After four years away, Georges St-Pierre made UFC history on Saturday night.

St-Pierre (26-2 MMA, 20-2 UFC), who left the sport as a long-reigning welterweight champion, returned to the UFC and choked out middleweight champion Michael Bisping (30-8 MMA, 20-8 UFC) to become the new 185-pound titleholder and just the fourth two-division champion in the promotion’s history.

The middleweight title bout was the main event of today’s UFC 217 event at Madison Square Garden in New York. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

St-Pierre went to the center and faked a kick while Bisping circled on the outside. Bisping tried to pepper a jab, but St-Pierre landed a right hand over the top. He tried a spinning kick shortly after that. St-Pierre missed on a right hand that had bad intentions. Bisping landed a left, but Bisping hit a solid jab seconds later. With two minutes left, St-Pierre clipped Bisping with a right hand, but couldn’t drop him.

A spinning kick whiffed for St-Pierre with 90 seconds left, and with a minute left St-Pierre dropped down for a takedown and secured it. It didn’t take long for Bisping to get back to his feet, but St-Pierre landed a right and a glancing kick before the horn. If anyone wondered how St-Pierre would respond after four years off, they got their answer.

St-Pierre tried a side kick early in the second, then tried it again 90 seconds into the frame. A right hand clipped Bisping not long after that. But Bisping’s best punch of the fight came a little more than two minutes into the round when he popped St-Pierre’s head back with a right. With two minutes left, St-Pierre got Bisping down in the center of the octagon and got to half-guard.

But without taking any damage, Bisping was right back to his feet and landed a big right hand. Bisping nearly took St-Pierre off his feet with a punch and slip, and St-Pierre looked to be much slower deep in the second than he was at the start of the round. Bisping glanced a high kick off St-Pierre’s head, then another not long before the round ended.

Fifteen seconds into the third, St-Pierre took Bisping down for the third time. But Bisping landed elbows from the bottom and cut St-Pierre open. Bisping wrapped St-Pierre up in guard and played defense from his back. St-Pierre got an elbow through. Just past the three-minute mark, Bisping got back to his feet. St-Pierre was a bloody mess from Bisping’s elbows. Bisping landed a right hand, but St-Pierre landed seconds later.

But a perfect left hook landed for St-Pierre and put Bisping on the canvas. St-Pierre dropped down and started hammering away with punches. John McCarthy gave the champ plenty of time to defend and work his way out. But St-Pierre let Bisping get out – only to take his back and quickly sink in a rear-naked choke.

Bisping refused to tap and went out cold, and St-Pierre was the latest two-division champion in UFC history.

“I knew he had a problem with the shot coming from the right,” St-Pierre said afterward. “That’s what we did most of the fight. (The submission) was a trick. I think the best thing in fighting is to set up a trap.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC 217 results include:

• Georges St-Pierre def. Michael Bisping via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 4:23
• T.J. Dillashaw def. Cody Garbrandt via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 2:41
• Rose Namajunas def. Joanna Jedrzejczyk via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 3:03
• Stephen Thompson def. Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
• Paulo Costa def. Johny Hendricks via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:23
• James Vick def. Joseph Duffy via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:59
• Mark Godbeer def. Walt Harris via disqualification (illegal kick) – Round 1, 4:29
• Ovince Saint Preux def. Corey Anderson via knockout (head kick) – Round 3, 1:25
• Randy Brown def. Mickey Gall via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
• Curtis Blaydes def. Aleksei Oleinik via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 2, 1:56
• Ricardo Ramos def. Aiemann Zahabi via knockout (spinning back elbow) – Round 3, 1:58

For complete coverage of UFC 217, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan, Mike Bohn, Ken Hathaway and Abbey Subhan contributed to this report on site in New York.)

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