Pahlavan
02-12-2013, 22:09
Speaking with media in Toronto last week, Tristar head trainer Firas Zahabi sounded less optimistic about the return of UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
"I don't know. It's 50/50 and I don't think [St-Pierre] knows either," Zahabi tells Sportsnet. "I think if he ends it this way, it was good. He ended up with Fight of the Night. An incredible seesaw battle. He showed heart, he showed guts, he showed he's a fighter."
In arguably the toughest test of his UFC career, St-Pierre narrowly won a five-round decision many fans and pundits had awarded the challenger, Johny Hendricks. Following the controversial scoring, UFC president Dana White believed St-Pierre won only one of the five championship rounds.
"I was most surprised [White] saw a landslide," says Zahabi in a second interview. "I didn't see a landslide. Nobody saw a landslide. You look at the polls on the internet, 10% more people gave the fight to Georges than to Johny. There's a lot of opinions out there. Dana White, I respect him a lot, is one opinion. It definitely wasn't a blowout, as he said."
"It's one man's opinion. It's an important opinion, but for me, I'm very comfortable to say Georges won that fight."
Reenforcing talk of his fighter being burned out by the grind, Zahabi says he's only interested in a rematch with Hendricks if St-Pierre is.
"He has 22 fights in the UFC, alone. That's a lot of training camps. That's a lot of years of sacrifice. He can't go out. He can't do this [or that]. He can't have a wife and kids. He can't have a steady girlfriend. He can't have anything normal in his life. He's living a very unbalanced life. How long does he want to do that for? He's 32. When is he going to start living his life? At 40? It's a hard decision for him to make and he's got a lot of things going on in his life. He has to decide what he wants to do. Nobody can decide for him."
To Zahabi, it's not a matter of St-Pierre's ability, but whether or not he still has the drive to compete at the highest level.
"I tell him, it's about motivation. Do you have the motivation to do this again? If yes, and you want to put your life on the back burner and do another camp, lets do it. If you don't have the motivation to do it, don't do it. You're just going to go out there and get hurt. You're going to cut corners and be miserable and you're going to go out there and you're going to get hurt."
"I don't know. It's 50/50 and I don't think [St-Pierre] knows either," Zahabi tells Sportsnet. "I think if he ends it this way, it was good. He ended up with Fight of the Night. An incredible seesaw battle. He showed heart, he showed guts, he showed he's a fighter."
In arguably the toughest test of his UFC career, St-Pierre narrowly won a five-round decision many fans and pundits had awarded the challenger, Johny Hendricks. Following the controversial scoring, UFC president Dana White believed St-Pierre won only one of the five championship rounds.
"I was most surprised [White] saw a landslide," says Zahabi in a second interview. "I didn't see a landslide. Nobody saw a landslide. You look at the polls on the internet, 10% more people gave the fight to Georges than to Johny. There's a lot of opinions out there. Dana White, I respect him a lot, is one opinion. It definitely wasn't a blowout, as he said."
"It's one man's opinion. It's an important opinion, but for me, I'm very comfortable to say Georges won that fight."
Reenforcing talk of his fighter being burned out by the grind, Zahabi says he's only interested in a rematch with Hendricks if St-Pierre is.
"He has 22 fights in the UFC, alone. That's a lot of training camps. That's a lot of years of sacrifice. He can't go out. He can't do this [or that]. He can't have a wife and kids. He can't have a steady girlfriend. He can't have anything normal in his life. He's living a very unbalanced life. How long does he want to do that for? He's 32. When is he going to start living his life? At 40? It's a hard decision for him to make and he's got a lot of things going on in his life. He has to decide what he wants to do. Nobody can decide for him."
To Zahabi, it's not a matter of St-Pierre's ability, but whether or not he still has the drive to compete at the highest level.
"I tell him, it's about motivation. Do you have the motivation to do this again? If yes, and you want to put your life on the back burner and do another camp, lets do it. If you don't have the motivation to do it, don't do it. You're just going to go out there and get hurt. You're going to cut corners and be miserable and you're going to go out there and you're going to get hurt."