Ufc

Three Titles Up For Grabs At UFC 217

Three Titles Up For Grabs At UFC 217
12:13, 04 Nov 2017

Madison Square Garden plays host to the most anticipated fight card of the mixed martial arts calendar as UFC 217 brings three title fights to New York.

A total of eleven fights will grace the octagon in the world’s most famous arena with the main event featuring Britain’s own UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping taking on returning legend Georges St. Pierre.

The Canadian has been out of action for almost four years and will look to move up a weight class to add the middleweight crown to his welterweight title, a division he dominated over the course of his career. For Michael Bisping, it will give him the opportunity to retain his title and add Georges St. Pierre to the list of his foes, which already includes another legend in Anderson Silva.

How will Georges St. Pierre return after his hiatus from the sport? The sport has evolved considerably since his departure and it’s unclear as to how he will handle the extra fifteen pounds in the octagon. Can Michael Bisping win in the biggest fight of his illustrious and length career? Nobody deserves this opportunity more than the British star.

In the co-main event, Cody Garbrandt will look to defend his bantamweight championship for the first time, taking on rival TJ Dillashaw in a hotly-anticipated bout considering the bad blood between both men.

Garbrandt won the crown in dominant fashion, outclassing long-time bantamweight king Dominick Cruz over five rounds last December. The fighters have already clashed on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ as coaches and their rivalry has shown no sign of slowing down.

Expect no touching of gloves, no niceties or any congratulations towards the victor. This fight has been brewing for months and it makes for a mouth-watering co-main event in New York City.

The first title on the line will be the women’s strawweight crown with perennial queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk taking on Rose Namajunas. The Polish superstar is unbeaten in her fourteen professional outings and has defended her title five times since capturing the belt two-and-a-half years ago.

In a division where the current champion has cleared out most competitors, Rose Namajunas earned a title shot with a victory over Michelle Waterson in April this year, after previously losing to ex-challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The American is 4-2 in the UFC and is a sizeable underdog on the night. Can she shock the world?!

The main card also features a welterweight bout between top contenders Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson and Jorge Masvidal. Thompson will be looking to bounce back from his title challenge defeat to Tyron Woodley, whilst Masvidal will look to recover from his split decision loss to Demian Maia.

The main card kicks off with former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks taking on unbeaten Brazilian Paulo Borrachinha in a middleweight bout that is not to be missed. Hendricks will hope to avoid sliding to yet another defeat, after only winning one of his last five bouts in the octagon. Borrachinha has quite simply demolished every fighter in his way so far and will look to continue his march to the middleweight top fifteen in just his third octagon outing.

The early prelims are scheduled to kick off at 11PM on UFC Fight Pass with the prelims moving over to BT Sport at midnight. The five-fight main card gets started at the slightly earlier than normal time of 2AM, also on BT Sport.

It makes for an historic night in Madison Square Garden. Who’s staying up for the action?

Full Fight Card

Main Card (2am on BT Sport)

  • UFC Middleweight Championship: Michael Bisping © vs. Georges St. Pierre
  • UFC Bantamweight Championship: Cody Garbrandt © vs. TJ Dillashaw
  • UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship: Joanna Jedrzejczyk © vs. Rose Namajunas
  • Welterweight: Stephen Thompson vs. Jorge Masvidal
  • Middleweight: Johny Hendricks vs. Paulo Borrachinha

Prelims (Midnight on BT Sport)

  • Lightweight: James Vick vs. Joe Duffy
  • Heavyweight: Walt Harris vs. Mark Godbeer
  • Light Heavyweight: Ovince Saint Preux vs. Corey Anderson
  • Welterweight: Randy Brown vs. Mickey Gall

Early Prelims (11pm on UFC Fight Pass)

  • Heavyweight: Aleksei Oleinik vs. Curtis Blaydes
  • Bantamweight: Aiemann Zahabi vs. Ricardo Ramos
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