Firas Zahabi has been the coach for former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre for a long time now.
GSP and UFC recently announced that he has signed a new deal with the UFC and when he returns to the Octagon, Zahabi has a few opponents in mind.
“My ideal scenario, I don’t know if it’s still up for grabs, but I was really happy when there was a buzzing of Bisping or McGregor,” Zahabi said on The MMA Hour. “I thought those two would be two epic fights. One, he would go a little lower [in weight]; one, he would go a little higher. But those are really, really intriguing fights. Of course, Tyron Woodley, he’s the [welterweight] champion and et cetera, but he has his fight with ‘Wonderboy’ [Thompson]. And if ‘Wonderboy’ wins, then they’ll have a trilogy. And of course we don’t want to fight with ‘Wonderboy,’ we go way back together. So I think the welterweight title is not really something he (St-Pierre) is thinking about right now because of the current landscape, but there is always the 185-pound belt. And of course, McGregor is such a mega-star that if you put those two on a main event, I don’t think that anybody in the world wouldn’t watch that. I think that even non-MMA fans would watch that. But again, I don’t do the match-ups, I don’t do the managing, I’m just talking as a trainer.”
Zahabi recently saw another member of his family, Aiemann Zahabi win his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 105.
The famed MMA coach also wants GSP to compete in five round fights, with or without any titles on the line.
“As long as it’s a five-round fight,” Zahabi said. “I can’t picture George doing a three-round fight to be honest. I’m not so worried about titles. I think he’s done that. It would be great if it’s a title, but it comes down to a good name that he likes and it’s exciting, and it’s something the fans would want to see.”
Outside of his coaching duties, Zahabi also does color commentary for the Titan Fighting Championships alongside Fightful’s very own Showdown Joe.
