UFC 217: A Special Night for MMA

Disappointment is almost par for the course in MMA. Big events can fall short of expectations. Legends return with hope and often leave assaulted. Well-matched title bouts can turn into unmemorable affairs. Great stories are left in the cage, unfulfilled.

None of those were the case on Saturday night at UFC 217, top to bottom one of the best events the UFC has ever delivered. All-time great Georges St-Pierre returned from a four-year absence to capture the middleweight championship Teammates turned bitter adversaries T.J. Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt delivered a barn burner. Quiet, unassuming underdog Rose Namajunas brought the house down with an upset knockout over an intimidating and imposing Joanna Jedrzejczyk. The fights underneath the three title bouts featured six finishes, including a spinning back elbow knockout and a thunderous head kick knockout.

It was a night that left nothing to complain about; a night in which everything went right.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk was expected to cruise to her sixth consecutive successful title defense. All week, and just moments before the fight began, Jedrzejczyk was in Rose Namajunas’ face attempting to throw her off her game. Instead, if was Jedrzejczyk that never seemed comfortable and never found her range.

Namajunas knocked Jedrzejczyk down early. When Jedrzejczyk worked back to her feet, Namajunas wasn’t fazed. She kept landing on the dominant champion, and dropped her with a left hook that led to the end.

Even in the chaos of the biggest victory of her career, Namajunas played it cool.

Considering Jedrzejczyk’s dominance and the lack of contenders at strawweight, an immediate rematch is a sensible direction.

Cody Garbrandt called for an immediate rematch after his knockout defeat to T.J. Dillashaw, which lost him the bantamweight championship. Garbrandt looked tremendous in the first round, with unreal hand speed that allowed him to control the fight. He knocked Dillashaw down at the end of the first round, which only raised his confidence and indicated the end was near. Dillashaw tried to play it off after the round, but his awkward stumble to his corner gave him away.

In spite of being hurt, Dillashaw took a key component of his corner’s advice and began throwing kicks without setups. In the first round, the setups had been giveaways to Garbrandt to get out of range before the kick came. In the second round, without a setup, Dillashaw knocked Garbrandt down with a head kick that changed the complexion of the fight. Later, Dillashaw cracked Garbrandt with a right hand that ended the fight.

Hopefully, Dillashaw’s next fight will be against Demetrious Johnson, which is the best fight the UFC could possibly make today. If Dillashaw’s next fight is a defense of his bantamweight title, it should come against the winner of December 30’s Dominick Cruz vs. Jimmie Rivera.

Before selling hundreds of thousands of pay-per-view units, Georges St-Pierre’s return first drew groans. The groans were not for the fact of the return of the welterweight king, but rather how he was doing it. He returned to fight middleweight champion Michael Bisping, a fighter scoffed at as having won the title in a fluke and criticized for never defending his title against a laundry list of top contenders that not-so-patiently awaited him.

The fight may have held up the division, but for at least one night, it was all worth it. There were concerns about how St-Pierre would look fighting in a weight class 15-pounds above his best fighting weight and after a four-year break. Nobody wants to see an all-time great make a poor showing of himself and get beat up by a larger opponent, which seemed to be a real possibility entering Saturday’s main event.

Instead, Georges St-Pierre looked like Georges St-Pierre, if a little bigger, a bit slower, and much more prone to tiring. Bisping proved to be a tough match for his challenger. When St-Pierre began slowing in the second round, Bisping landed strong punches. The defending champion was tough for St-Pierre to keep on the ground. When St-Pierre was able to keep him grounded, Bisping busted him up from the bottom and won the ground with his damage.

The fight did not appear to be going in a direction favorite to St-Pierre by the third round. Carrying more muscle than his welterweight days and feeling the burden of his layoff, St-Pierre faded after a strong first round. There seemed a real possibility that things would get ugly for him. That began to change rapidly with one punch, a left hook that dropped Bisping and ultimately enabled St-Pierre to choke him unconscious.

It was a memorable moment reminiscent of Randy Couture’s championship winning return in 2007 against Tim Sylvia, only St-Pierre vs. Bisping was a much more competitive fight.

To close 2017, Georges St-Pierre is back and he is the middleweight champion of the world. This was always a good possibility from the time the match was first announced eight months ago, but it seems surreal nonetheless.

St-Pierre’s next bout remains unclear. UFC President Dana White declared that St-Pierre would meet interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker next, but St-Pierre appeared noncommittal to staying at middleweight in his post-fight interview. If he moves down in weight, welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is the obvious option, but there are more interesting options for the new middleweight champion.

If Anderson Silva beats Kelvin Gastelum later this month, he becomes a viable option for St-Pierre. Silva vs. St-Pierre was the ultimate showdown for years as Silva decimated middleweights while St-Pierre dominated welterweights. The appeal of Anderson Silva, the greatest middleweight of all-time, challenging St-Pierre to regain his championship is undeniable. If St-Pierre were to win, he would also likely win the general consensus as the greatest fighter of all time.

The downside of St-Pierre vs. Silva is that it takes a title that is already bordering on punchline status and makes it a laughing stock. By all rights, Robert Whittaker deserves the next crack at St-Pierre, but he holds neither the box office nor historical appeal of Silva.

The dark horse option for St-Pierre is Conor McGregor. St-Pierre vs. McGregor would be the biggest fight in UFC history, even if some pounds separate them. This option would hold up two divisions, but holds the potential of UFC’s first two million-buy fight.

Dan Plunkett has covered MMA for 411Mania since 2008. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Dan_Plunkett.