UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has walked away from MMA competition following his controversial split decision win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167. Whether his time away from fighting is temporary or permanent is anyone's guess, but his head trainer Firas Zahabi seems to think it's a toss-up.
Speaking with Sportsnet recently, the Tri-Star head trainer and long-time friend of St. Pierre said that as far as he knows, St. Pierre himself doesn't even yet know what he'll do.
"I don't know. It's 50/50 and I don't think he knows either," Zahabi said.
"I think if he ends it this way, it was good. He ended up with Fight of the Night. An incredible seesaw battle. He showed heart, he showed guts, he showed he's a fighter."
After UFC 167, St. Pierre references personal issues in his life that needed his attention. Zahabi said that it is time for the long-time UFC champion to decide what he wants out of life.
"He's living a very unbalanced life. How long does he want to do that for? He's 32. When is he going to start living his life? At 40? It's a hard decision for him to make and he's got a lot of things going on in his life. He has to decide what he wants to do. Nobody can decide for him," St. Pierre's coach said.
"I tell him, it's about motivation. Do you have the motivation to do this again? If yes, and you want to put your life on the back burner and do another camp, lets do it. If you don't have the motivation to do it, don't do it. You're just going to go out there and get hurt. You're going to cut corners and be miserable and you're going to go out there and you're going to get hurt."
Do you think it is only a matter of time until St. Pierre returns to the Octagon? Let us know in the comments section.
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