Sunday 12 November 2017

UFC 217 Review




DISCLAIMER: This article is reviewing one fight from the Fox Sports 1 prelims and all the main card fights ONLY.

UFC 217 is in the books and even a week later, it's still being discussed and reviewed to how the results of it have influenced the MMA world.

With three new champions, and one of them being a returning legend, UFC 217 may well have a case for being the greatest MMA event ever.













Randy Brown defeats Mickey Gall via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28 and 29-27)

Randy Brown (now 10-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) won the Dana White Lookin' For a Fight title (not actually a title, Mickey Gall (now 4-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) joked about it before his fight against Sage Northcutt)  by defeating Mickey Gall via unanimous decision in Gall's worst performance in the Octagon.







Paulo Costa defeats Johny Hendricks via second-round knockout (1:23)

Paulo Costa (now 11-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) defeated former Welterweight championship challenger Johny Hendricks (now 18-8 MMA, 13-8 UFC) in convincing fashion.

Going into the fight, Hendricks thought he'd missed weight, but did make it, and although this shouldn't be an excuse for Hendricks, who was dominated by his Brazilian opponent, it's quite clear that he's not where he was back in 2013 when he came close to winning the Welterweight title.










Stephen Thompson defeats Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27 and 30-27)

Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson (now 14-2-1 MMA, 9-2-1 UFC) defeated Jorge Masvidal (now 32-13 MMA, 9-6 UFC) in a good striking fight that saw Thompson regain his momentum after his majority draw and loss fights to Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley. 

Whether he'll get another title shot is up in the air, although there is a young up-and-comer called Darren Till who would love to get into the Octagon with 'Wonderboy'.









Rose Namajunas defeats Joanna Jedrzejczyk via first-round knockout (3:03) to become the new Women's Strawweight Champion


Rose Namajunas (now 14-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) shocked the world by dethroning Joanna Jedrzejczyk (now 7-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) for the Women's Strawweight Championship in just over three minutes.

In the build-up to the fight, Joanna showed her brilliant mental warfare by getting into Rose's face and whispering insults, some of them quite crude, in Polish.

However, Rose stayed calm and collected and went into the fight with a clear plan to shock the world.

A potential rematch could happen but whether Joanna needs to bounce back with a win before getting her rematch.

















T.J. Dillashaw defeats Cody Garbrandt via second-round knockout (2:41) to become the new Bantamweight Champion

In a blockbuster co-main event, former team-mates T.J Dillashaw (now 15-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and Cody Garbrandt (now 11-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) went to war over Garbrandt's Bantamweight Championship.

Many thought Garbrandt would pick up the win, and maybe put the rivalry to bed, but T.J rocked Cody with a left hook and continued to punch him before he was crowned champion.

In his post-fight interview, T.J called out UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson for a super-fight at 125 pounds. If that comes off or not, it looks as if Cody might not be next in line for a title shot.















Georges Saint-Pierre defeats Michael Bisping via third-round rear-naked choke (4:23) to become the new Middleweight Champion

After nearly four years, Georges Saint-Pierre (now 26-2 MMA, 20-2 UFC) returned to the Octagon to beat Michael Bisping (now 30-8 MMA, 20-8 UFC) for the UFC Middleweight Championship and put himself as the greatest martial of all-time, in my opinion at least.

To step away for four years and not only step up a weight class, but to beat the champion in a very good performance is remarkable and could've only been done by a small number of fighters (Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson are some names I think could do it).

It also came out after the fight that 'Rush' had an injured neck during his scrap with Bisping, saying on a Thursday media conference call:  'During the fight, I got a very bad inflammation in my neck and I couldn't really move my head much, especially at the end when I cooled down after the fight.

It was terrible. I couldn't even tie up my shoes. It was very bad.'

For Bisping, he's right back into the Octagon against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Fight Night Shanghai on 25th November.

For Saint-Pierre, it's in his contract that he'll defend the title against interim UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker, although GSP didn't confirm on the MMAHour that he would in fact face the Australian.

Whoever he faces next, it'll no doubt be the biggest fight possible, with McGregor not around.










 



No comments:

Post a Comment