Even after a lengthy hiatus, Georges St. Pierre didn’t miss a beat.
In the co-main event, T.J. Dillashaw put an emphatic stamp on the first chapter of his rivalry with former Team Alpha Male training partner Cody Garbrandt, winning via technical knockout in the second round of their bantamweight title bout. Dillashaw is now a two-time 135-pound titlist.
Elsewhere, Rose Namajunas authored one of the year’s biggest upsets when she stopped reigning strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk via technical knockout 3:03 into the opening stanza. At 25 years old with just 10 fights under her belt, Namajunas now owns UFC gold.
Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 217, with statistics courtesy of FightMetric.com.
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20: UFC victories for St. Pierre, tying him with Bisping for most in the history of the promotion.
13: Victories in title fights for St. Pierre, moving him past reigning flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and into sole possession of first place in UFC history.
4: Fighters to win championships in two weight classes. On Saturday, St. Pierre joined Conor McGregor, Randy Couture and B.J. Penn as the only fighters to accomplish the feat.
9: Middleweight champions in UFC history following St. Pierre’s title-winning performance.
3,199: Days since St. Pierre’s last finish in the Octagon, a fourth-round corner stoppage victory against Penn at UFC 94 on Jan. 31, 2009.
32: Significant strikes by which St. Pierre outlanded Bisping. That included a 27-to-8 edge in the decisive third stanza.
3: Takedowns landed in four attempts by St. Pierre. “Rush” has landed at least two takedowns in his last 13 UFC appearances dating back to August 2007.
19: Significant ground strikes landed by St. Pierre in the third round before securing the rear-naked choke victory.
7: Finishes in UFC/WEC competition for T.J. Dillashaw, who reclaimed the bantamweight crown with a second-round TKO of Cody Garbrandt in the co-main event. That ties Dillashaw with Urijah Faber and Renan Barao for most finishes in the combined history of the two promotions.
11: Bantamweight triumphs for Dillashaw in UFC/WEC competition, tying him with Faber for second most among fighters with experience in those two organizations. Dominick Cruz is No. 1 with 12 UFC/WEC victories.
2: Knockdowns for Dillashaw in the decisive second stanza. Garbrandt landed a knockdown of his own in the waning seconds of the opening frame.
3: Undisputed women’s strawweight champions in UFC history following Rose Namajunas’ first-round TKO of Joanna Jedrzejczyk on Saturday night. Namajunas joins Jedrzejczyk and Carla Esparza as the only women to hold the 115-pound belt. Esparza defeated Namajunas at “The Ultimate Fighter 20” finale to capture the inaugural crown.
4: Strawweight finishes for Namajunas, the most of anyone in the division. In addition to Jedrzejczyk, “Thug” Rose has also stopped Michelle Waterson, Paige VanZant and Angela Hill in the Octagon.
5: Significant strikes landed by Jedrzejczyk, who missed on 37 of her attempts for an putrid 11 percent success rate. Jedrzejczyk had outlanded her previous six foes by a 971-to-328 count. Namajunas landed 15 significant strikes in victory.
1: Card in UFC history to see three new champions crowned in the same night. St. Pierre, Dillashaw and Namajunas all dethroned reigning titlists at Madison Square Garden.
70: Significant strikes landed by Stephen Thompson against Jorge Masvidal, the second-highest figure of “Wonderboy’s” UFC career. Thompson outlanded his foe 13 to 12 in round one, 18 to 14 in round two ad 39 to 16 in round three.
49: Significant head strikes for Thompson. By comparison, Masvidal landed just nine.
28: Significant leg strikes landed by Masvidal; Thompson had four.
.440: Significant striking accuracy for Thompson, who landed 70 of his 156 attempts. Masvidal, meanwhile, went 42 for 142, a 29 percent success rate.
49: Significant strikes landed by Paulo Henrique Costa in a second-round stoppage of former 170-pound king Johny Hendricks in their middleweight bout. Costa distributed his offense well, landing 25 significant strikes to the head and 23 to the body.
6:23: Total time needed for Costa to dispose of Hendricks, the longest fight of the Brazilian’s 11-bout professional tenure.
0: Takedowns landed in four attempts for Hendricks, a two-time NCAA national champion at Oklahoma State University. “Bigg Rigg” has not landed a single takedown in three bouts since moving to middleweight.
8: Finishes for Ovince St. Preux following his head kick knockout of Corey Anderson in the third round of their preliminary encounter. That is the third-most finishes for a light heavyweight in modern UFC history Only Jon Jones and Chuck Liddell — with nine finishes apiece — have more.
4: Takedowns landed in 10 attempts by Anderson before the stoppage occurred 1:25 into the third round. Anderson has landed 33 takedowns during his UFC tenure.
34: Significant strikes by which Randy Brown outlanded Mickey Gall during their three-round welterweight clash. Gall landed just seven significant strikes en route to losing a unanimous decision.
2: Spinning back elbow knockouts in UFC history after Ricardo Luis Ramos accomplished the feat against Aiemann Zahabai 1:58 into the third round of their bantamweight bout. The only other person to win via spinning back elbow KO was Dong Hyun Kim against John Hathaway at “The Ultimate Fighter China” finale in March 2014.