Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre ‘official’ for UFC 217 in New York
Middleweight champion Michael Bisping is finally getting the fight he wanted.
The current king at 185 pounds will face Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 on November 4 at the second ever event for the promotion at the historic Madison Square Garden.
Bisping confirmed the news during Wednesday night’s edition of “UFC Tonight”.
“This is actually the third time I’ve been offered this fight. The ship sailed twice, on this occasion, the third occasion, it set up sailing but it did a u-turn and it pulled up in New York City and off got a chirpy little Englishman who’s going to fight Georges St-Pierre, Madison Square Garden, Nov. 4,” Bisping said.
“It is official. Put it in your diaries. Do not miss it. We’re taking over.”
BREAKING: Per @bisping, the GSP-Bisping fight has been targeted for Nov. 4 at Madison Square Garden for UFC 217! https://t.co/PrgaMQu6zK
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) August 2, 2017
It was just a week ago that UFC president Dana White said that the fight between Bisping and St-Pierre was off and “that ship had sailed”. Instead, White was targeting St-Pierre’s return to the UFC against current welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.
White changed his mind after a less than exciting performance from Woodley in his fight with Demian Maia at UFC 214 so now St-Pierre is back in a middleweight title bout against Bisping in November.
The fight will serve as St-Pierre’s first return to action in almost four years after going on an indefinite hiatus from the sport back in 2013. St-Pierre left the UFC following nine consecutive title defenses at 170 pounds, but now he’s interested in adding a second championship to his resume with the move to middleweight.
Bisping vs. St-Pierre is expected to headline the card in November with more bouts expected to be added in the coming weeks as the UFC returns to Madison Square Garden for the first time since the historic debut event almost exactly one year earlier.
