Over the past decade, Montreal’s Tristar Gym has been home to many of the world’s greatest fighters, so it’s of little wonder why some of the hottest prospects from the U.K. and Ireland have decided to relocate there.
The opportunity to hone their skills under the tutelage of Tristar head trainer Firas Zahabi – and perhaps follow in the footsteps of, among many others, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St Pierre – is what compelled UFC fighters Joseph Duffy, Steven Ray and Tom Breese to make the not-so-inconsiderable move to Quebec’s capital.
Personal project
Having previously trained English fighter and current UFC middleweight Tom Watson, Eric O’Keefe, an MMA coach at Tristar, has worked closely with the new arrivals and has been suitably impressed with what he’s seen.
“This new bunch of UFC fighters that are coming over, I’ve kind of made it my personal project in a way,” O’Keefe told MMAjunkie. “I take a bit more interest in those guys and give them a bit more attention because coming from Europe, the holes in their game are different than guys coming from North America or South America.
“European fighters have a tendency to go balls-to-the-wall a lot. At a lower level, the guy who is aggressive and throwing all sorts of strikes will have great success, but at the UFC level, guys are going to see that coming and take you down.
“Guys like Joe, Tom and Steven have picked it up really fast, and they’re great training partners, and the guys at Tristar love training with them because they work really hard and are very professional,” he said.
Immediate improvement
Tom Breese
The fighters were all added to the UFC roster earlier this year, with only England’s Breese (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) yet to make his promotional debut. The 23-year-old welterweight faces Luiz Dutra (11-3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on May 30 at UFC Fight Night 67 in Brazil on the UFC Fight Pass-streamed preliminary card.
Although he will be the last of the group to enter the storied octagon, Breese has been stationed at Tristar the longest, having first arrived there in early 2013 after winning the BAMMA welterweight title. As a southpaw, he proved a useful sparring partner for Georges St-Pierre as the now-former champ prepared for his successful title defense against Nick Diaz at UFC 158.
Upon returning to his native Birmingham after his stint in Montreal, Breese quickly realized how educational the experience had been and decided to make an immediate return.
“I just realized after those eight weeks that I had improved more than I ever had before,” Breese told MMA junkie. “I don’t think I’d be near the level I’m at had I not come here. I feel like a week of training here is worth like two months of training back home.”
A year’s worth of rehab due to a torn ACL kept him from making the permanent switch to Tristar until this past September. Two months later he beat Thibaud Larchet at Cage Warriors 74 before inking his UFC deal.
Dorm life
Soon after, Breese was joined by Ireland’s Duffy, who had come to prepare for his Zuffa debut against Jake Lindsay at UFC 185, which he won via first round TKO.
Duffy spent a month at Tristar prior to the March event, and it was enough to convince him that Montreal was where his future lay. He now rooms with Breese in the gym’s dorms, where they are steeped in all things fighting.
“I was only here four weeks, and when I came back, it was like coming back to a gym I’d been training in for years, which was a nice feeling,” Duffy told MMAjunkie. “Me and Tom have been rooming together in the dorms, and all we talk about, day-in-day-out, is fighting and improving every little detail.
“So when you’re living like that, you get a camaraderie you wouldn’t if you were living separate lives.”
Check your ego at the door
Joseph Duffy
According to O’Keefe, as long as a fighter projects a strong work ethic and an eagerness to learn, he’s likely to thrive at Tristar. This, he said, is merely following the template created by St-Pierre, perhaps the gym’s most famous athlete.
“Georges laid his sweat on the mat and set the bar for everybody,” O’Keefe told MMAjunkie. “How can you come in after Georges and have a big ego, when he didn’t? You can’t be bigger than the team. It’s all about the team.
“If you come to Tristar from somewhere else, you were probably one of the best guys in the gym where you were at, so everybody has been treated more or less like a star. Then they come Tristar and become one of many, so you have to earn it. It’s all based on the application of the fighter. If they fighter wants to get involved, he’ll get attention.”
With a perpetual wave of martial artists coming through the gym on a regularly basis, O’Keefe said that while the addition of just three more fighters doesn’t alter the overall dynamic of the gym, it certainly adds to it.
“It’s not that these guys are coming in and making Tristar better; they are a part of Tristar,” he said. “We’re one of the best teams in the world. We don’t see them as foreigners. Wnce they’re benefitting from the team, and the team is benefitting from them, it’s a good fit.
“John Makdessi, who is fighting (Donald) ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 187 this week, he told me how happy he was that Joe Duffy was here to give him good rounds and what a pleasure it was to work with such a professional.
Breese has fulfilled a similar purpose for Rory McDonald, the No. 1 contender in the UFC’s welterweight division, who faces champion Robbie Lawler, another southpaw, at UFC 189 in Las Vegas on July 11.
It’s worth the sacrifice
Stevie Ray
However, this monk-like existence means life can become increasingly one-dimensional. Both Duffy and Breese spend seven days a week in the Tristar facility, surrounded by other fighters while thousands of miles from their friends and family. In a sentiment echoed by Breese, Duffy said it’s a sacrifice worth making.
“It’s not an easy way to live when you’re always immersed in it,” Duffy said. “It’s hard to have any kind of life. You don’t escape from it very often. But at the same time, this is what I chose, and I love training. For me it’s not a job. It’s what I enjoy. Every day when I come into the sessions and pick things up, it’s all worthwhile – never mind when you compete and pull things off.”
Duffy (13-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) makes his sophomore UFC appearance against Brazil’s Ivan Jorge (28-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 72 in Glasgow on July 18. Lightweight Ray (17-5 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who is expected back in Tristar in near future, will also feature in the promotion’s inaugural trip to his homeland, where he faces Leonardo Mafra (12-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC).
Having struck up an immediate rapport with his European students, O’Keefe takes great satisfaction in witnessing their development.
“That’s the paycheck for me, to see these guys progress,” he said. “To make a difference in somebody’s career and, at the end of the day, somebody’s life, it’s tremendous.”
For more on UFC Fight Night 67 and UFC Fight Night 72, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.