In a show filled with stunning upsets, thrilling fights, and a four year return capped off with a title win, UFC 217 will no doubt go down as a truly memorable show. Before reentering the octagon, Georges St-Pierre’s last fight was against Johny Hendricks back on November 16, 2013 at UFC 167. Four years ago.
Since then, Georges St-Pierre considered himself retired, but when Dana White made the shocking announcement on March 1; that Georges St-Pierre would return to the octagon at UFC 217 to face Michael Bisping for the middleweight title, I, along with most, was thrilled. However, this announcement wasn’t greeted by admiration from everyone.
But on this night, Georges St-Pierre reminded everyone why he’s considered a legend in the world of MMA by defeating Michael Bisping, who was on a five fight win streak including capturing the title back in June 4, 2016 against Luke Rockhold.
Georges St-Pierre isn’t the only upset that happened tonight. Rose Namajuna defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the strawweight title in the first round via knockout. During the build to their fight, Joanna continuously tried to play mind games with Rose, who mostly remained quiet and unfazed by her games. But at UFC 217, Rose got the last word by knocking out the champ in the first round in what was surely an exhilarating and shocking moment.
While the world was still recovering from the stunning victory that took place before, T.J. Dillashaw managed to defeat Cody Garbrandt in the second round via knockout as well. The fight didn’t look like it was going Dillashaw’s way in the first round as Garbrandt came possibly seconds away from ending the fight before the bell sounded. But in the second round, Dillashaw was able to regain his composure and score the W via knockout against his rival Garbrandt.
A surely exciting and newsworthy night for the UFC; one that will go down in the books as one of the best.
Main card
GSP def. Michael Bisping via. Submission (rear-naked choke)
T.J. Dillashaw def. Cody Garbrandt via second-round TKO
Rose Namajunas def. Joanna Jedrzejczyk via first-round TKO
Stephen Thompson def. Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision
Paulo Costa def. Johny Hendricks via second-round TKO
Undercard
James Vick def. Joseph Duffy via second-round TKO
Mark Godbeer def. Walt Harris via first-round DQ
Ovince Saint Preux def. Corey Anderson via third-round KO
Randy Brown def. Mickey Gall via unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 29-27)
Curtis Blaydes def. Aleksei Oleinik via second-round TKO
Ricardo Ramos def. Aiemann Zahabi def. via third-round TKO