Firas Zahabi (born February 5, 1980) is a Canadian martial artist who is the owner and head coach at
Tristar Gym
The Tristar Gym is a mixed martial arts training centre located in Le Triangle Borough in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Instructors at the gym include Firas Zahabi, Conrad Pla and Georges St-Pierre. Tristar Gym is one of the top professional MMA t ...
.
Zahabi is known for his work with
mixed martial artist
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...
Georges St-Pierre
Georges St-Pierre (; born May 19, 1981) is a Canadian actor and former professional mixed martial artist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts (MMA) history. St-Pierre was a two-division champion in the Ult ...
.
Early life
Zahabi was born on February 5, 1980, in
Quebec, Canada
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...
. His parents were
Lebanese emigrants
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
.
Growing up, Zahabi and his brothers were mainly interested in
American Football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
. It wasn't until 1998 when Zahabi turned 18, that he was exposed to martial arts.
Zahabi became interested in martial arts after watching
UFC 2 where
Royce Gracie
Royce Gracie (; born 12 December 1966) is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist, a UFC Hall of Famer, and a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. A member of the Gracie family, he is considered to be one of the most influential figures ...
defeated all his opponents using
Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...
(BJJ).
Zahabi attended Concordia University where he graduated with a degree in Philosophy with a specialization in the
Ancient Greeks
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
.
Martial arts career
In 2000, Zahabi joined
Tristar Gym
The Tristar Gym is a mixed martial arts training centre located in Le Triangle Borough in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Instructors at the gym include Firas Zahabi, Conrad Pla and Georges St-Pierre. Tristar Gym is one of the top professional MMA t ...
where he trained in BJJ and Muay Thai.
After just six months, Zahabi earned a Blue Belt in BJJ and became a part time coach at the gym.
A few years later, Zahabi met
John Danaher and would frequently make trips to
Renzo Gracie Academy
Renzo Gracie Academy is a martial arts school headed by Renzo Gracie, located in Midtown Manhattan.
Overview
Renzo Gracie founded the academy in 1996. It was originally above a methadone clinic before it moved to its current location at 224 Wes ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in order to train with him.
In 2011, Zahabi received his Black Belt in BJJ from Danaher himself.
Because Zahabi was studying at University, he was not able to compete extensively.
Nonetheless he became a Canadian Amateur Muay Thai Champion and also won a few provincial-level grappling competitions.
He also fought in some amateur unregulated
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...
bouts.
The organization was called Full Contact Jiu-Jitsu where Zahabi became champion
Coaching career
In 2007,
Conrad Pla
Conrad Pla (born October 24, 1966) is a Canadian actor and former professional kickboxer. He is best known for founding Tristar Gym and starring in the Canadian television series ''ReGenesis''.
Early life
Pla was born in Madrid and moved to Cana ...
the owner of Tristar Gym became too busy to run the gym so he handed it over to Zahabi to run. In 2008, the gym was sold to Zahabi and he became the new owner.
Zahabi has since then trained many different fighters under Tristar Gym.
His coaching style is focused on technique in a very controlled manner. Fighters will not go all-out during training sessions as he considers it not an effective way to train as recovery is considered important.
Zahabi's most notable student is
Georges St-Pierre
Georges St-Pierre (; born May 19, 1981) is a Canadian actor and former professional mixed martial artist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts (MMA) history. St-Pierre was a two-division champion in the Ult ...
.The two of them met when they were amateur fighters.
After becoming champion, Zahabi decided to become a coach to St-Pierre.
After
UFC 69 where St-Pierre lost the
UFC Welterweight title to
Matt Serra
Matthew John Serra (born June 2, 1974) is an American former professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner who competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the co-star of Dana White: Lookin' for a Fight and co ...
, Zahabi became St-Pierre's main coach for the rest of his career.
In April 2021, Zahabi was involved in an incident involving the
Montreal Police
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
. Due to the
Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, the police would regularly visit Tristar Gym to verify it was conforming to public health regulations. After sixteen visits in the past year, on April 9, Zahabi refused to allow the police to come in for the third time on that day. As a result the police waited outside the gym for hours until the issue was eventually resolved between the two parties.
MMA commentary and television
Zahabi and UFC hall of famer
Stephan Bonnar
Stephan Patrick Bonnar (April 4, 1977 – December 22, 2022) was an American mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. Bonnar competed as a Light Heavyweight (MMA), Light Heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC for most of his car ...
provided the commentary for all Titan FC events broadcast by
CBS Sports
CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...
in 2014.
