UFC 217 marks the return of George St Pierre and while the publicity isn't as great as I expected this is a huge card ft. 3 title fights (Fight Card below). The return of a legend moving up in weight to take on the heel Michael Bisping. The rivalry between TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt and lastly the best female fighter on the planet Joanna Violence.
I like the odds on Bisping at +102/2.02 given GSP has been out for 4 years and coming off multiple knee surgeries. On top of that he's put on weight to come up to 185 and doesn't look like it's natural at all. I don't mean that from a PED standpoint, i mean he doesn't look like he's carrying it well. Bisping is a cardio machine with good anti wrestling and great output on the feet. He's much more fluent with his hands and I dont think GSP has the power to keep him off. IF (and it's a big if) he has the explosiveness to complete the double leg constantly then the fight is interesting but I expect Bisping's size and cardio to play a part here. I see Bisping taking over after round 2 and winning a somewhat clear decision. Especially if he can make GSP work early. 1Unit at +102
Joanna Violence takes on Rose Namajunas for the belt and while I don't have a long, technical write-up here I fully expect it goes the distance. Rose is tough and skilled enough to not only lats but make this interesting at times. I don't expect her to win but this should go over 3.5 rounds. 1U on Over 3.5 rounds at -155
TJ Dillashaw v Cody Garbrandt is the fight of the night for me. Garbrandt had to pull out of a fight not so long ago due to a back injury. He flew to Germany to get some stem cell injections to fix it. I do question how quickly he's come back and if he has rushed his recovery TJ's speed and movement is going to be hard to counteract. Garbrandt has the superior technical boxing and does have solid power in his hands but TJ is quicker and more diverse with strikes. I expected the odds here to be a pick em but we're getting TJ at +155 so that's a bet for me. I expect it to go to a decision but no use getting greedy on a +155 dog. 1U at +155 on TJ Dillashaw
All bets
Bisping - 1U @ +1.02
Over 3.5 Rounds (Joanna/Namajunas) @ -155
TJ Dillashaw - 1U @ +1.55
Over 1.5 Rounds (Blaydes/Oliynyk)1Unit @ -110
Oliynyk - 0.25U @ +300
Randy Brown - 2.5U @ +100
Corey Anderson - 1U @ +140
Can't wait for GSP!
Haven't seen as much excitement for his return as I expected. Hope it's a good back and forth fight though!