(Courtesy of UFC)
UFC 217 Countdown goes into the camps of the 6 stars competing at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Nov. 4.
UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping prepares for a title defense against longtime welterweight king Georges St-Pierre, who is coming out of retirement after four years.
Having grown weary under the pressure of being one of the greatest champions of all time, St-Pierre stepped aside in November of 2013 after defeating Johny Hendricks at UFC 167. The competitive flame in him never died out. It flickered, but it never disappeared. Now, St-Pierre is back, looking to bigger challenges, quite literally, by moving up to the middleweight division to see if he could do there what he did at welterweight.
While St-Pierre was on the sidelines, Bisping took advantage of an opportunity to fight Luke Rockhold for the middleweight title as a short-notice replacement for Chris Weidman. He made the most of the situation, knocking Rockhold out and taking the belt. He has since defended the belt once, against Dan Henderson, and now steps into the biggest fight of his life, with the opportunity to become the only fighter to have defeated two legends: St-Pierre and Anderson Silva.
- UFC 217 Countdown: Cody Garbrandt vs. TJ Dillashaw
- UFC 217 Countdown: Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Rose Namajunas
Tune in to MMAWeekly.com on Saturday, Nov. 4, for full UFC 217: Bisping vs. St-Pierre Live Results and Fight Stats. The main event features Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre. In other title bouts, bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt squares off with former teammate TJ Dillashaw, and strawweight terror Joanna Jedrzejczyk aims to tie Ronda Rousey‘s women’s title defense record in a battle with Rose Namajunas.
