Morning Report: Firas Zahabi says GSP vs. Conor McGregor would be bigger than MayMac, probably won’t happen

Georges St-Pierre may not be ready to announce his return to MMA, but his coach sure seems to want to see him fight again.

Last year, St-Pierre returned to the Octagon in style, wining the UFC middleweight title after almost four years away. He then claimed an illness would sideline him indefinitely and so, in the interest of preserving the integrity of the division, promptly vacated the belt. The big question coming into 2018 was, ‘Will GSP fight again, and if so, against whom?’

Then, while speaking with Ariel Helwani earlier this week, St-Pierre said that he is feeling “a lot better” from his condition, and that while he had no immediate plans to comeback, the possibility certainly still remained. especially if an opportunity came along that “excited” him. Well, his coach Firas Zahabi has one in mind.

Speaking recently with FightHub TV, Zahabi said he hopes the UFC puts together a superfight against lightweight champion Conor McGregor, because it would be the biggest fight in history, even bigger than McGregor’s most recent pugilistic outing against Floyd Mayweather.

“[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.”

Rumors have been circling about a possible St-Pierre-McGregor superfight since it was announced that St-Pierre was returning to the sport, with GSP’s boxing coach Freddie Roach even stating that an eventual fight with McGregor was the goal. St-Pierre even discussed the possible fight when he spoke to Helwani earlier this week, saying that a fight with Conor would“put the most money on the table” but that he was more interested in a legacy building bout.

That isn’t a “No” from St-Pierre though, and with McGregor seemingly about to be relieved of any championships duties he may have as the reigning lightweight kingpin, there isn’t much standing in the way of the UFC making a fight between two two-division champions who vacated their titles instead of losing them in the ring.

And if it does happen? Zahabi has complete confidence in his charge, saying the St-Pierre is “too smart” to get hit by that left of McGregor.

“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.”