Coach: GSP out 'for at least a year or 2' before returning to action
It might not be this year or the next, but Georges St-Pierre will take the cage again. So says longtime coach Firas Zahabi, at least.
Speaking with Fight Hub TV on Thursday, the Tristar head man said that while he expects GSP - recently diagnosed with colitis - to get back in the saddle, he believes the now-former two-division champ has done enough to enjoy another lengthy layoff.
"I have no idea (how long he'll be out)," said Zahabi. "I think he's out for at least a year or two. I don't know. We all love Georges but he's put in so many years, he's put in so many bouts, I don't think it's fair to ask him for more."
The 36-year-old returned from a four-year hiatus this past November at UFC 217, where he submitted Michael Bisping to capture the middleweight title - one he subsequently vacated in wake of the diagnosis. Even before the nagging intestinal condition was confirmed, GSP had refrained from committing to a next move, and Zahabi said he and his star pupil wouldn't discuss one until St-Pierre's competitive fire burns bright once more.
"I honestly don't bother him about (when he will fight again) because I know everybody is always asking him about it, 24 hours a day," Zahabi said. "When I see him, I don't talk about the next fight. We don't talk about it. We know each other. I know what he's thinking, he knows what I'm thinking and we just leave it at that.
"I think, personally, that he's going to fight again. He doesn't know. Nobody knows but I think that he's just so hyper-competitive that eventually he's gonna wake up one day and be like, 'I need a challenge.' I just think that's the person he is. That's how I see him but we'll have to wait and see."
- With h/t to MMA Fighting