Firas Zahabi Responds To Dana White’s Comments On GSP: That’s Bulls-it

Could 2016 finally be the year that former longtime UFC welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St-Pierre makes his return to the Octagon?

While the speculation and rumors have run rampant ever since St-Pierre surprisingly vacated his title in 2013, it appears as if a return may be now be more realistic than ever.

St. Pierre’s striking coach Freddie Roach made headlines a few months back by saying that the Canadian star would be doing a six-week mini-camp to see where he was at before making a decision. While UFC president Dana White claimed that this strategy was worthless, St-Pierre’s long-time head coach, Firas Zahabi, recently rejected White’s comments, backing up Roach as well:

“The six-week camp is just to see what his body feels like. (UFC president) Dana White has said people don’t do things like that and it’s bulls—, but Georges does that. He will go through the pain of a six-week camp just to see where his body is.” Zahabi told ESPN.

It has been thought that St-Pierre’s main reason for taking a step away from fighting was the glaring performance-enhancing-drug problem in the sport, but the former champion also recently added that he wasn’t pleased with the way he was treated by the UFC after his last win, a controversial split-decision over Johny Hendricks back at UFC 167.

Continuing on, Zahabi said that it may not have necessarily been the UFC’s fault, but possibly that St-Pierre over worked himself. According to the head coach, however, “Rush” is now happier than ever:

“All I can say is I’ve seen Georges a lot more up in spirits since he took a break. I think he’s been a lot happier. Listen, if you overwork somebody — and I’m not saying the UFC overworked Georges. I think Georges overworked Georges. He’s very difficult on himself. I’ll tell Georges he’s had enough and he’ll say, “please, just one more thing,” and that will turn into another two hours of training. He’s very disciplined. I think over time his batteries drained and he needed time off. Now, he’s one of the happiest people I’ve ever met. And what makes him even happier is competing and that’s why I think he’ll want to take it to the next level.”

Will we ever see St-Pierre return?