Firas Zahabi

Early life Zahabi was born on 5 February 1980, in Quebec, Canada. His parents are Lebanese Immigrants.

A few years later, Zahabi met John Danaher and would frequently make trips to Renzo Gracie Academy in New York City to train with him.

Coaching career

In 2007, Conrad Pla 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's most notable student is Georges St-Pierre. The two of them met when they were amateur fighters.

MMA commentary and television

Zahabi and UFC hall of famer Stephan Bonnar provided the commentary for all Titan FC events broadcast by CBS Sports 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.

Personal life

Family Zahabi is the older brother of UFC bantamweight fighter Aiemann Zahabi.

Zahabi is married to Melissa Gendron who he met during university. They have three children which include two sons and one daughter. Zahabi has been criticized for the fact that he refuses to train with women in Brazilian jiu-jitsu for religious reasons.

Instructor lineage Kano Jigoro → Tomita Tsunejiro → Mitsuyo Maeda → Carlos Gracie, Sr. → Helio Gracie → Rolls Gracie → Carlos Gracie, Jr. → Renzo Gracie → John Danaher → Firas Zahabi

Notable fighters trained

Georges St-Pierre - Former UFC Middleweight Champion, Former UFC Welterweight Champion, UFC Hall of Fame Robert Whittaker - Former UFC Middleweight Champion Vitor Belfort - Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rory MacDonald - Former Bellator Welterweight champion, Former UFC Welterweight Title Challenger Kenny Florian - Former UFC 2-Time Lightweight and Featherweight Title Challenger David Loiseau - Former UFC Middleweight Title Contender Arnold Allen - (UFC) Aiemann Zahabi - (UFC) Nasrat Haqparast - (UFC)