Georges St-Pierre against Michael Bisping is the superfight you never knew you wanted to see.
After nearly four years away from the Octagon, GSP returns seeking to capture the middleweight title after years of dominating the welterweight class. No, it’s not the Anderson Silva-GSP fantasy fight of yore, but it’s an intriguing matchup against Bisping.
There’s more where that came from, though. Cody Garbrandt and Joanna Jedrzejczyk will be putting their titles on the line against TJ Dillashaw and Rose Namajunas, respectively, in a title tripleheader.
The non-title fights are must-see TV, too. Paulo “Borrachinha” Costa looks to make a name for himself against Johny Hendricks, while Stephen Thompson and Jorge Masvidal will engage in what could be a title eliminator in the welterweight division.
Here’s a look at the complete card along with predictions for each bout and a look at the top storylines to watch.
UFC 217 Card and Predictions
Author’s predictions are underlined.
Main Card (PPV at 10 p.m. ET)
- Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre – Middleweight title fight
- Cody Garbrandt vs. TJ Dillashaw – Bantamweight title fight
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Rose Namajunas – Women’s Strawweight title fight
- Jorge Masvidal vs. Stephen Thompson – Welterweight
- Paulo Costa vs. Johny Hendricks – Middleweight
Prelims (Fox Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET)
- Joe Duffy vs. James Vick – Lightweight
- Walt Harris vs. Mark Godbeer – Heavyweight
- Corey Anderson vs. Ovince Saint Preux – Light Heavyweight
- Randy Brown vs. Mickey Gall – Welterweight
Prelims (Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. ET)
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Aleksei Oleinik – Heavyweight
- Ricardo Ramos vs. Aiemann Zahabi – Bantamweight
How Much Does Georges St-Pierre Have Left?
“You either retire the champion or fight long enough to become washed up.” – Batman. Well, kind of.
That’s the MMA adapted version of what The Dark Knight said, and it holds true for Georges St-Pierre. The man was once the undisputed king of the welterweight division and a pay-per-view titan, but four years away from the spotlight raises the question: What will we see from Rush on Saturday night?
St-Pierre built his legend on dominating the welterweight division. He took the honor from Matt Hughes with the same ferocity he used to tap the UFC Hall of Famer in 2007 with nine consecutive title defenses.
The ninth one was by far his most difficult, though. Hendricks took GSP to task, landing 85 significant strikes over the course of five rounds—a career high for St-Pierre, per FightMetric.
So there’s two ways to look at it. Either GSP‘s exodus was truly about needing a break to recover and he’ll be back stronger than ever, or he saw the inevitable end coming, walked away and is now drawn back by money, fame, opportunity for a belt or some combination thereof.
He’s doing all the talk to say that it’s the first option.
“I’ve stepped up tremendously in those four years,” St-Pierre said, per Rachel Brady of the Globe and Mail. “I’m not the same guy I was when I left off. I’m a much better version, and he’s going to find out the bad way.”
Of course, what else is he going to say?
The fact is that GSP was one of the most explosive athletes to compete in the Octagon in his prime. It appeared that he was losing that edge when he fought Hendricks, and he isn’t likely to get it back at the age of 36.
Like a basketball player who develops a crafty post-game to extend his career after he can no longer dunk over everybody, what St-Pierre does to combat father time is the most interesting fight within the fight in the main event.
Is Cody Garbrandt a Transcendent Talent in the Bantamweight Division?
The return of St-Pierre is just a reminder that the UFC is in need of some true superstars who can carry a pay-per-view.
St-Pierre’s return is nice for fans, but it isn’t a long-term solution. The organization needs some fighters from the next generation to become the kind of fighters that can move the needles.
Garbrandt can be one of those guys, but it has to be as a champion.
Garbrandt has the look, exciting style and results to become a star. In a recent piece on the future of MMA, Brett Okamoto of ESPN compared the 26-year-old to Chuck Liddell:
“Garbrandt has that silly knockout power, similar to Liddell, and he isn’t afraid to get hit. And although he doesn’t sport the Iceman’s notorious mohawk, Garbrandt‘s neck tattoo makes him easy to spot in a crowd. They’re both soft-spoken, but extremely confident, violent individuals.”
As Okamoto pointed out, Garbrandt checks all the boxes for a marketable star. Now he just has to prove that he can provide the results. At the peak of his powers, The Iceman put together a 15-2 run in the UFC and Pride against a who’s who of names in his division with two title reigns.
Garbrandt has the opportunity to prove that he’s capable of that kind of run with a win against Dillashaw.
Garbrandt‘s schooling of Dominik Cruz was impressive. Considering Cruz’s place in the history of the division, his vast experience advantage over No Love and the performance that he had just put in against Dillashaw, the new champion’s performance was shocking.
Now it’s been 11 months since he won the title and we will see his first title defense. A win over Dillashaw would give him a win over the No. 1 and 2 ranked fighters in his division that happen to be the last two champions.
That’s dominance that can be marketed as a true superstar in the sport. With that weight added to the fact that he’s fighting a bitter rival that used to be a teammate, this is Garbandt’s chance to show that he can thrive under pressure and carry the banner for the organization.
Is Jorge Masvidal a Contender in the Welterweight Class?
Lost in the fact that there are three great championship fights on this card is that there’s an awesome welterweight fight between Thompson and Masvidal.
For Thompson, it’s an opportunity to fight someone not named Tyron Woodley. After competing for the title against the champion in back-to-back fights, a fight against Masvidal is just another challenge. He’s already proved he’s capable of competing for the championship.
For Masvidal, it’s a shot at proving that he’s worthy of that consideration. Masvidal‘s last fight came on the heels of a three-fight win streak over Ross Pearson, Jake Ellenberger and Donald Cerrone. A win over Maia—who until last week was No. 3 in the welterweight rankings—would have put Masvidal in consideration for Woodley‘s next title defense.
Instead, Masvidal lost a close split decision to Maia. Masvidal proved that he could hang with Maia, but he wasn’t better than him.
Now Gamebred gets a shot at redemption. Thompson’s skills are well-known, and a win over him will propel the 32-year-old into the realm of title contenders.
According to the stats from Reed Kuhn of Fightnomics, Masvidal will once again have a grappling advantage:
The question becomes whether he can get Thompson to the ground for long enough to cause him those problems. That’s easier said than done. Thompson has been taken down just two times since 2013—once in each Woodley fight.
If the champion can’t even get him to the mat with regularity, it’s going to take a special effort from Masvidal to get this fight to where he wants it to be.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com