Georges St-Pierre shows he’s still got it with submission of Michael Bisping at UFC 217
Four years away from the octagon didn’t change the fact Georges St-Pierre understands all the intricacies it takes to win a UFC fight.
Saturday night, in a superb mix of newly developed boxing training to complement his gifted takedown and mat maneuvering skills, St-Pierre celebrated his return by reuniting with a championship belt in the UFC 217 main event at Madison Square Garden.
St-Pierre dethroned middleweight Michael Bisping by third-round rear- naked chokehold, setting up the finish by belting Bisping in the face.
Once England’s Bisping (31-8) was decked, St-Pierre pounced and hammered him with multiple left elbows, shifting to deliver a slew of right elbows before turning behind Bisping to squeeze his right arm tightly around the 38-year-old’s neck.
St-Pierre flexed the hold until referee John McCarthy rushed in to spare a passed-out Bisping from further air restriction.
“Martial arts is not about the biggest [bravado]. It’s about technique,” St-Pierre (26-2) said in his 13th consecutive victory, a streak that dates to 2007.
St-Pierre, 36, took the extended break out of some frustration with the UFC’s previously unpoliced drug-testing policy, a situation that changed with the adoption of Olympic-style testing run by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
St-Pierre said he also lost some enthusiasm for fighting because of his dominance as long-reigning welterweight champion and powerful pay-per-view draw.
But when the talkative (and older) Bisping elevated to champion, the timing for a return became right.
“You’ve got to give it up to Georges. He was the better man tonight,” Bisping said.
That emotional bout was preceded by even greater highs, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk can now be added to the mountain of obstacles new UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas has overcome in life.
The Denver fighter produced one of the most stunning title-fight upsets, knocking out the previously unbeaten champion from Poland.
“I just want to use my gifts to try and make the world a better place,” Namajunas (8-3) said.
Raised amid a culture of drug abuse and domestic violence, Namajunas found tranquility in the routine of fight training and developed into a contender who was seen more as an inspiring story that was to play second to the dominance of Jedrzejczyk.
If Jedrzejczyk had won Saturday night, she would’ve tied former bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey’s UFC women’s record of six consecutive title defenses.
But two years to the month that Rousey was shocked by Holly Holm’s knockout triumph, Namajunas caught Jedrzejczyk early with a punch that knocked the champion down.
Jedrzejczyk (14-1) escaped that trouble temporarily, but then was slammed by a hook to the nose that had her legs wobbly.
“Confidence, composure,” Namajunas said when asked what she was thinking before applying the finishing blows.
There, Namajunas surged to deliver a hard elbow to the face and five unanswered left hands to the head that convinced referee John McCarthy to stop the fight 3:03 into the first.
Days after terror gripped the city when a motorist killed eight in Manhattan, Namajunas said, “Let’s give each other hugs. This [fighting] is entertainment.”
Former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw followed Namajunas with a big surprise of his own, regaining his belt by knocking out previously unbeaten Cody Garbrandt in the second round.
Dillashaw, a former Cal State Fullerton wrestler, followed a left kick that dropped Garbrandt by hammering him in the jaw with a fist. Garbrandt fell again and Dillashaw (16-3) threw 12 punches before the referee stopped the bout 2:41 into the second.
Dillashaw, a former stablemate of Garbrandt’s at former UFC title fighter Urijah Faber’s gym in Sacramento before a bitter split, shouted in Garbrandt’s face after the stoppage and barked at Faber too.
“I was just yelling, I was excited,” Dillashaw said after surviving a late first-round knockdown. “The kid hits hard and you can’t condition your chin. I got caught, but I bounced back. I was killing his body [in the second] and he dropped his hands.”
Dillashaw then called out long-reigning flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson for a fight.
Twitter: @latimespugmire
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