Firas Zahabi: ‘Rory was fighting a three-round pace, and Robbie was fighting a five-round pace’

With UFC 189 now in the books as one of greatest main cards of all time, Firas Zahabi can look back on his pupil Rory MacDonald’s performance with a lot of pride. And of course, as his head coach at the Tristar Gym in Montreal, a little bit of that tough love understanding.

After a classic back-and-forth battle with current welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in the co-main event Saturday night, MacDonald was finally dropped in the fifth round by a left hand that smashed into his already broken nose. The battle will go down as a Fight of the Year candidate for 2015, yet it stings a little more given what we know now.

MacDonald was officially leading on all the judge’s scorecards heading into the fifth round, three rounds to one. Zahabi, who was a guest on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, said that he suspected MacDonald was ahead, too. And that’s what he tried to communicate to MacDonald with just five minutes standing between him and gold.

“Yes, yes, absolutely, I had it exactly as the judges had it, three to one,” Zahabi said. “And I told Rory right before going into round five, I said all you have to do is just be the smartest fighter in the world and you become world champion, you’re winning, three to one. I had the exact same card as the judges.”

Of course, MacDonald by this time had been fighting with a broken nose and a fractured foot. Asked if he knew the extend of MacDonald’s injuries heading the final round, Zahabi said he was aware of what was obvious.

“I wasn’t aware it was a fractured foot, but I was aware that his nose was broken,” he said. “There’s nothing I could do about it. We brought in the cutman to help him work on it, but at the end of the day there’s nothing you can do about it. I just wanted him to adjust and avoid getting hit again, but he wasn’t able to avoid getting hit again and it was just too much.”

Zahabi, who trained Georges St-Pierre for his long reign as the 170-pound champion, thinks MacDonald’s inexperience in a five-round fight was a major factor. 

“In my opinion, I think Rory has to learn that a five-round fight is different type of cardio, it’s a different pace,” he said. “I’ve prepared Georges for a lot of five-rounders, I think 10 five-rounders, I can’t remember how many. But it’s a different pace.

“I think Rory was fighting a three-round pace, and Robbie was fighting a five-round pace, and that made a huge difference. I think if it was three-round fight, Rory would win two rounds to one, and it would be pretty decisive. I don’t think anybody would argue with that. But at the end, five-round fights are different fights and I think Rory has to explore that more and hopefully get a few more five-round fights in his career and he’ll really start to understand what a five-round fight is, because 10 more minutes is a whole different world.”

MacDonald posted a picture of his face on his Twitter feed afterwards of his still swollen nose and face, as well as another one of his face during the heat of battle. On the latter, he stated he had the “best time of his life,” which Zahabi echoed on the show.

Asked if MacDonald would need surgery to repair his nose or his foot, Zahabi said it didn’t look like it, but time would tell.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “They said [the nose] looks straight. If it looks crooked they might have to fix it. But there was swelling, too much swelling for them to know. They said they’re going to give it a week for the swelling to go down but from what they could tell it was fully straight.

“As for the foot, they only put one of those temporary casts on it. I don’t know if he’s going to a cast at all, I have no idea.”

Deep in the third round, in a fight where Lawler clearly had the momentum, MacDonald connected on a head-kick that wobbled him. He then moved in for the finish, and it looked like he was close, but — fatefully — Lawler survived the round.

Zahabi said he thought if MacDonald had 15 extra seconds to work with there that he might be talking about his charge as the next Tristar champion. But, it was a lesson that he thinks MacDonald learned.

“He executed [the game plan] beautifully,” Zahabi said. “He went for the finish. He worked really hard and I think he tired himself out a bit, and Robbie kind of got a second wind late in the fourth round. Again, Robbie’s been deep in the five-rounders before, hard five rounders. [It was] Rory’s first time, and I think he had to save a little more for later in the fight. I think he put a little bit too much in round No. four, possibly.”

With UFC 189 now in the books as one of greatest main cards of all time, Firas Zahabi can look back on his pupil Rory MacDonald’s performance with a lot of pride. And of course, as his head coach at the Tristar Gym in Montreal, a little bit of that tough love understanding.

After a classic back-and-forth battle with current welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in the co-main event Saturday night, MacDonald was finally dropped in the fifth round by a left hand that smashed into his already broken nose. The battle will go down as a Fight of the Year candidate for 2015, yet it stings a little more given what we know now.

MacDonald was officially leading on all the judge’s scorecards heading into the fifth round, three rounds to one. Zahabi, who was a guest on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, said that he suspected MacDonald was ahead, too. And that’s what he tried to communicate to MacDonald with just five minutes standing between him and gold.

“Yes, yes, absolutely, I had it exactly as the judges had it, three to one,” Zahabi said. “And I told Rory right before going into round five, I said all you have to do is just be the smartest fighter in the world and you become world champion, you’re winning, three to one. I had the exact same card as the judges.”

Of course, MacDonald by this time had been fighting with a broken nose and a fractured foot. Asked if he knew the extend of MacDonald’s injuries heading the final round, Zahabi said he was aware of what was obvious.

“I wasn’t aware it was a fractured foot, but I was aware that his nose was broken,” he said. “There’s nothing I could do about it. We brought in the cutman to help him work on it, but at the end of the day there’s nothing you can do about it. I just wanted him to adjust and avoid getting hit again, but he wasn’t able to avoid getting hit again and it was just too much.”

Zahabi, who trained Georges St-Pierre for his long reign as the 170-pound champion, thinks MacDonald’s inexperience in a five-round fight was a major factor. 

“In my opinion, I think Rory has to learn that a five-round fight is different type of cardio, it’s a different pace,” he said. “I’ve prepared Georges for a lot of five-rounders, I think 10 five-rounders, I can’t remember how many. But it’s a different pace.

“I think Rory was fighting a three-round pace, and Robbie was fighting a five-round pace, and that made a huge difference. I think if it was three-round fight, Rory would win two rounds to one, and it would be pretty decisive. I don’t think anybody would argue with that. But at the end, five-round fights are different fights and I think Rory has to explore that more and hopefully get a few more five-round fights in his career and he’ll really start to understand what a five-round fight is, because 10 more minutes is a whole different world.”

MacDonald posted a picture of his face on his Twitter feed afterwards of his still swollen nose and face, as well as another one of his face during the heat of battle. On the latter, he stated he had the “best time of his life,” which Zahabi echoed on the show.

Asked if MacDonald would need surgery to repair his nose or his foot, Zahabi said it didn’t look like it, but time would tell.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “They said [the nose] looks straight. If it looks crooked they might have to fix it. But there was swelling, too much swelling for them to know. They said they’re going to give it a week for the swelling to go down but from what they could tell it was fully straight.

“As for the foot, they only put one of those temporary casts on it. I don’t know if he’s going to a cast at all, I have no idea.”

Deep in the third round, in a fight where Lawler clearly had the momentum, MacDonald connected on a head-kick that wobbled him. He then moved in for the finish, and it looked like he was close, but — fatefully — Lawler survived the round.

Zahabi said he thought if MacDonald had 15 extra seconds to work with there that he might be talking about his charge as the next Tristar champion. But, it was a lesson that he thinks MacDonald learned.

“He executed [the game plan] beautifully,” Zahabi said. “He went for the finish. He worked really hard and I think he tired himself out a bit, and Robbie kind of got a second wind late in the fourth round. Again, Robbie’s been deep in the five-rounders before, hard five rounders. [It was] Rory’s first time, and I think he had to save a little more for later in the fight. I think he put a little bit too much in round No. four, possibly.”