Seriously … what the fuck was that?
UFC 217 was one of the wildest pay-per-view (PPV) events in recent memory, thanks to three championship title fights that saw all three belts change hands inside Madison Square Garden last Saturday night (Nov. 4, 2017) in New York City.
In the middleweight main event, former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre returned from a four-year layoff — with a jacked-up torso — to strangle Michael Bisping into submission, capturing “The Count’s” 185-pound strap in the process.
While he got off to a strong start, “Rush” appeared to be sucking wind between rounds and there were some questions about St-Pierre’s ability to stay competitive into the championship frames, especially after getting busted open by the Brit’s defensive elbows.
Thanks to the second-round finish — his first since 2009 — we’ll never know.
The French-Canadian phenom joins an elite club of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters to change divisions and capture the crown. Now, the big question coming out of UFC 217 is whether or not he’ll stick around to defend his middleweight title — as contracted — or rid himself of the extra baggage and go back down to 170 pounds.
By his own admission, the Bisping fight was the most difficult of his career, simply due to the discrepancy in size and power. Moving on to throw hands with interim titleholder Robert Whittaker — who already turned away another wrestler in Yoel Romero — seems like a suicide mission, particularly when equally compelling fights await him at his old stomping grounds.
Tyron Woodley currently holds the welterweight title and would gladly cash that golden ticket; however, the real money fight for St-Pierre is a welterweight showdown against Conor McGregor, the promotion’s current lightweight champion and top PPV draw. Imagine that fight headlining Super Bowl weekend?
Bananas.
Speaking of things that get peeled, former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt was stripped from the canvas after coughing up his crown to bitter rival and former Team Alpha Male (TAM) teammate TJ Dillashaw, in a fight that was short on rounds but long on drama.
Dillashaw was clipped and nearly finished at the end of round one, but battled back and stopped “No Love” to reclaim his seat atop the 135-pound throne. The decisive finish, at least in my option, does not give Garbrandt the right to an immediate rematch, especially when we’re so close to determining the winner of Dominick Cruz vs. Jimmie Rivera.
And Dillashaw is already calling for that “Mighty Mouse” super fight.
The same might not be said for Rose Namajunas, who stopped Joanna Jedrzejczyk from tying Ronda Rousey’s record of consecutive title defenses after getting melted with punches in the opening stanza of their championship showdown. Jedrzejczyk was a massive -600 favorite and already talking about moving up to the flyweight division, then retiring undefeated.
Too soon.
Because of her lengthy title reign, as well as her dominance atop the strawweight division, she might be able to grab that immediate second go-round with Namajunas. The list of contenders at 115 pounds is littered with the usual suspects, so there isn’t one true contender waiting to get her shot.
Oh, and Johny Hendricks got creamed, but most of us expected that.
So, what do we make of this crazy night? Well, for starters, UFC 217 was a reminder that MMA can return one of the most exiting and unpredictable nights in all of sports. It was also a cautionary tale to all those fighters who want to pretend they are invincible. Bisping, Garbrandt, and Jedrzejczyk all talked a lot of shit heading into their “Big Apple” bash.
Everyone loses.
Anderson Silva got knocked out by Chris Weidman, Conor McGregor was choked out by Nate Diaz, and Jon Jones … well, “Bones” beats himself every few months, taking the burden off his light heavyweight counterparts. Trash talk is a part of the game and not without its merits, but all that “I’M GONNA EAT YOUR SOUL” stuff looks really bad when your face bounces off the canvas.
UFC 217 was great. And after the kinds of numbers UFC 215 and UFC 216 were sending back (see them here), we needed something great. Hopefully, the combatants of UFC 218 can use that as motivation and capitalize on the momentum.
Until then, UFC 217 left us with plenty to talk about.