Tristar Gym is quickly turning into the Murderers’ Row of the MMA world.
There is a reason why the MMA community got so excited when Joseph Duffy joined the Montreal-based gym. Some of the most talented fighters in the world train out of Tristar including perpetual welterweight contender Rory MacDonald, rising submission specialist Olivier Aubin-Mercier and arguably the greatest of them all, George St-Pierre.
Duffy joined the gym along with undefeated hot prospect Tom Breese in January 2015, but the CageWarriors stand-outs are no longer the new big-name fighters at Tristar. MMA Junkie’s Joe Ferraro broke the news on Twitter that UFC fighters Tarec Saffiedine and Sage “VanZant” Northcutt are both relocating to Montreal to train.
Hearing @sagenorthcutt is going to MTL to train with @Firas_Zahabi at @tristargym – same for @tarecfighter #UFC #MMA
— Joe Ferraro (@JoeAFerraro) October 11, 2015
Northcutt (6-0, 1-0 UFC) was signed by the UFC earlier through the reality TV show “Looking for a Fight”. The 19-year-old karate phenom lived up to the hype for his Octagon debut by knocking out Francisco Trevino in 57-seconds on the early prelims at UFC 192 and looks set to become Dana White’s next big cash-cow.
JUST LIKE THAT! Welcome to the UFC @SageNorthcutt!
PResented by @Halo 5 #Halo http://t.co/V3SANZq5BT— UFC (@ufc) October 3, 2015
Belgian fighter Saffiedine (15-4, 1-1 UFC) is the former Strikeforce welterweight champion and holds a win over former UFC middleweight contender Nate Marquardt. Saffiedine has not fought since scoring his first UFC loss to Rory MacDonald at UFC Halifax in October 2014 and is yet to have another fight booked after pulling out of a bout against Matt Brown in January 2015.
