With Greg Jackson and Phil Nurse being the visible members of GSP's team, most MMA fans don't know who Firas Zahabi is. In an ironic way it was BJ Penn who brought the most attention to Firas during a UFC Prime Time special by telling him to "...... go F*&k yourself".

Firas Zahabi has been in GSP’s training camp for eight years. Starting off as an assistant trainer, Zahabi moved up to the position of head trainer after UFC 69 when Georges lost his title to Serra. Over the years TriStar has associated it's self with a strong network of trainers.

Although GSP was happy with his level of training, being the best in your camp is not always the best way to develop as a UFC champion. It was time to bring in a group of MMA fighters that would challenge St-Pierre's skills so a co-operative was formed with Greg Jackson's camp for GSP's 3rd fight against Hughes in Dec, 2007 UFC 79.

"Greg and I have a really wonderful relationship. We see eye to eye on a lot of things and consider ourselves one really big team.” Comments Firas. “One big advantage of our relationship is we always have a ton of guys in the gym to train with". “Donald Cerrone, Keith Jardine, Rashad came for one week, Nate Marquardt flew in to Montreal the week before”. In preparation for Georges’ fight with BJ Penn.

Firas continues; "Greg and Phil come up for a few days before the fight to tweak whatever needs it and to go over the game plan. After that we know everything is ready and all there is left to do is fight".

The TriStar gym has attracted a lot of attention lately. International MMA fighter Denis Kang joined the camp. He was fighting in Japan but is now under contract with the UFC.

"Firas is one of the best coaches I've worked with, "Kang said. "He has a very strategic mind and knows how to work with a fighter's strengths".

Kenny “Ken Flo” Florian has been a recent visitor on several occasions.

“Firas is one of the smartest and most knowledgeable MMA coaches in the world", stated Florian, who specifically decided to train with Zahabi for his upcoming title bout versus belt-holder B.J. Penn. "It's truly a pleasure and an honor to work with him".

“ Firas Zahabi is finally getting recognition as a great coach. He is one of the best coaches in the world and understands all aspects of the game. He also fights and could compete in the UFC tomorrow, I kid you not." Comments Jon Chaimberg.

As a fighter Faris won many titles. He was the Canadian Muay Thai champion and won titles in Jui Jitsu as well. He was training as a fighter and sort of fell into the role as MMA coach. “The original trainer had a growing business and didn’t have much time for MMA.”

TriStar has been a martial arts studio since 1991, today the organization has expanded into 13,500 square feet of modern facilities. Using his extensive experience in training Zahabi has developed specific training for MMA.

Firas Zahabi says that, rather than train slowly but consistently; he will work with Georges St-Pierre on shorter, high intensity training sessions. "If you train for two to three hours, the intensity level can’t be the same as somebody who trains for one hour," he says. "So, the first 20 minutes of the training is warm up. We’re not really working out; we’re just stretching and getting the body warm. Then, we do only 40 minutes of work, but at as high a quality as possible, and by high quality I mean very intense."

Like a mathematician, Firas Zahabi has Georges St-Pierre's workout routine calculated to a science. "We don’t do anything bizarre," he says of the common-sense thinking they used in creating his fitness regimen. "We do kicking and punching drills on the pads. It’ll be 20 minutes of warm up (10 minutes warming up and 10 minutes cooling down) and 40 minutes of actual work. [GSP] is actually hitting the pads with one minute of rest in between so now, if you calculate that, he’s doing three-minute rounds and he might go up to 12 to 14 rounds, depending on the day and how high the intensity. But we’re not going to do two hours of striking... that’s the difference between us and the majority of other people."

"I always train with better wrestlers than me, better boxers than me, better jujitsu guys than me," Georges St-Pierre says. "When you train with people who are better than you, it keeps challenging you. By challenging me it makes me better. It makes you better develop your skills than someone who is always training with the same people over and over again. I have a very good team.

When pressed what separates him from other coaches, the overly modest Zahabi answers.

” get in there with the guys and we go at it. I spar with Georges and spar with him 100%. I stay in shape and keep developing along with our fighters. I’m trying to get better each day too.”

“Another thing that I do is that people are always coming to our camp with some different training methods – things that are new. Some of them are great and some maybe don’t fit as well into our camp. But the fighters can’t try everything. So I will try it myself and if I think it will fit in, then I bring it to the guys.”

TriStar has networked it’s self with other fight professionals in the Montreal area such as Grant Brothers boxing and the Montreal Wrestling Club.