GDT: UFC 217: Bisping vs. St-Pierre

[Avs_19]

Date: November 4, 2017
Venue: Madison Square Garden
City: New York City, New York
Time: 10pm ET/7pm PT
Viewing: PPV

MAIN CARD (PPV)

Middleweight Championship bout: Michael Bisping (c) vs. Georges St-Pierre
Bantamweight Championship bout: Cody Garbrandt (c) vs. T.J. Dillashaw
Women's Strawweight Championship bout: Joanna Jędrzejczyk (c) vs. Rose Namajunas
Welterweight bout: Stephen Thompson vs. Jorge Masvidal
Middleweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Paulo Borrachinha

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, TSN 5)

Lightweight bout: James Vick vs. Joseph Duffy
Heavyweight bout: Walt Harris vs. Mark Godbeer
Light Heavyweight bout: Ion Cuțelaba vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk
Welterweight bout: Randy Brown vs. Mickey Gall

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass)

Heavyweight bout: Oleksiy Oliynyk vs. Curtis Blaydes
Light Heavyweight bout: Ovince Saint Preux vs. Corey Anderson
Bantamweight bout: Aiemann Zahabi vs. Ricardo Ramos​

Click to read more...

 

[Avs_19]

One of the best cards this year. I just hope GSP isn't making a big mistake by coming back.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Hendricks better win his fight so he can call out GSP for a rematch (if he makes weight).

 

[m9]

What is with the odd fight placement on this card? OSP v Anderson should probably be on the bottom of the PPV, or at least the FS1 headliner. And it's not even the Fight Pass headliner? I know there was some late notice shuffling, but still. Oliynyk v Blaydes is great too.

FS1 card is pretty fun. Vick v Duffy & Brown v Gall should both be great.

I fully expect Bisping to batter GSP around in this fight. I don't think he'll get the finish, but I think you'll see a 49-46 victory and an extremely one-sided fight.

Garbrandt v Dillashaw is the most intriguing fight to me here. I would usually take Garbrandt in this one, but his back issues scare me. I don't like a guy coming back from back issues against a guy that moves like Dillashaw. Dillashaw 48-47 or split decision. Hope I'm wrong.

Rose is a very likable person and I'll be cheering for her, but I don't see what she has for Joanna. Much easier fight than either Gadelha or Andrade.

I like Thompson to beat Masvidal, likely by a close decision.

Really, really like Borrachinha in this fight with Hendricks. Huge showcase fight for him.

 

[kurt]

I have a feeling GSP is going to get knocked out.

Win or lose, I'm hoping GSP sticks around for an Anderson Silva fight, then fights either Conor McGregor, Nick Diaz, or both.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Win or lose, I'm hoping GSP sticks around for an Anderson Silva fight, then fights either Conor McGregor, Nick Diaz, or both.

He's gonna re-retire a rich man lol.

 

[kurt]

He's gonna re-retire a rich man lol.

Maybe, but I feel like he'll be leaving a ton of money on the table if he does - especially if he wins.

 

[Rocko604]

Would love to watch this but I'll be in Seattle for the Washington/Oregon game.

The only reason I can see Hendricks being on the main card is because of his fight with GSP 4 years ago. OSP/Anderson should be in the spot.

 

[Kitten Mittons]

Maybe, but I feel like he'll be leaving a ton of money on the table if he does - especially if he wins.

No, I meant after he fights all the fights you've mentioned.

 

[Moncherry]

Would love to watch this but I'll be in Seattle for the Washington/Oregon game.

The only reason I can see Hendricks being on the main card is because of his fight with GSP 4 years ago. OSP/Anderson should be in the spot.

Hell no. Not only is Hendricks a bigger name than either of them but Paulo Borrachinha is a young, up-and-coming fighter with a perfect record and 100% finish rate. UFC likely wants to give him some exposure and rightfully so. Who cares about OSP or Anderson?

Also GSP better win, all I'm gonna say about that fight.

 

[m9]

Hell no. Not only is Hendricks a bigger name than either of them but Paulo Borrachinha is a young, up-and-coming fighter with a perfect record and 100% finish rate. UFC likely wants to give him some exposure and rightfully so. Who cares about OSP or Anderson?

Also GSP better win, all I'm gonna say about that fight.

I don't think Hendricks is a bigger name at this point. OSP has headlined a PPV and just headlined another card a month or so ago. I am fine with that fight being on the PPV, I just find it odd how buried the OSP/Anderson fight is.

 

[Neutrinos]

I don't think Hendricks is a bigger name at this point. OSP has headlined a PPV and just headlined another card a month or so ago. I am fine with that fight being on the PPV, I just find it odd how buried the OSP/Anderson fight is.

Headlining is all well and good, but Hendricks has 3 championship fights on his resume - GSP & Lawler x2

 

[Avs_19]

There's a chance GSP gets lit up but I can't count him out, even with the long layoff. Bisping doesn't get tired so we should know pretty early how this one will go. If GSP's takedowns get stuffed early on then he'll probably be in trouble.

Garbrandt/Dillashaw is the best fight on this card on paper. I think it'll be close but I like Garbrandt to take it.

Agree with m9 about Joanna/Rose. Rose is good but I just can't see her getting it done. She's good on the ground but Joanna has shown she can handle her own even if she does get taken down.

I don't know how Thompson/Masvidal will go but I hope we see the return of the pre-Woodley version of Thompson. There probably won't be much threat of a takedown so he should be able to let it go.

