Firas Zahabi has been very vocal that he isn’t buying Jon Fitch’s recent resurgence in mixed martial arts (MMA) as simply newfound dominance.
Instead, the TriStar MMA coach believes Fitch’s recent success is due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Speaking to “The MMA Hour” earlier today (Mon. April 22, 2019) Fitch responded to Zahabi’s claims. Fitch seems to put no stock into Zahabi – coach of welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre – and his words (via MMA Fighting):
“I don’t care,” Fitch said. “I don’t live my life caring what other people say or think. If you’re going to go through your life worrying about other people and what they think, you’re going to be a loser.
“You’re not going to get far. So I don’t care. People can think whatever they want to think, I live my life for me and my family.”
Caught Once Before
Fitch opened up on getting caught with elevated levels of testosterone in his loss to former WSOF champion Rousimar Palhares. He called it the ‘best thing and worse thing’ that had happened to him:
“I fell down a spiral of depression. I was struggling with my personal family life and finances, I got to a place where you could see other guys around you — I found out about guys who I fought who were on TRT, the therapeutic exemptions, I learned about Vitor Belfort’s testosterone being covered up and him being allowed to compete anyway. There were rumors of other guys, that happening too also. And then I was taking a 70 percent pay cut, at least 70 percent pay cut from going from the UFC to World Series of Fighting.
“So I was thinking, like, why am I holding myself to this standard and making less money and my family’s struggling? Just all kinds of excuses. Any kind of excuse to rationalize why it was okay to cheat against a cheater like Palhares. And I had no idea what I was doing. It was pure comedy, me trying to use this shit. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even grapple that entire training camp because I was so sore from the injections, because I was doing something wrong. I’m not even sure what I was doing wrong.
“But yeah, that was probably the stupidest thing and the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Big Rebound
Fitch will be challenging Zahabi’s pupil, Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald, this weekend (Sat. April 27, 2019) at Bellator 220 from the SAP Center in San Jose, California. He’s currently on a five-fight win streak under the World Series Of Fighting (WSOF), Professional Fighter’s League (PFL), and Bellator banners.
As for MacDonald, he was unsuccessful in his attempt to become Bellator’s first-ever two-weight champion back in September. Middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi smashed those hopes in the second round of their Bellator 206 main event meeting. It ended a two-fight win streak; however, MacDonald retains his 170-pound title. Now, he looks to get back on the winning track with a successful title defense against Fitch.
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