UFC 217 storms Madison Square Garden tonight, bringing battles for the ages during a time when its biggest star, Conor “The Notorious One” McGregor, has been on the sidelines after his sensationalist bout against Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
The UFC’s return to the Garden promises to be just as big as its last outing at UFC 205 last November, with yet another three title fights to scintillate the palette of the MMA faithful and laymen alike.
UFC 217: Weigh-in Recap
Check out the recap from the UFC 217 Weigh-in after all of the stars hit the scale. Subscribe to get all the latest UFC content: http://bit.ly/2uJRzRR To order UFC Pay-Per-Views, visit http://www.ufc.tv/events Connect with UFC online and on Social: Website: http://www.ufc.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ufc Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ufc Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ufc Snapchat: UFC Periscope: http://Periscope.tv/ufc Experience UFC live with UFC FIGHT PASS, the digital subscription service of the UFC.
In the main event, former UFC welterweight champion, Georges “Rush” St. Pierre (25-2) returns after four years away from the sport to both regain his personal life and force MMA to clean itself up. While searching for balance as the UFC’s former top earner before Ronda Rousey and then McGregor picked up the torch, St. Pierre was still training and added Freddie Roach to the permanent repertoire at Tristar Gym in his native Montreal.
While there as never been a successful boxing trainer-MMA relationship that has yielded anything significant in the sport, GSP hopes to smash that theory when he fights Michael “The Count” Bisping (30-7) tonight for the middleweight belt. As the athlete in the UFC with the most wins, quietly Bisping has been on tear and earned his status as champion. He has beaten a who’s who of the sport including Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Luke Rockhold, Dennis Kang, Cung Le and many more.
Heated! Full UFC 217pre-fight press conference (Bisping v GSP)
Watch the heated full pre-fight press conference featuring Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre ahead of UFC 217 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. The UK’s own world middleweight champion Michael Bisping takes returning legend Georges St-Pierre in the featured bout of the evening.
The Brit has never been one to hold his tongue and immediately made waves when he won The Ultimate Fighter season 3 back in 2006. Training out of Orange County, California with notable striking coach Jason Parillo, Bisping has never been at a loss for confidence. As the bigger man who has remained active, he might just achieve the victory over the UFC’s former poster boy.
For each competitor this fight is tremendous but for GSP, it is monumental in the fast food celebrity culture of MMA where his Canadian fans were once seen as the blue-chip customer and have now been superseded by the rabid Irish fans of “The Notorious One”.
UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk (14-0) looks to tie Ronda Rousey’s record of six consecutive title defenses tonight but it will be no easy feat against rising star Rose Namajunas. The Polish champion with a vicious Muay Thai style is virtually perfect everywhere and has dominated every opponent since becoming a professional MMA fighter in 2012.
UFC 217 Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 3
On Episode 3 of UFC 217 Embedded, UFC champions visit New York City landmarks as strawweight titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk ventures to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and bantamweight king Cody Garbrandt heads to Renzo Gracie Academy. Bantamweight title challenger TJ Dillashaw continues his training camp in California and gets polished up for the trip to recapture the belt he once held.
Her opponent, Rose Namajunas (6-3), entered the UFC for the inaugural strawweight title against Carla Esparza in 2014 losing via third round rear naked choke. Since then she’s gone 4-1, finishing Michelle Waterson in her last bout via rear naked choke submission in the second round. That set the Colorado-based fighter on a crash collision course with Jedrzejczyk, who has shown some Rousey over-confidence going into this bout.
It is important to remember that Rousey, going into her seventh consecutive title defense, was stopped by Holly Holm and her veil of invincibility was destroyed. Where Namajunas is more of a Rousey style aggressive grappler than a Jedrzejczyk style striker, the fact remains that it is anybody’s belt to have on any given night.
The last title fight is a battle between former teammates turned rivals as UFC bantamweight champion Cody “No Love” Garbrandt (11-0) takes on his old Team Alpha Male training partner and former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw (14-3).
For Garbrandt, this is personal as he is staunchly loyal to Team Alpha Male founder Urijah Faber. It is also his first title defense since outpointing Dominick Cruz last December to win the title.
UFC 217: Garbrandt vs Dillashaw – Fighting for Team Honor
The wait is nearly over as former teammates Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw are set to meet tomorrow, November 4 at UFC 217 live on Pay-Per-View. Subscribe to get all the latest UFC content: http://bit.ly/2uJRzRR To order UFC Pay-Per-Views, visit http://www.ufc.tv/events Connect with UFC online and on Social: Website: http://www.ufc.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ufc Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ufc Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ufc Snapchat: UFC Periscope: http://Periscope.tv/ufc Experience UFC live with UFC FIGHT PASS, the digital subscription service of the UFC.
Garbrandt recently released footage of him knocking out Dillashaw in training, further stoking the embers of this battle. Dillashaw famously left with noted Muay Thai coach Duane “Bang” Ludwig choosing him over his Team Alpha Male and Sacramento, California roots. The two have been in Denver, Colorado and since losing the belt to Dominick Cruz in a tough split decision, Dillashaw has compiled two consecutive wins against Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker.
This beef is personal and by the looks of the press conferences and the weigh-in face-offs, these guys are thirsty for blood. The UFC has consistently brought quality championship fights to Madison Square Garden and this outing is no different.
