Reigning welterweight champion could walk away from the sport.
Click here to see all of the highlights from St-Pierre v Hendricks at UFC 167.
Click here to watch St-Pierre’s post fight interview.
Head trainer at Tristar gym Firas Zahabi and mentor to current UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre said his star pupil could be close to walking away from mixed martial arts.
After narrowly winning one of the toughest fights of his career at UFC 167 against Johny Hendricks, St-Pierre indicated he would walk away from the sport for a little while.
In the aftermath of the emotional win, one many pundits and fans believed “GSP’ was lucky to get, St-Pierre appeared emotional and mentally as much as physically drained.
That attitude still has not changed, with Zahabi saying he is no closer to himself knowing when, or if, St-Pierre will return to training.
Good morning from Vegas – Feeling much better now! Merci à tous pour votre support incroyable!!! pic.twitter.com/zBGs2OLPkW
— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre) November 18, 2013
Johny and I gave you the Fight of the Night- hope you enjoyed it! Forget all the rumors- on vacation, happy & well!!! pic.twitter.com/GVZHLcutTn
— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre) November 20, 2013
“I don’t know. It’s 50/50 and I don’t think [St-Pierre] knows either,” Zahabi said.
“I think if he ends it this way, it was good. He ended up with Fight of the Night. An incredible seesaw battle. He showed heart, he showed guts, he showed he’s a fighter.”
UFC president Dana White has said in interviews post 167 he feels St-Pierre only won one of the championship rounds, something Zahabi disagrees with.
I was most surprised [White] saw a landslide,” says Zahabi.
“I didn’t see a landslide. Nobody saw a landslide. You look at the polls on the internet, 10% more people gave the fight to Georges than to Johny. There’s a lot of opinions out there. Dana White, I respect him a lot, is one opinion. It definitely wasn’t a blowout, as he said.”
“It’s one man’s opinion. It’s an important opinion, but for me, I’m very comfortable to say Georges won that fight.”
St-Pierre’s friend said he would be always there for him if and when he decides to comeback, but stated if he has the motivation to go through another fight camp, be beleives he can prove again why he is the best welterweight champion in UFC history.
“He has 22 fights in the UFC, alone. That’s a lot of training camps,” he said.
“That’s a lot of years of sacrifice. He can’t go out. He can’t do this [or that]. He can’t have a wife and kids. He can’t have a steady girlfriend. He can’t have anything normal in his life. He’s living a very unbalanced life.
“How long does he want to do that for? He’s 32. When is he going to start living his life? At 40? It’s a hard decision for him to make and he’s got a lot of things going on in his life. He has to decide what he wants to do. Nobody can decide for him.”
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