{"id":262797,"date":"2017-11-01T08:56:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T15:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=262797"},"modified":"2017-11-01T08:56:12","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T15:56:12","slug":"coach-firas-zahabi-explains-why-ring-rust-wont-be-a-problem-for-georges-st-pierre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/georges-st-pierre\/coach-firas-zahabi-explains-why-ring-rust-wont-be-a-problem-for-georges-st-pierre\/","title":{"rendered":"Coach Firas Zahabi explains why ring rust won&#8217;t be a problem for Georges St-Pierre"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This weekend, in the main event of the stacked UFC 217 card, former UFC welterweight king <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/fighter\/georges-st-pierre\/\">Georges St-Pierre<\/a> will return from a hiatus of some four years to battle reigning middleweight champ Michael Bisping.<\/p>\n<p>While plenty of people are confident St-Pierre will be as sharp as ever in his return, others are worried that he will be effected by ring rust. His coach Firas Zahabi, however, doesn&#8217;t think this will be an issue.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIf he had a limited amount of experience I believe it could be a major issue,\u201d Zahabi told <a href=\"http:\/\/mmajunkie.com\/2017\/11\/georges-st-pierre-ufc-217-ring-rust-vs-michael-bisping\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMAjunkie<\/a>. \u201cBut again, he\u2019s been competing since he was 6, 7 years old. For him, it\u2019s like riding a bike. I don\u2019t believe ring rust is an issue in this fight, in this particular fight.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Zahabi also addressed St-Pierre&#8217;s clear <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-chael-sonnen-explains-bispings-size-advantage-wont-matter-gsp\/\">size disadvantage<\/a>. In his opinion, there are advantages to being the smaller man in the cage too.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cWhen you fight with somebody who\u2019s bigger than you, there\u2019s a few techniques, movements and strategies that have to be eliminated off the table,\u201d Zahabi said. \u201cBecause if a person is bigger than you, the chances of those strategies and techniques working are far less. So when you fight somebody bigger, you have less tools.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cHowever, I\u2019m a believer that the smaller guys have the superiority in movement. You can move around move efficiently and use that to your advantage.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And if Georges St-Pierre successfully navigates his disadvantages and wins this fight? Zahabi argues we should all be calling him the GOAT.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cI think it cements him as the greatest fighter or all time,\u201d he said. \u201cThe greatest fighter of all time. All the other candidates had USADA issues.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Do you think Georges St-Pierre can overcome his disadvantages and conquer the UFC middleweight champion? Join the debate in the comments section!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 1\/11\/2017. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This weekend, in the main event of the stacked UFC 217 card, former UFC welterweight king Georges St-Pierre will return from a hiatus of some four years to battle reigning middleweight champ Michael Bisping. While plenty of people are confident St-Pierre will be as sharp as ever in his return, others are worried that he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":250143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10140],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Coach Firas Zahabi explains why ring rust won&#039;t be a problem for Georges St-Pierre | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Coach Firas Zahabi explains why the layoff won&#039;t be a problem when Georges St-Pierre fights Michael Bisping at UFC 217 this weekend.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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