St-Pierre wins award in Canada

After garnering 89 percent of the votes from fans, UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was named Sportsnet.ca's 2008 Canadian Athlete of The Year, beating out Chantal Petitclerc, Jarome Iginla, Justin Morneau, and Daniel Nestor.

"It's an honor for me to have this award and being the first MMA guy to receive something like this," said St-Pierre in a statement. "I want to congratulate the other nominees because they have done an incredible job in their respective sports, making this an even more special honor. I want to thank Rogers Sportsnet and Joe Ferraro for promoting the sport of MMA, because without them the sport would not be as well known as it is right now in Canada. I want to thank everybody for their support and voting for me. I want to be a good Canadian ambassador for the sport and represent MMA well."

St-Pierre, who is preparing for his UFC 94 showdown with BJ Penn on Jan. 31 at UFC 94, joins Sidney Crosby and Steve Nash as winners of the award.