UFC Nashville’s John Makdessi On Fighting Former A Training Partner & GSP’s Retirement
John Makdessi makes his next UFC appearance at UFC Fight Night Nashville, facing Nasrat Haqparast in a lightweight division affair.
An agreement was allegedly made between Makdessi and Tri-Star Gym after Makdessi left that they would never compete against each other, but Makdessi says that all changed when Haqparast accepted the bout against him first.
“No (I didn’t speak to Haqparast), we don’t communicate. Me and Firas Zahabi, we kept on good terms after me deciding to expand my horizons and to change camps. He really wasn’t aware of the situation and when I told my manager ‘if they accept the fight first, then we’ll accept’ because I am a man of my honor. Me and Firas, we did communicate saying that we won’t choose…we won’t accept fights fighting each other. They accepted a fight first, when that happened…everything else changes,” says Makdessi in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
Makdessi and Haqparast will both enter their bout at UFC Nashville while in the midst of a two fight winning streak.
Former two division UFC champion Georges St. Pierre recently retired, a person whom Makdessi refers to as one of the greatest fighters in MMA.
“Georges, it’s quite funny because I fought on the same cards, maybe over three fights. So I see him preparing for his fight, I was preparing for my fight in Montreal, Canada Tri-Star. But when it comes to this business, nobody really knows deeply inside knows his circle. I’m not really in his circle, it can be multiple reasons why he retired. God bless him, he was a great ambassador…a great athlete and he’s one of the greatest fighters in MMA,” says Makdessi.
UFC Fight Night Nashville takes place on Saturday, March 23 from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee with Stephen Thompson and Anthony Pettis headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+.
