"We definitely wanted the finish, but you can't force the finish. I think he was forcing it too much and he should have just sat back and let it happenÂ… I was surprised he didn't break. Both submissions were on very tightly and it was surprising that he got out, but right after the fight, we explained to Georges exactly what he did wrong and everything was worked out in the locker room and Georges won't let that happen againÂ… Maybe he will be moving up to fight a 185-pound fight or maybe someone else will get on a hot streak at 170 and start making a lot of noise and make for an interesting fight," stated world-class MMA trainer Firas Zahabi as he talked about Georges St-Pierres dominant win over Dan Hard at UFC 111. You don't want to miss what he had to say about his future plans, Jon Jones and Kenny Florian's clash tonight with Takanori Gomi. Check it out!
PC: I gotta backtrack a little bit and congratulate you on Jon Jones' win as well as Georges' win.
FZ: Alright, thanks bro. I appreciate that.
PC: I'm sure things went the way you guys wanted it to go in the fight against Dan Hardy. What did you think of Georges' performance?
FZ: I thought it went really well. We definitely wanted the finish, but you can't force the finish. I think he was forcing it too much and he should have just sat back and let it happen.
PC: Were you surprised that Dan survived those submission attempts?
FZ: I was surprised he didn't break. Both submissions were on very tightly and it was surprising that he got out, but right after the fight, we explained to Georges exactly what he did wrong and everything was worked out in the locker room and Georges won't let that happen again.
PC: Georges is becoming, if he's not already, the best wrestler in the UFC, but a lot of people are disappointed because he doesn't demonstrate a lot of his standup skills anymore. Is that something that you guys talk about?
FZ: You know what? Georges, myself and all of the coaches definitely wanted it to be an exciting fight, but it just happens like that sometimes. An exciting fight can be on the ground or standing up. Look what happened with Anderson Silva in Montreal. He didn't have the most exciting fight and then the following fight after that was Forrest, which was one of his best performances. Sometimes the chemistry between two fighters just isn't there for an exciting fight and that's just the way it works out. It would have been hard to predict that it would turn out like that.
PC: Was there anything about Hardy that surprised you guys? Did you have to make adjustments in between rounds or was it pretty much what you guys expected?
FZ: I was very surprised that he was as elusive on the ground as he was. He was very hard to finish and even though Georges got some very good positions on him and took his back several times, Hardy kept scrambling out. I was surprised at how good of a scrambler he was.
PC: I was a little shocked that they never lowered his stance. It had become obvious what Georges wanted to do and he stayed pretty upright.
FZ: Yeah, Hardy is very upright, which does expose the legs a lot more, and I was surprised as well that they didn't adjust to that, but I guess that's just where he's comfortable striking. He said multiple times in his interviews that he was going to allow the takedowns to happen and that he wasn't going to fight it off too much. I guess that he thought eventually he was going to land one on Georges, but that never happened. Georges was cautious and careful and even with the limited striking that they had, I felt that Georges got the best of it. Georges landed a nice left hook, right kick to the leg. There wasn't much striking, but Dan didn't land anything.
PC: Your wife was talking about how dedicated you are to your craft on the Primetime series. Now that you are becoming a well-known trainer and getting more fighters, is it tougher to balance it all out?
FZ: I spend about 10 hours a day studying the game. If I'm at the gym or at home, I give it about 10 hours a day. I really believe in video and watching fights and breaking it down to see what's going on. I can't wait to get back home and look at Georges' tape because I'm sure there are a million and one things that we could have done better. Having more fighters on board doesn't hurt because it's more athletes to use to prepare; Georges, Kenny and Jon Jones. I use each fighter to prepare every other fighter, so it makes it even better.
PC: I know every athlete is different, just like every person is different. What do you find is the biggest differences between Georges, Florian and Jones?
FZ: They each have their own style of fighting and they have their own way of preparation. Not everybody is a workhorse. Georges' style is to really outwork his opponent. He's all about doing more. Not all fighters are like that. Some of them are all about Jiu Jitsu, striking or wrestling, but Georges is all about doing more; even if his opponent is a striker, he is all about doing more striking. He's kind of like the Dan Gable of MMA. That's his style and his success. I don't use the same formula with all of the fighters. I don't know of any fighter that can work out as much as Georges without breaking his body down at some point. Georges really does an incredible amount of work.
PC: Yeah, I was a little pissed to see him still have a 6 pack after rehydrating (laughing).
FZ: (Laughing).
PC: You have Kenny Florian fighting Gomi tonight. Was it basically the same training camp that St. Pierre had for Hardy, being that Gomi is a striker as well, and honestly for Jones, being that Vera was a striker?
FZ: Yes, absolutely. Kenny has different assets than Georges. Even though Gomi is very similar to Hardy, big puncher and a big striker, he's more of a ground and pound. He doesn't want to get slick with the Jiu Jitsu. He really wants to strike, so it's a similar situation to what Georges had, but Kenny's assets are very different than Georges, so the gameplan is going to be very different as well.
PC: When I first spoke to you about Jon Jones, you said the sky was the limit for the kid. You gotta be pleased with his progress.
FZ: I think, as good as he is, he is still improving at an incredible rate. If he keeps going step by step and doesn't jump over any steps, he will probably be the greatest champion of all time! He is that much of a talent. He is incredible. He will really probably be one of the greatest champions of all time if he keeps going step by step. Don't forget, he's very young. He's 22 years old. This is a bit of an older mans sport because you have to learn so many arts. I don't think he's going to peak until he's about 26 or 27. That's how far I think he's going to go.
PC: Do you like the steps they are moving him in as far as match-ups? Did you like the progression from Hamill to Vera?
FZ: Yeah, I thought it was time. I thought it was something that he could handle and he obviously could because you saw how he looked in the fight. He is a tremendous athlete and he just needs to keep taking fights that are not pushing his limits to the max because he is still developing so much as a fighter. Right now, if he had to do a world title fight, I would be confident that he would do incredibly well, but I think it would be rushed. I think becoming champion is one thing, but staying champion for years on in is another. I just want to make sure that he's taking things step by step and eventually, he can be one of those guys like an Anderson Silva or Georges St. Pierre.
PC: Do you think Georges is starting to run out of opponents at welterweight, with the exception of a Paul Daley win, because a lot of his fights don't warrant a rematch because he's been so dominant? Could we expect a move up?
FZ: It's an interesting question. Maybe he will be moving up to fight a 185-pound fight or maybe someone else will get on a hot streak at 170 and start making a lot of noise and make for an interesting fight. I haven't thought about it much because we were so preoccupied with Dan Hardy and now, after Georges' vacation and a little downtime, we will all sit down with the coaches and the managers and sit down and talk and discuss the next step.
PC: You always put a great product in the cage. Good luck tonight with Kenny Florian. Thanks for your time. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
FZ: Thank you. I just want to thank everyone that helped us prepare for the Hardy fight. It was a lot of guys that came down and I want to just thank all of the coaches and the fighters that helped us prepare.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]