The Complete Guide to UFC 217: Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre

Michael Bisping (left) and Georges St-Pierre (right) mix it up at a recent face-off.Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

It seems the Georges St-Pierre unfreezing process went exceedingly well. As he emerged from the cold storage chamber, his musculature, accent and haircut were almost impossibly well-preserved.

Then came the hard part.

In March, with all the stealth he could muster, unfrozen GSP slipped into the warmth of the active fighter pool. Within minutes a blockbuster bout with middleweight champ Michael Bisping was simmering on the stove. Then it was off. Then it was back on. St-Pierre, for his part, publicly proclaimed that he was absolutely game to face Bisping. Any time after October.

As everyone puzzled over how to shoehorn unfrozen St-Pierre into a title picture he was never part of to begin with, fresh, never frozen middleweights grew frustrated over what they viewed as a divisional logjam. UFC brass set up an interim title to ease the pressure.

Ultimately the match was made and now it's here. Saturday at UFC 217, the train lurches into the station right under Madison Square Garden in New York City. Bisping vs. St-Pierre is the main event.

It has been four years since St-Pierre, the greatest welterweight of all time, went into self-imposed exile. Now he's back and no one has any idea how to react. Cheering? Cake? Eight months later, it's still a head-scratcher, and GSP isn't helping.

In his way, Bisping tried to instill some meaning with a bit of his trademark bad-movie trash talk, mainly stuff about how he thinks GSP is a bad fighter. GSP was never a microphone dynamo but some after-effects of the unfreezing process were evident in his grimacing, sputtering about how he will do his talking in the cage. 

So, no help there. Neither is the total mystery over his fighting abilities as a 36-year-old debuting middleweight. Neither is his name recognition. Formerly a safety net for his charisma shortcomings, his fame as a fighter has diminished with time, and he hasn't exactly killed himself restoring it since his return.

And yet, he's the welterweight GOAT, and is arguably the most fascinating story of the event, though perhaps not for the desired reasons. 

That's saying something, too, because UFC 217 is a pretty fascinating event. Of the 12 scheduled bouts, three are title fights—and the other two might be better, maybe a lot better, than the big one. None of them deserve footnote status, but I had to get some GSP stuff off my chest. Sorry.

Let us now go beyond the headlines for a complete guide to UFC 217. 

All betting odds accurate as of Wednesday and courtesy of OddsShark. MMA record information courtesy of Sherdog.