Tristar Gym head coach Firas Zahabi has revealed that he backed out of cornering Jon Jonesâ first light heavyweight title fight at the request of Georges St-Pierre.
Jones is set to make his return to the cage at UFC 285 in a fight for the UFCâs vacant heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane. The 35-year-old last fought when he won a controversial split decision against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, which was the thirteenth time heâd successfully defended the light heavyweight belt.
âBonesâ established himself as arguably the greatest fighter in the history of the sport during his run as light heavyweight champion, and he first won the title be defeating Mauricio âShogunâ Rua at UFC 128. According to a story shared on his YouTube channel, Zahabi was supposed to be in Jonesâ corner for the fight that saw him become the youngest champion in the history of the UFC.
âI love Jon, me and Jon used to be really close friends,â Zahabi said. âBack, before he became world champion, before he fought âShogun,â I trained him many, many, many times. He used to live in Montreal. We spent a lot of time training together. However, when he fought âShogunâ â I was supposed to be in his corner â Georges St-Pierre also had a title fight coming up, and Georges asked me âDonât go. Because I need you here, I donât have anybody to replace you.â So I stayed. And that kind of put a rift between us, a little bit. I have to prioritize Georges over Jon.â
Also Read: Ciryl Gane Explains Why Jon Jones Will Fail Where Francis Ngannou Succeeded
Firas Zahabi Knew Jon Jones Would Win Title
St-Pierre is one of the few fighters in the conversation alongside Jones as MMAâs possible GOAT, but Zahabi went on to say he was confident that âBonesâ would become champion with or without his corner work.
Jones became the youngest champion in UFC history when he stopped Rua at UFC 128. (Zuffa LLC)
âI knew, I was so confident he was gonna win. I was so confident Jon Jones was gonna crush âShogun.â So confident. I even talked to him, I said âYou donât need â thereâs nobody in the world thatâs going to change the result of this fight. I donât care whoâs in whoâs corner.â Lo and behold, he wins. Guys, donât forget heâs the youngest man to ever become world champion in the UFC. Donât forget, I told you about how talented he is.â
The greatness of âRushâ was established during his lengthy reign as the UFCâs welterweight champion, but the 41-year-old added a significant accolade to his record when he also claimed the promotionâs middleweight title by submitting Michael Bisping at UFC 217.
Jones might be able to take some inspiration from St-Pierre ahead of his own bid to claim a second title at UFC 285, as the Canadian was also returning from a significant layoff when he took on Bisping. There are plenty of question marks around how âBonesâ will look in his debut at heavyweight, and he wonât have much time to adjust to the weight class when he steps into the cage against a former interim champion in Gane
LOL, HKP with another honeydick thread title
Could have gone with â⌠GSP Asked Me Not To Corner Jones Against Shogunâ. Title makes it sound like currently inactive GSP interfered with the Jonesâ come back, but thatâs not what happened at all.
The real question I have now is actually about Jonesâ history. What was the story with him joining Jacksonâs camp? It sounds like Jones was shopping around for a better camp than the one that brought him to the dance? I wonder if that was a suggestion that Dana made to Jones, or what?
Youre Welcome
Sounds like the anti Jackson-Wink
That is fucking hilarious. Jones face lmao like he was trying to tell the reporter not to bring him into it
Imagine Jones with GSPâs work ethic and IQ.
So funny that he can go from the Real Jon Jones to the Fake one for the cameras in less than a millisecond lol
It made sense. He was working out in a barn behind his trainers house. They had a few guys but were no where near world class gym. If I recall even the trainers there understood. When you have that kind of genetics (2 bros all pro ballers), his wrestling and ability to learn coupled with his ability to open up you want the best training partners in the world and the best coaches.
Is that accurate? I really donât remember my shit⌠but I could have sworn he came from the same camp as Tamdan McCrory. LOL but maybe thatâs where he got the name Barncat.
Iâd also like to know what happened with Jones being trained by Henry Cejudo. But the MMA media is so fucking neutered/retarded, thereâs basically zero chance of anyone asking any interesting questions.
It sounds like heâs training at Cejudoâs gym AND a Jackson affiliate.
Stop honeydickinâ us bro!
Idk that interaction made it seem like he was only being fake to GSP. He saw the camera once they said his name. Then GSP is like âHiz Heer?â. And Jones was like nah bro chill donât let him know lol.
That was better than an SNL skit
He got me again. Never change HKP.