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Georges St-Pierre fought Nick Diaz with an injured achilles; trainer hopes he doesn't return for at least six months

By Ariel Helwani
USA TODAY Sports
Georges St-Pierre was not 100 percent when he fought -- and eventually beat -- Nick Diaz at UFC 158 last weekend.

According to St-Pierre's trainer Firas Zahabi, the UFC welterweight champion suffered an achilles injury before the March 16 fight, and the injury may have worsened during the five-round bout.

"I was worried it would tear during the fight," Zahabi told MMAFighting.com. "We had to cut his last sparring [session] short due to his injury. He had a week to rest it and then the fight."

The news was first reported by TVA Sports.

Zahabi said he believed the achilles injury was on the same right leg St-Pierre had surgery on last year to repair a torn ACL, but he didn't think the two injuries were related. He added that he has yet to speak to St-Pierre about the ailment and has no idea how long he'll be sidelined for.

However, the Tristar Gym head coach wants St-Pierre take some time off, considering the injury and that the Diaz fight was his second in four months. In fact, Zahabi doesn't want him to return to action for at least six months, if not more.

"He's 32 soon," he said. "He needs to respect that."

St-Pierre's manager Rodolphe Beaulieu echoed Zahabi's sentiments, while confirming that St-Pierre returned to training on Wednesday.

"He wants to take a couple of months off because his two fights were very close to each other," he said, "and he wants to enjoy the summer. We haven't talked to the UFC yet, so we don't know what their plans are for Georges yet."

Up next for St-Pierre is Johny Hendricks, who told FUEL TV's "UFC Tonight" on Tuesday that he was hoping the welterweight title fight would take place in August, so he could fight at least one more time in 2013.

St-Pierre's camp, however, have other plans in mind.

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