Zahabi was the MMA coach on
The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck, of the
UFC‐produced reality television series
The Ultimate Fighter
''The Ultimate Fighter'' is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pilgrim Media Group currently airing on ESPN+. It previously aired for fourteen s ...
.
Personal life
Zahabi is the older brother of
UFC bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...
fighter
Aiemann Zahabi
Aiemann Zahabi (born November 19, 1987) is a Canadian mixed martial artist. He competes in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Aiemann is the younger brother of Tristar Gym head trainer Firas Zahabi.
Mixed mar ...
.
Zahabi is married to Melissa Gendron who he met during university.
They have three children which include two sons and one daughter.
Zahabi is a Muslim and has talked on many podcasts about Islamic philosophy and polemics
Controversy
Zahabi has been criticised for the fact that he refuses to train with women in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Instructor lineage
Kano Jigoro
Kano may refer to:
Places
*Kano State, a state in Northern Nigeria
*Kano (city), a city in Nigeria, and the capital of Kano State
**Kingdom of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between the 10th and 14th centuries
** Sultanate of Kano, a Hausa kingdom between ...
→
Tomita Tsunejiro →
Mitsuyo Maeda
,Virgílio, pp. 22–25
a Brazilian naturalized as Otávio Maeda (),Virgílio, p. 9
was a Japanese ''judōka'' (judo practitioner) and prizefighter in no holds barred competitions, also being one of the first documented mixed martial artists of ...
→
Carlos Gracie, Sr. →
Helio Gracie
Helio may refer to:
* Helio AU-24 Stallion
* Helio (wireless carrier), a defunct American wireless communications provider (2005–2010); originally a joint venture between SK Telecom and EarthLink, purchased by Virgin Mobile USA in 2008
* He ...
→
Rolls Gracie →
Carlos Gracie, Jr.
Carlos "Carlinhos" Gracie Jr. is a Brazilian 8th-degree coral belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and instructor. A member of the Gracie family, he is the son of Carlos Gracie, and first cousin to the Machado family brothers.
Career
...
→
Renzo Gracie
Renzo Gracie (; born March 11, 1967) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. A member of the Gracie family of Brazil, Renzo is a 7th Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlos Gracie Jr. He is the ...
→
John Danaher → Firas Zahabi
Notable fighters trained
*
Georges St-Pierre
Georges St-Pierre (; born May 19, 1981) is a Canadian actor and former professional mixed martial artist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts (MMA) history. St-Pierre was a two-division champion in the Ult ...
- Former UFC Middleweight Champion, Former UFC Welterweight Champion, UFC Hall of Fame
*
Robert Whittaker - Former UFC Middleweight Champion
*
Vitor Belfort
Vítor Vieira Belfort (; born 1 April 1977) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions. Belfort previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in the Heavywe ...
- Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
*
Rory MacDonald - Former
Bellator Welterweight champion, Former UFC Welterweight Title Challenger
*
Miguel Torres - Former
WEC Bantamweight Champion
*
Kenny Florian
Kenneth Alan Florian (born May 26, 1976) is an American retired mixed martial artist and commentator who formerly competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He formerly served as an analyst for UFC on Fox from 2011–2018, and he als ...
- Former
UFC 2-Time Lightweight and Featherweight Title Challenger
*
David Loiseau
David Loiseau (; born December 17, 1979) is a Canadian former mixed martial artist from Montreal, Quebec. He has fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, EliteXC, and TKO Major League MMA veteran. He is the former TKO World Middleweight Ch ...
- Former
UFC Middleweight Title Contender
*
Denis Kang
Denis Kang (, born September 17, 1977) is a Canadian professional mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 1998, Kang has formerly competed for the UFC, PRIDE, DREAM, Impact F ...
-
2006 Pride Welterweight Grand Prix Runner-Up
See also
*
Tristar Gym
The Tristar Gym is a mixed martial arts training centre located in Le Triangle Borough in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Instructors at the gym include Firas Zahabi, Conrad Pla and Georges St-Pierre. Tristar Gym is one of the top professional MMA t ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firas, Zahabi
1980 births
Living people
Canadian male mixed martial artists
Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Canadian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu
People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Sportspeople from Quebec
Canadian people of Lebanese descent