Zahabi: GSP doing great following knee surgery

UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre has started the process of recovering from a torn ACL and subsequent surgery, and is doing well according to trainer Firas Zahabi.

“He’s doing great. He’s doing fantastic,” Zahabi said on Sherdog Radio’s “Beatdown” show. “He’s doing the post-surgery rehab, and then after he’s done doing that—it should be done in March—he’s going to start his sports rehabilitation.”

St-Pierre (22-2) underwent the operation in December, and will soon be rehabbing under the Gavin MacMillan, the head trainer and founder of Sport Science Lab.

“He trains Troy Polamalu from the NFL,” Zahabi said. “[He’s a] Tremendous trainer. I’ve been corresponding with him for the last little bit since Georges got injured. We have complete faith in him. He’s been through this process before with NFL players. The doctor was more than happy with the results of the surgery. Things are looking really good. Georges is extremely motivated to come back. He’s very excited. He’s got that fire roaring now bigger than ever. Everything is lined up for success hopefully.”

The champion’s October title defense against Carlos Condit (27-5) was scratched following the knee injury—he was expected to recover for a Feb. 4 bout against Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz (26-7-1), but a torn ACL in December resulted in another scratched fight.

“He had an existing injury before the tear,” Zahabi said. “He kept training, and it tore. He realized he was trying to save time and not miss a fight, and it turned out that he’s going to miss a whole year. I don’t think he’ll come back too fast. It was a mistake he did before, and I think he’ll be sure not to repeat it again.”

Diaz stated that St-Pierre’s recurring knee injuries are the result of his training methods. Zahabi admitted that St-Pierre does train for explosiveness, but he also mentioned that they take every precaution to minimize the risk of injury.

“For Georges, working explosively has always worked for him,” Zahabi said. “… You can get an injury from any type of training. Anything you do a lot of, you can get hurt at. You’ve got to manage the risk and do the training that’s best suited for you. [Endurance training] works for Nick, and Georges’ training has been working for him.”

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