Regarding the Hendricks/Borrachinha placement, I honestly think it's on the main card because people know who Hendricks is and the UFC, like the rest of us, believes Borrachinha is going to **** him up. There's a case for putting it on the prelims because more people might see it but I think they want to use that PPV spot to really start selling Borrachinha to people.

Vick/Duffy should be a good one on the prelims. Also, it might just be because of his last name but I'm kinda intrigued by Aiemann Zahabi as well.

 

[Moncherry]

I don't think Hendricks is a bigger name at this point. OSP has headlined a PPV and just headlined another card a month or so ago. I am fine with that fight being on the PPV, I just find it odd how buried the OSP/Anderson fight is.

Not really, he served as a warm-up fight for Jon Jones. There's a difference.

I think this is about trying to get Paulo Borrachinha exposure more than anything.

 

[kurt]

No, I meant after he fights all the fights you've mentioned.

Yeah it's definitely a roadmap to a serious bank account.

 

[m9]

Headlining is all well and good, but Hendricks has 3 championship fights on his resume - GSP & Lawler x2

Regarding the Hendricks/Borrachinha placement, I honestly think it's on the main card because people know who Hendricks is and the UFC, like the rest of us, believes Borrachinha is going to **** him up. There's a case for putting it on the prelims because more people might see it but I think they want to use that PPV spot to really start selling Borrachinha to people.

Not really, he served as a warm-up fight for Jon Jones. There's a difference.

I think this is about trying to get Paulo Borrachinha exposure more than anything.

The more I think about it, I am going to stand by what I said about OSP being a bigger name than Hendricks and is more deserving of being higher on the card.

But the part I'm wrong about is this - lots of people will be watching this only because of GSP. To GSP fans and people who watched GSP, Hendricks is a far bigger name. So, placement makes sense.

 

[Rocko604]

Hell no. Not only is Hendricks a bigger name than either of them but Paulo Borrachinha is a young, up-and-coming fighter with a perfect record and 100% finish rate. UFC likely wants to give him some exposure and rightfully so. Who cares about OSP or Anderson?

Also GSP better win, all I'm gonna say about that fight.

Borrachinha may deserve to be on the main card, but Hendricks certainly does not, which is why I'd rather see the #3 LHW instead of a guy who likely won't make weight.

 

[Moncherry]

Borrachinha may deserve to be on the main card, but Hendricks certainly does not, which is why I'd rather see the #3 LHW instead of a guy who likely won't make weight.

You think OSP is the third best LHW? lol

I'm not seeing all the doom and gloom in regards to GSP's combeback. The last time Bisping fought, he got his ass kicked by 46 year old Dan Henderson.

 

[LSCII]

I'm very conflicted about picking a winner in this match and whom to root for. On one hand, I'd love for Bisping to destroy GSP, just because that would be really funny. On the other hand, I'd also really enjoy a "superfight" between McGregor and GSP, so I could watch GSP get KO'd again. Literally one my top 10 favorite moments in UFC watching was when Matt Serra slept GSP in their first fight.

 

[Neutrinos]

Hendricks also has a bit of a distinct look

Short, baby-faced stocky guy with the beard

Without looking him up, I couldn't tell you what OSP looks like - other than the obvious

 

[MD thaivuN]

I really don't think GSP wins here for two main reasons: Old Age and Ring Rust. GSP is a fighter that relies on explosiveness and timing to complete his takedowns. Athletically, the age will affect his explosiveness and the ring rust will absolutely screw with his sense of timing for his counter-takedowns. Bisping may be older than GSP, but GSP is the one who relies on athletic gifts as part of his game. In addition, I also think control of distance is such an important element of his game and I don't feel he'll have that control against a bigger/longer well-educated striker.

Perfectly fine with OSP vs Anderson spot placement. I get it's a fight between ranked LHW fighters, but LHW is such a trash division and this is not a particularly fun fight. Overall, this is a fight that is pretty easy to skip.

I think Rose is being underrated here. I believe she has the ability to compete with Joanna at range for some duration. She's also a very good athlete, has excellent killer instinct and got the ground game advantage. Do I think she wins? No, but i wouldn't surprised if she did.

Have no idea how Dillashaw vs Garbrandt goes. Garbrandt is probably the UFC champion with the least amount of high level fight footage, because he murks everyone and only started to see him unfold against Cruz.

I want to see Mark Goodbeer succeed because of his name.

Masvidal probably loses another split decision.

 

[Rocko604]

You think OSP is the third best LHW? lol

I'm not seeing all the doom and gloom in regards to GSP's combeback. The last time Bisping fought, he got his ass kicked by 46 year old Dan Henderson.

Truthfully, I don't really care who's fighting where as I can't watch the card anyway, but for the fun of arguing, I think OSP is top 5 at least. And I would rather see him and Anderson than watching someone who's misssed weight in 3 of his last 4. He makes Khabib look like a weight cutting master.

 

[Avs_19]

The LHW division is awful so OSP is somewhere in the top five mix. It goes DC, Gus, Oezdemir, and then a bunch of guys.

 

[MD thaivuN]

At LHW, DC, Gus, Oezdemir, Manuwa and Glover are pretty much better than OSP (with the latter 3 having wins over OSP). Ideally, in a world where UFC kept Phil Davis and Ryan Bader, OSP isn't even Top 10 level

 

[Jasper]

Best card in ages... Hoping for GSP/TJ/Thompson, don't know what to expect. Rose is going to get destroyed.