipline and technique because with that natural strength they should be unstoppable,” he said.
Mas was supposed to spend only six months in the community in 2020. But now he spends months at a time there as a fitness instructor. His home is in Montreal, where he is president and a promoter for MFL.
“It’s an international stage, and these guys keep coming out on top,” said Mas. “It’s important to remember that MFL features over 90 competitors from Ontario, Quebec and the States, so they got something special going on here in Ouje-Bougoumou.”
Mas noted that every Cree fighter who participated in last year’s events won their fight, a feat accentuated by the fact that Blacksmith and St. Pierre walked away with championship belts in their respective weight classes.
“To have two Cree guys on top there in my rankings in first place as champions, it says a lot.”