Former middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre opened the door for an MMA return but didn’t rule out when he will return to the Octagon. In the recent episode of MMA Hour, he discusses the possibility of fighting UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and on numerous occasion over the last few months.
After a four-year of hiatus, GSP made his return at UFC 217 a card which saw him end Michael Bisping’s reign at the summit of the middleweight division and fourth UFC fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes. A little more than a month after scoring the title, St-Pierre has decided to vacate the title due to health illness.
MMA world is keen to see the GSP take on McGregor, including his head coach Firas Zahabi who recently spoke to Fight Hub TV, said he hopes the UFC puts together a super fight, although he is dubious about the odds of the ‘megafight’ being booked. (Quote via MMAFighting)
“[They’re] two huge names,” Zahabi said. “I would love the fight to happen. I don’t think it’s gonna happen. I think the size difference and Conor’s gotta defend the belt sooner or later. They can’t fight for a middleweight title, that would be considered crazy.
“I think it would just be a megafight that the fans want to see. It would just be a super-megafight that everybody in the world would want to see. I think it would be a bigger fight than Mayweather-McGregor. I think it would be the biggest fight in history and everybody would for sure want to see it. I don’t make the fights, but if I did, that would be one I’d make.”
We don’t think anyone is buying Firas Zahabi’s claim that it would be bigger than the Mayweather contest. Mayweather is the biggest PPV draw in sports history.
After the UFC 217, UFC President Dana White said GSP Vs. Bisping buys 875,000 pay-per-view buys in North America, so that proved a lot of fans were still willing to pay to watch the legend bout.
The coach said that St-Pierre grew up in the karate Taekwondo world and that Irishman using his range would not be a problem.
“Listen, Georges is fully aware of the karate stuff and Taekwondo ranges and the distances McGregor uses,” Zahabi reasoned. “He grew up in that. McGregor’s very good at keeping that distance and when you cross the distance, he punches you. Georges understands that game so well plus Georges is much more schooled in wrestling and jiu-jitsu, so I’ve got to put it all on Georges side.
“McGregor has that deadly, accurate left, I’ll give him that. He has a better cross than Georges, definitely, but Georges is too smart, too intelligent, too calculated. It’s highly unlikely he will get hit with it. Not impossible, just highly unlikely.”
McGregor is on the verge of losing his lightweight strap, and UFC president Dana White confirms that his title will be stripped as soon Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov throw down at UFC 223.
Do you think Georges St-Pierre Vs. Conor Mcgregor should happen?
