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MMA

09th Jan 2019

Conor McGregor hits back at Tristar coach for comments about Holloway rematch

"You rent dorms and hit a clock for a living."

Darragh Murphy

In one of the most unexpected wars of words in mixed martial arts, Conor McGregor has hit back at Firas Zahabi in devastating fashion.

Earlier this week, Zahabi claimed that “the blueprint for beating McGregor is more well understood by the roster” as he broke down the potential rematch between ‘The Notorious’ and Max Holloway.

Zahabi, who is the head coach at Montreal’s Tristar gym, explained why he believed that the current UFC featherweight champion would come out on top if he was to share the Octagon with McGregor again.

He said: “I think Holloway has grown leaps and bounds since then. In my opinion, Holloway would outpunch him, outwork him. He would do very much what [Nate] Diaz did, but more.

“I think McGregor got away with a lot of stuff, like the leg kicks against Diaz, but I don’t think he’ll have that against Holloway.”

McGregor doesn’t respond to many negative comments but he couldn’t bite his tongue this time as he laid into Zahabi on Twitter in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Zahabi has guided the careers of MMA royalty like Georges St-Pierre and Rory MacDonald but his expert opinion was clearly not appreciated by the Irishman.

Being one of the most mild-mannered figures in the sport, we wouldn’t expect a scathing response from Zahabi.

As for McGregor, he will not hesitate to roast anyone and everyone.