Top 4 Best Canadian MMA Coaches

One of the best recipes of success for professional MMA athletes, aside from their natural fighting skills, is a great coach in his corner. These tacticians and trainers help them develop an effective fight plan against their opponents.

But who are the best Canadian MMA coaches, who guided several of their students to superstardom? Check the top four below, which was led by Firas Zahabi.

Firas Zahabi

Zahabi is one of the most respected coaches from Canada, who’s also the owner of the famed Tristar Gym in Montreal. He was most known as the coach of former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

Apart from St-Pierre, there are also several UFC fighters who train under Zahabi’s tutelage, such as light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker, lightweight contender John Makdessi, featherweight Arnold Allen, and bantamweight Aiemann Zahabi (Firas’ younger brother).

Terry Riggs

Terry Riggs was a former BJJ national champion and an American Muay Thai champion before he transitioned to become a coach. He founded Wariror Mixed Martial Arts in Ontario along with other top BJJ athletes.

Riggs cemented his legacy as a great MMA coach when he helped Carlos Newton capture the UFC welterweight title in May 2001, where he submitted Pat Miletich via third-round submission to become the first Canadian to win a UFC gold.

Mark Hominick

Mark Hominick was a former UFC featherweight contender who tried to defy the MMA odds against Jose Aldo in May 2011 at UFC 129, challenging him for the championship. However, he came up short and absorbed a unanimous decision defeat.

Following that loss to Aldo, Hominick competed and dropped his last three pro fights before co-founding Adrenaline MMA with his peers Sam Stout and Chris Horodecki. They were the former prized fighters of famed coach Shawn Tompkins.

Shawn Tompkins

Hominick got the inspiration to coach other MMA fighters from Shawn Tompkins, who was their former coach at Team Tompkins. Unfortunately, he died in August 2011 at only 37 years old. He was a former kickboxer who also competed in several MMA bouts.

Tompkins honed the striking of Hominick, Stout, and Horodecki, and was one of the biggest reasons why they were able to earn a spot in the UFC roster and become top contenders in their respective weight classes.