Georges St-Pierre will go down as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time with a win over Michael Bisping at UFC 217 this weekend
That is according to St-Pierre’s longtime coach, Tri-Star’s Firas Zahabi.
Zahabi discussed the impact that four years out of the sport may have on the Canadian, quickly dismissing any chance of the former champion suffering from any ring rust on Saturday night:
“If he had a limited amount of experience I believe it could be a major issue,” Zahabi told MMAjunkie. “But again, he’s been competing since he was 6, 7 years old. For him, it’s like riding a bike. I don’t believe ring rust is an issue in this fight, in this particular fight.”
Zahabi also addressed St-Pierre’s clear size disadvantage. In his opinion, there are advantages to being the smaller man in the cage too.
“When you fight with somebody who’s bigger than you, there’s a few techniques, movements and strategies that have to be eliminated off the table,” Zahabi said. “Because if a person is bigger than you, the chances of those strategies and techniques working are far less. So when you fight somebody bigger, you have less tools.
“However, I’m a believer that the smaller guys have the superiority in movement. You can move around more efficiently and use that to your advantage.”
If GSP can claim the middleweight title, Zahabi believes that he will go down as “the greatest fighter of all time”:
“I think it cements him as the greatest fighter or all time,” he said. “The greatest fighter of all time. All the other candidates had USADA issues.”
