The last few fights have see Conor McGregor take a turn towards the dark side, alienating a portion of his fans. However if you ask legendary MMA coach Firas Zahabi, nobody should be fans of the Irishman.
Zahabi has been a bit critical of McGregor, particularly ahead of the UFC 264 trilogy fight between he and Dustin Poirier. This fight build-up saw Conor take aim at Dustin’s wife, and even after he broke his tibia in the fight, he continued this type of dark and personal trash talk.
Speaking in a recent video on his YouTube channel, Firas did not hold back about his feelings towards the former champ-champ. He said that he was turned off by Conor’s antics, and says that if anybody cares about him, they will tell him to stop acting this way.
“I was really grossed out. I don’t know how you guys can be fans of this man. I respect him as a fighter. I respect his skills — I can’t deny that — but the way he behaved was just horrible,” Zahabi said (h/t BloodyElbow)
“If McGregor has one true friend in this world… maybe he’s just surrounded by people who just want his prestige and money, and want what they can get from him,” he said. “But if he has a single true friend in this world, that true friend is going to take him behind closed doors and say ‘The way you’re behaving, it’s stupid. You’re making yourself look bad. You’re embarrassing us, your family, your friends. It’s just a humiliating way for a warrior and martial artist to behave.’”
Firas Zahabi Says Family Stays Out Of Trash Talk
It seems that the biggest issue that Firas Zahabi takes with Conor McGregor, stems from his constant need to bring his opponent’s family into matters ahead of fights. He did it with Poirier, and he did it with Khabib as well, brining up both men’s wives.
Firas says that this is beyond crossing the line, and that Conor should be ashamed of himself. Moreover, he explained that if he were anybody but the UFC’s biggest star, the promotion would have cut him.
“He’s going after kids now! Now if that was anybody else, if that was a guy on the prelim card, we would all be ‘kick this guy off the roster! No no no, but because it’s Conor McGregor, you can’t say that! He’s Conor McGregor, he’s the poster boy. He’s the one who sells all the tickets! No, there’s no pass on that,” Zahabi said.
“Whatever beef you have there, you can’t take it and start threatening to kill each other, and then start threatening to kill each other’s children, team members and what not. That’s just animal behavior. Then to say what he said about Poirier’s wife. It’s disgusting.”
Conor McGregor Is Jealous Of Dustin Poirier
This was not the end of the rant that Firas Zahabi went on, against Conor McGregor. He continued on by saying that the Irishman was jealous of Dustin Poirier, which is why he brought up personal trash talk.
The TriStar Gym head coach further reiterated that Conor’s words disgusted him and should never have been said. He concluded by calling Conor narcissistic and self absorbed, incapable of losing in a classy way.
“The guy was so disrespectful, so disgusting, so pathetic,” he said.
“McGregor was so down. He was so jealous of Poirier, he would say anything to try and insult Poirier, try to take away this moment from Poirier. Listen, Poirier has beaten you. He’s a better fighter than you. He will be remembered as a better fighter than you,” Zahabi said. “Lose with some class!
“I think McGregor suffers from narcissism — heavily, heavily narcissistic. Unfortunately for him, he can’t see that he’s at fault. That’s why he needs a true friend or family member to step in, sober him up a little.
“Frankly, all he did was embarrass himself. You’ll never see a fighter behave like this. He’s the only guy, that even if he loses, he can’t take it. He can’t look in the mirror and say ‘you know what, that wasn’t my fight, it didn’t go my way. I lost. Here’s what I have to do to improve. This is how I better myself.’ No no no, in his mind ‘it was a freak accident. There was no check. You’re going to get a beating in the second round.’ It’s just nonsense! Pure nonsense,” Zahabi said.
What do you make of these remarks from Firas Zahabi? Do you agree with his assessment of Conor McGregor?
