It has been nearly four years since UFC fans and bettors saw Georges St-Pierre (25-2) leave the Octagon after edging Johny Hendricks via split decision to win his 12th straight fight.
St-Pierre will make his highly anticipated return to the Octagon this Saturday at UFC 217 in New York City when he meets middleweight champ Michael Bisping (30-7) for his title belt as a small -125 favorite (bet $125 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark. Bisping is listed as a small -105 underdog.
GSP-Bisping is one of three championship bouts on the UFC 217 card, as the bantamweight and women’s strawweight titles will also be on the line at Madison Square Garden.
St-Pierre will be looking to snap a five-fight winning streak for Bisping that has seen him defeat former middleweight champions Anderson Silva and Luke Rockhold before defending his belt in a grudge rematch against Dan Henderson. But Bisping has yet to fight in 2017, beating Henderson at UFC 204 in October of last year.
St-Pierre is moving up to 185 pounds from 170, with the former welterweight champ relinquishing his belt when he decided to retire following his win over Hendricks back in 2013. There is some speculation that this matchup with Bisping is setting up a potential superfight vs. Conor McGregor as long as he wins this comeback bout.
Prior to that main event, the co-main event will feature a pair of 135-pounders who dislike each other as chronicled on the latest edition of The Ultimate Fighter. Former bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw (14-3) will get a chance to earn his belt back if he can knock off former teammate and current champ Cody Garbrandt (11-0).
Dillashaw lost his belt to another former champ in Dominick Cruz by a controversial split decision in January of 2016. Then Garbrandt won a unanimous decision over Cruz last December 30 at UFC 207. Garbrandt is a solid -185 favorite with Dillashaw the +150 underdog (bet $100 to win $150) even though the challenger has a lot more experience.
The third title fight will see women’s strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk (14-0) take on Rose Namajunas (6-3) as the biggest favorite on the UFC 217 odds at -600. Jedrzejczyk has taken on all challengers, defending her belt five times so far. Namajunas is a +400 underdog and the fourth-ranked contender according to the UFC, with Jedrzejczyk already owning wins over the top three in her previous three title defenses.
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