Georges St-Pierre’s long-time coach Firas Zahabi still believes that a fight between the legendary fighter and current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov could still happen, and he has made a bold statement about how the action would unfold in the Octagon.
“Listen, I don’t want to talk for the guy but I don’t think he’s done,” Zahabi told FightTips. “I just think he’s so competitive that one day he’s gonna see a guy that everyone thinks is unbeatable and then he’s going to want to come back. Khabib’s one of those guys but it has to be like a 165 fight. Will the UFC do it? That’s the question.”
Zahabi then went on to explain why he believes that even an elite wrestler like Nurmagomedov will struggle to have any success taking down the former two division champion.
“There’s no way I can tell you I’m not biased,” Zahabi acknowledged. “I’m biased for sure. But I think Georges just his kicking ability alone, his kicking ability alone will bank him rounds. They’re both good jabbers. I think Khabib is a good jabber but defensively, Georges is far superior. His boxing is longer and better, more precise – if you look at it statistically, his numbers are better – and he has a superior kicking ability.
“Even if Khabib were to take Georges down – let’s give him the best case scenario – I think Georges is getting up, personally. He’s going to get up. Georges’ jiu-jitsu is impeccable. It’s impeccable. It’s not gonna be like holding down anybody in the 155 division today. It’s another level. Georges, even if Khabib gets him down – and I love Khabib, I’m a mega Khabib fan, as a person and as a fighter, I’m a huge fan of his – Georges’ ability to get up is incredible and I’ll be surprised if Khabib gets more than one takedown. It would shock me, it would surprise me to be honest with you. Georges is incredibly hard to take down. Look at his career, how many times did he get taken down? And when he was taken down, how long did he stay down? It was a fraction of a second. He’s always up. He’s a difficult human being to keep down.”
It would certainly be a fascinating fight, with GSP often being considered to have been the best wrestler in the UFC during his prime years, while the same could arguably now be said about Khabib in the present day.
However, before a superfight like this could even begin to be discussed properly, Nurmagomedov would have to emerge victorious in his upcoming bout with Tony Ferguson on April 18th.
