Prior to UFC 229, many were discussing a superfight between Conor McGregor and Georges St-Pierre. Unfortunately, McGregor wasn’t able to get past Khabib Nurmagomedov, who submitted him in the fourth round. Now, McGregor is calling for a rematch against the Russian sometime next year.
As for “GSP,” it remains unclear what’s next for the Canadian legend. However, after seeing McGregor’s performance against a grappler such as Khabib, it’s difficult to think a fight with St-Pierre would be much different. “Rush’s” coach, Firas Zahabi, addressed the possibility in a recent live stream.
Zahabi said he thinks “GSP” would dominate McGregor “even more” than Khabib did (via Bloody Elbow):
“I think GSP would do much of the same, even more than what Khabib did,” Zahabi said. “GSP has an explosive shot from the outside, and he understands — he has a better range. He has a longer range for his takedowns, a longer range for his striking.
“His submissions and ground and pound and jiujitsu, it’s very similar to Khabib. They’re very strong wrestlers, but GSP can do it all from a longer range, further range,” he explained.
“And GSP is very familiar with what McGregor does, that karate, taekwondo, kickboxing hybrid style. That’s stuff we grew up with, so we know that very very well,” he said. “We do a lot of that. We’re very familiar with those teeps, those counter lefts, very familiar with those kind of stuff.”
As for a possible fight between Khabib and St-Pierre, Zahabi calls the match-up a “mega fight”:
“Khabib (vs GSP) would be a mega fight. It would, definitely,” he said. “If they did it for 155, or I’m hearing now a 165 lb title, that would make sense — or 170. Whatever it is, just those two names, would probably beat McGregor vs Khabib.
“Because of this win, Khabib now is going to be more famous than ever. Khabib is going to be the biggest name in the lightweight division for a while.”
What do you think about Zahabi’s comments?
