Firas Zahabi Believes That Georges St. Pierre Would Beat Conor McGregor and That it Would be the Biggest Fight in UFC History…
Georges St. Pierre isn’t even fit but he’s still making headlines. The former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion is one of the greatest fighters to ever step into an octagon. He’s being linked to yet another UFC return. At the age of 36, recovering from ulcerative colitis, he doesn’t have time on his side.
The Canadian was on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani the other day. He spoke about potential future opponents. He has made it clear that a fight that will enhance his legacy is more important to him than a big money opponent. Names like Nate Diaz, Tyron Woodley, Ben Askren, and of course Conor McGregor have been linked.
St. Pierre’s coach Firas Zahabi believes that a potential McGregor vs St. Pierre fight would be bigger than anything that has ever happened before involving mixed martial artists. The Tristar gym coach spoke to FightHub TV and gave his opinion about one of the most popular dream scenarios in MMA.
Massive Potential
Zahabi was incredibly enthusiastic about a potential fight between ‘Rush’ and the ‘Notorious’. However, he doesn’t think that it will happen because there are too many obstacles to overcome.
“I would love the fight to happen. I don’t think it’s gonna happen. I think the size difference and Conor’s gotta defend the belt sooner or later. They can’t fight for a middleweight title, that would be considered crazy.”
The size difference is an issue. Of course St. Pierre’s last appearance was against Michael Bisping when he won the middleweight title at UFC 217. Meanwhile, McGregor is a natural lightweight. That’s a lot of weight to overcome.
Don’t Rule it Out
Let’s not forget though, and how could we, that St. Pierre is the most dominant welterweight of all time. He defended the belt twelve times and won the title three times. McGregor has fought at welterweight twice, albeit against Nate Diaz who is also a natural lightweight.
“I think it would be a bigger fight than Mayweather-McGregor,” said Zahabi, “I think it would be the biggest fight in history and everybody would for sure want to see it. I don’t make the fights, but if I did, that would be one I’d make”.
That’s high expectation. St. Pierre’s return against Bisping, as part of a very stacked card with three title fights, did generate a lot of interest. Meanwhile, anything that involves McGregor is guaranteed to break records.
Who Would Win?
Would you believe that Zahabi favors St. Pierre to beat McGregor if it did happen? Of course, he does. He said:
“McGregor has that deadly, accurate left, I’ll give him that. He has a better cross than Georges, definitely, but Georges is too smart, too intelligent, too calculated. It’s highly unlikely he will get hit with it. Not impossible, just highly unlikely.”
There’s only one way to be sure. Georges St. Pierre vs Conor McGregor in an octagon somewhere near you. That might actually be worth paying the UFC’s inflated pay-per-view price of $65. This story might not be over yet.
