George St Pierre’s coach compares Anderson Silva to Lance Armstrong

It's fair to say that GSP's coach is not impressed with Anderson Silva

Firas Zahabi, Georges St-Pierre's long-standing coach has some pretty strong opinions of Anderson Silva after the Brazilian tested positive for anabolic steroid metabolites. Zahabi likened Silva's situation to that of Lance Armstrong, the disgraced cyclist who was stripped of all his Tour de France titles after being at the centre of a doping scandal.

It’s horrible for the sport. Lance Armstrong has not helped the sport of cycling. So many people were inspired by its history. And then we learn that it is a lie. Here, we're going through something similar in our sport.

Silva, who some argued was the greatest MMA fighter of all time, failed a drugs test before his return to the Octagon at UFC 183. The Spider defeated Nick Diaz in the main event but it was revealed afterthat he had tested positive for steroid metabolites during a pre-fight test. Zahabi contested that Silva's cheating completely negates what he did in the sport and therefore, he should no longer be considered in the running to be called the greatest of all time. In fact, he has no doubts over who is the rightful owner of that accolade.

Georges is the best pound-for-pound fighter. We have to drop Silva. If he really cheated, we can't set this example for the youth. It's ridiculous. Is Lance Armstrong considered the best cyclist of all time? No. A few years ago, the answer would have been different. Georges passed the tests of VADA, the best agency. All his tests are public. We are ready to take them again with random controls 24 hours a day. My athletes are natural and yes Georges is the best fighter of all time.

He also implored the UFC and the athletic commissions to impose harsher sanctions for PED use in the sport. Zahabi fears that if they don't do so, it could have fatal consequences.

It's unbelievable that they let them fight. Me personally, I would like the sport to be cleaned up. Because one day, a guy is going to die in the Octagon and we're going to find out that the guy who killed him tested positive after the fact. Our sport is already dangerous enough as it is. If we add doping on top of that, it becomes madness.

Hat-tip to MMA Fighting