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“In my opinion, it would be very difficult to score on Georges St-Pierre, very difficult.”
Tristar head Firas Zahabi is a huge fan of Khabib Nurmagomedov, but the renowned coach doesn’t think ‘The Eagle’ would be a match for his prized student Georges St-Pierre, who is widely considered the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time.
Nurmagomedov’s strength is his wrestling, but St-Pierre, the former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion, is the greatest MMA wrestler the sport has ever seen.
Zahabi believes it would be ‘very difficult’ for Khabib to impose his will upon St-Pierre and says ‘Rush’ could keep the undefeated UFC lightweight champion at bay for five rounds with kicks.
“I’ll tell you something — outside of all the fighters I work with, Khabib is my favorite fighter,” Zahabi said on the ReRooted podcast, per The Body Lock’s Abhinav Kini. “So it’s impossible for me not to be biased. …I think Georges is more complete to be honest. One, his hands are more refined, his punching skills are more refined. And two, his kicking skills are far more refined that Khabib’s. So if Georges were to play it safe, which I don’t think he would, he could just outpoint Khabib with just his legs. Georges has very seasoned legs, very experienced kicking ability.
“His chances of putting Khabib on his back are just as good as Khabib putting him on his back,” he continued. “He’s heavier, bigger and stronger. Plus he’ll be able to set up his takedowns more because of his longer range and more seasoned striking ability. So if I put them in a wrestling match, maybe it’d be very heated. But if I add Georges’ striking, Georges is very clever to use his striking for setups. To close the distance, to get close to the legs to grab on to you. Now they also have very different wrestling styles. Khabib shoots very low often. In my opinion, it would be very difficult to score on Georges St-Pierre, very difficult. He’s just too big, too strong, too athletic and a very seasoned wrestler.”
Khabib vs. St-Pierre is a dream match-up for many fans, but Nurmagomedov’s next title defense is expected to be against streaking lightweight contender and former divisional interim champ Tony Ferguson, who is on an impressive 12-fight win streak. Khabib vs. Ferguson has yet to be made official, but both men are expected to collide for the title next year.
St-Pierre, 38, is currently enjoying retirement.