The UFC doesn’t have an offseason, preseason or regular season. But if it did have playoffs, UFC 217 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden would be an insane first-round matchup.
The mega event features three title fights, a legend of the sport coming out of retirement after four years on the sidelines, and a card so deep that four ranked fighters won’t even make it onto TV.
Amazingly, 217 is just the beginning of the UFC’s insane year-end schedule.
UFC 218 on Dec. 2 is a 13-fight blockbuster featuring 14 fighters ranked in the top 15 of their respective weight classes. While none of the fighters have become household names outside of the UFC’s bubble, all five fights on the main card are either title fights or fights to determine who gets the next title shot.
Then there’s UFC 219 on Dec. 30, which doesn’t have either a headliner or co-headliner booked, but already features former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, the Mike Tyson of kickboxing, Gokhan Saki, and undefeated Conor McGregor-instigator Khabib Nurmagomedov. A super fight between Holly Holm and Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino for the women’s featherweight title will probably be added to the top of the card in the not-too-distant future.
The depth and quality on display for these three pay-per-views can’t come soon enough for the UFC, which has had a terrible 2017. Cards were ruined by missed weight cuts, last-minute injuries and champions who played it ultra-safe in title fights because they wanted to protect their money. There was also the invention of interim titles in multiple weight classes because champions were either injured, holding out for fights against big-name opponents or boxing Floyd Mayweather.
Then, there were the failed drug tests that took down everyone from ultra-promising up and comers like Kelvin Gastelum to potential GOATs like Jon Jones. The former light heavyweight champion came off a PED suspension, which he blamed on “tainted d–k pills,” was hailed as the UFC’s best chance at a star in the post-McGregor world, dismantled Daniel Cormier at UFC 214, and then it was revealed he’d tested positive for steroid in a pre-fight PED test. His final punishment is yet to be finalized, but he could be facing a four-year suspension because it is his second failed test.
Finally, the UFC had to deal with its two biggest stars leaving the sport in 2017. First, Ronda Rousey was unofficially retired by Amanda Nunes on Dec. 30, 2016, and then McGregor decided that he wanted to fight Mayweather for a gigantic pile of money. The Irishman’s year-long flirtation with Mayweather, his predictable descent into race baiting and the subsequent scam of a fight might have been the biggest pay-per-view of all time, but it was never part of the promotion’s long-term plans.
Given all the insanity, it’s little wonder that the UFC dug out the architecture it used to build the hugely successful UFC 205 in order to construct UFC 217. For 205, McGregor became the carnival barker who got casual fans involved. Undefeated champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk went to war with smiling-assassin Karolina Kowalkiewicz for the women’s bantamweight championship. Real-life “Karate Kid” Stephen Thompson battled knockout-king Tyron Woodley for the men’s welterweight belt. And two New York-based stars — Chris Weidman and Frankie Edgar — plus a then-unknown Nurmagomedov filled out the rest of the evening’s entertainment.
UFC 217 was clearly constructed in its Madison Square Garden predecessor’s image. At the top of the bill, a loud-mouthed Irishman has been replaced by a loud-mouthed Englishman in the form of Michael Bisping, except he isn’t fighting a relative no-name like Eddie Alvarez. Instead, he’s fighting Georges St-Pierre, who is arguably the greatest fighter of all time who hasn’t been caught taking PEDs. Bisping’s mouth plus GSP’s drawing power, the UFC’s thinking went, would be the selling point to lure people in for the undercard fights, where the real greatness lies.
Bisping vs. St-Pierre has failed to spark that level of interest — largely because the hype around the fight is complete hogwash — but that doesn’t take away from just how good a card UFC 217 really is. Cody Garbrandt’s bantamweight title defense against TJ Dillashaw is one of the best possible fights in all of MMA and is one hardcore fans have been salivating over for months. The former training partners and teammates truly don’t like each other and share a fighting style but come at it from opposite directions. Garbrandt, whom UFC president Dana White has already picked out as the organization’s next big thing, is a boxer that’s become an expert in takedown defense. Dillashaw, meanwhile, is an incredible wrestler who uses his takedowns to set up his strikes. The result, for both, is a total package of speed, unpredictability, and movement that is simply breathtaking.
Jedrzejczyk comes to MSG with a chance at history. If she beats Rose Namajunas she’ll tie Rousey for the most title defenses by a woman in UFC history with six. Jedrzejczyk then plans to do the McGregor and grab a second belt, thus becoming the first woman to hold titles in two different weight classes at the same time. Her target will be whoever wins the inaugural 125-pound women’s flyweight title, which is going to be awarded to the winner of the current series of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Further down the card, UFC 205’s Thompson is back in a matchup that should prove to be far more interesting to casual fans than his two chess matches with Woodley. Jorge Masvidal, like Thompson, is a stand-up fighter, except he’s all about moving forward, while Thompson likes to move backward and counter. It’s a perfect matchup that really should produce fireworks. If it doesn’t keep an eye on former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks, who has struggled with his weight in the post-USADA era and is fighting for his career against 10-0 Brazilian brawler Paulo Borrachinha. Borrachinha is a gigantic 185-pounder who is always moments away from knocking out his opponent. Finally, in the prelims, there’s the perpetually underrated James Vick, CM Punk-destroyer Mickey Gall and Ovince Saint Preux, a light heavyweight who only ever loses to top-five fighters.