The UFC recently announced that former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was back. The division G.O.A.T. has not fought since 2013. During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, GSP’s head coach, Tristar founder Firas Zahabi, discussed who he would like for a return fight.
“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,” said Zahabi, as transcribed by Danny Segura for MMA Fighting. “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’. 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.”
“As long as it’s a five-round fight,” said Zahabi. “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.”
