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Zahabi casts doubt over St-Pierre's future

Georges St-Pierre puts his body on the line © Getty Images

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Georges St-Pierre's long-time trainer, Firas Zahabi, has cast doubt over the long-term future of the UFC welterweight champion, questioning whether he has more than another two or three fights left in him.

St-Pierre looks untouchable at welterweight, winning his past 11 fights in a run that stretches back to April 2007.

Victory over Nick Diaz in his recent outing has St-Pierre's name now being linked with Johny Hendricks and Anderson Silva, but Zahabi questions how much longer the Canadian can maintain what he calls a "ridiculous" intensity level.

"His training camps are not sustainable forever. His training camps are very difficult. I've done a lot of training camps. I could tell you the energy, time and money and hours spent doing a GSP training camp is ridiculous," Zahabi told Sherdog Radio.

"It's borderline insane. There's a lot of effort going into preparing him for his fights.

"Can he live this lifestyle for another four or five years? I don't know. Because it's not a balanced lifestyle. It's not a balanced lifestyle for him."

Fighters such as Randy Couture and Dan Henderson have set the standard by fighting into their 40s in the UFC, while current pound-for-pound king Silva is in his 38th year. St-Pierre will be expected by fans and observers to show similar longevity, but Zahabi isn't so sure.

"He's giving up a lot of free time and leisure time and experiences he could be having in life to maintain his title, to maintain this excellence. It's a difficult thing to do," he said.

"He's going to have to make that choice one fight at a time. Does he want to go through another training camp? Right now at this time, yes, for sure. There's no doubt in my mind he wants to do another one,

"But down the line, two or three more training camps, is he still going to want to do it? That's up to him. Does he still have the fire and the passion? We'll see."

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