Firas Zahabi can’t understand how fans continue to support Conor McGregor after all his antics.
The Tristar Gym head coach was appalled at McGregor’s pre- and post-fight antics at UFC 264, where he lost to Dustin Poirier by TKO due to a broken left tibia and fibula.
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) used a rather aggressive approach to build up the fight and dragged Poirier’s wife into his trash talk. Following the unfortunate ending to the fight, McGregor ramped up the threats and continued to target Poirier and his family.
“I was really grossed out,” Zahabi said on the Tristar Gym YouTube channel. “I don’t know how you guys can be fans of this man. I respect him as a fighter. I respect his skills – I can’t deny that. But the way he behaved at the press conference was just horrible.”
Zahabi thinks McGregor is surrounded by yes men who are afraid to tame McGregor when he spirals out of control. He thinks his actions were distasteful and he shouldn’t be getting preferential treatment just because he’s a massive star.
“If Conor McGregor has one true friend in this world … maybe he’s just surrounded by people who just want his prestige and money and they just want what they can get from him,” Zahabi said. “But if he has a single true friend in this world, that true friend is going to take him behind closed doors and tell him, ‘Look, the way you’re behaving – it’s stupid. You’re making yourself look bad. You’re embarrassing us, your family, your friends.’ It’s just a humiliating way for a true martial artist, a warrior to behave.
“He’s going after kids now. Now, if that was anybody else, if that was a guy on a prelim card, we would all be like, ‘Kick this guy off the roster. Kick this guy out of the UFC. No, no, no.’ But because it’s Conor McGregor, you can’t say that. It’s Conor McGregor – he’s the poster boy. He’s the one who sells all the tickets. No – there’s no pass for that.”
McGregor is angling for a fourth fight with Poirier (28-6 MMA, 21-6 UFC), but Zahabi doesn’t see a reason why they should run it back again. He commends “The Diamond” for the way he restrained himself and thinks he’s already proven he’s the superior fighter.
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“McGregor is so down,” Zahabi said. “He’s so angry and jealous of Poirier. He will say and do anything to try and insult Poirier, try to take away this moment off Poirier. Listen, Poirier has beaten you. He’s a better fighter than you. He will be remembered as a better fighter than you.
“Whatever beef you have there, you can’t take it and start threatening to kill each other and then start threatening each other’s children, team members and whatnot. That’s just animal behavior. Then to say what he said about Poirier’s wife – it’s disgusting.”
Zahabi also thinks that McGregor has an inability to accept losses, which will only stifle his growth as a fighter. McGregor claimed he entered the fight with stress fractures in his leg and provided photo evidence of his leg wrapped up during practice sessions in his training camp.
“I think McGregor suffers from narcissism – heavily, heavily narcissistic,” Zahabi said. “And unfortunately for him, he can’t see that he’s at fault. That’s why he needs a true friend or family member to step in and kind of sober him up a little bit because honestly, all he did was embarrass himself. You’ll never see a fighter behave like this.
“He’s the only guy that even if he loses, he can’t take it. He can’t look in the mirror and say, ‘You know what? That wasn’t my fight. It didn’t go my way. I lost. Here’s what I have to do to improve. This is how I better myself.’ No, no, no – in his mind, ‘It was a freak accident. There was no check. You were going to get a beating in the second round.’ It’s just nonsense. Pure nonsense. Not only has his skills as a fighter dipped, but also his character.”