Top 3 UFC Cards in 2017

This year was jam packed with UFC events, 39 in total. The UFC really out did themselves with pay-per-views and fight nights almost every weekend. They kicked off the year with a card headlined by legend BJ Penn facing off against up-and-coming prospect from Mexico Yair Rodriguez and ended the year with a card that featured Cris Cyborg vs “The Preacher's Daughter” Holly Holm, and also had the comeback of the undefeated lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov.

These three cards had everything you want to see in an MMA event: great fights, knockouts, a little trash talk, some controversy, and a little of the unexpected.

3. UFC 210

UFC 210 had a nice mix of competitive decisions and decisive finishes. There really wasn’t a bad fight on the card, the worst being the opener between Magomed Bibulatov and Jewel Lausa, which was a one-sided unanimous decision in the favor of Bibulatov.

The night had the upset submission of Will Brooks by Charles Oliveira via rear naked choke in the first round, and Patrick Cummins’ war with Jan Blachowicz, which he won by majority decision. Then there was Cynthia Calvillos’ defeat of Pearl Gonzalez by rear naked choke in the third round.

There were featured breakout performances by Gregor Gillespie, Shane Burgos, and Kamaru Usman, all top prospects.

This card also had controversy in the Geagard Mousasi vs. Chris Weidman fight, which was a competitive fight up until the second round when Mousasi landed two knees on Weidman. Referee Dan Miragliotta paused the action in the bout, deeming the second knee illegal.

After replays, the commission determined that both knees were legal but cageside doctors would not let a wobbled Weidman continue, so the fight was called off and Mousasi was awarded a TKO victory even though Miragliotta stopped the fight because he thought the knees were illegal, not because Weidman was out.

To top off this card, there was Daniel Cormier’s strong performance in the main event against Anthony Johnson. Johnson tried to grapple with Daniel Cormier, which was a suprising game plan because that is Cormier’s specialty. Cormier was able to take Johnson down in the second round and finish with a rear naked choke.

After losing to Cormier, Anthony Johnson announced his retirement which was a shock to many in the MMA world because Johnson had only lost to Daniel Cormier (twice) since returning to the UFC.

2. UFC 218

This was a top to bottom great card with the one lackluster fight being the bout between Felice Herrig and Cortney Casey.

The fight between Yancy Medeiros and Alex Oliveira was an intense battle between two warriors that stole the show. Oh wait, then came the fight between Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje, which lived up to the hype with an insane war that left both men hospitalized.

Did I mention there was also the brutal knockout of Alistair Overeem by Francis Ngannou who caught Overeem with a left hook/uppercut counter that landed directly on the chin of Overeem, knocking him out cold?

There was also an entertaining bout between Charles Oliveira and Paul Felder. Felder was able to defend Oliveira’s submission attempts in round one and land some ground and pound. Then in the second round after getting top position, Felder blasted Oliveira with huge elbows, which hurt Oliveira. The referee eventually stepped in for the TKO stoppage.

Then there was the main event, Holloway vs Aldo 2 (it was supposed to be Frankie Edgar, but he pulled out with an injury). Holloway did a great job working the body more in this bout than he did in their first meeting. He didn’t land the one-shot killer that landed last time, but Holloway broke down Aldo until the finish materialized.

Aldo did fight with more intelligence than he did in their first meeting and he returned to his low kicks, which were his best shots in the fight. His defense was pretty sharp for the first two rounds, but Aldo just couldn’t keep up. Holloway never took his foot off the gas and was able to take over for the victory.

1. UFC 217

As great as UFC 218 was, UFC 217 takes the number one spot. It featured three title fights and a night full of knockouts and technical knockouts with only two fights on the entire card, including the prelims and fight pass prelims, ending in decision.

The Fight Pass prelims kicked off the night with a knockout finish when Ricardo Ramos knocked out Aiemann Zaharia with a spinning back elbow, which was just the second of its kind in UFC history. Then came a TKO finish by Curtis Blaydes over Oleksiy Oliynyk. This fight ended oddly when the referee stopped the action because of an illegal kick thrown by Blaydes to a downed Oliynyk, who had taken significant damage before the kick was delivered. The fight was stopped by the ringside doctor. The replay showed that the kick grazed the ear of Oliynyk, which did not deliver significant damage so the fight was ruled a TKO in the favor of Blaydes.

Onto the Fox Sports One Prelims, it featured four fights starting with the unanimous decision win of Randy Brown over the up-and-comer Mickey Gall who is best known for being discovered by Dana White on his Lookin for a Fight series when he won his fight and called out wrestling star turned MMA fighter CM Punk. Next up was Ovince Saint Preux, who scored a comeback head kick victory to knock out Corey Anderson. Then there was another bizarre ending in the Mark Godbeer vs Walt Harris fight, which ended by disqualification due to an illegal head kick. James Vick then got a TKO victory over Joseph Duffy with a barrage of punches.

As if this wasn’t enough, we still have the main card to go over. There were five fights on the main card with Paulo Costa vs Johny Hendricks kicking it off. Former champ Hendricks looked slow and Costa was able to pick him apart and outclass him at every turn, ending the fight with a TKO victory. Then came the second fight, which ended in a unanimous decision, where Stephen Thompson handed Jorge Masvidal his most definitive loss in years.

Now, the meat and potatoes. Let’s kick this off with the first of three title fights with Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs Rose Namajunas for the strawweight women’s championship. Joanna is known for her agressive striking style and started the fight in Rose’s face, pushing forward, taunting and trying to get into Rose’s head, but Rose kept her cool and landed some hard blows, catching Joanna, who was able to get to her feet and land a few of her own before Rose connected with a brutal left hook and went in for the finish with a barrage that resulted in Joanna tapping due to strikes, which shocked the MMA world.

The next title fight was Cody Garbrandt vs T.J. Dillashaw for the men’s Bantamweight championship. This was a grueling slugfest. T.J. was the more active fighter in round one. They both engaged in competitive exchanges, making it a close fight. At the end of round one, Garbrandt landed a punch to the jaw that staggered T.J., stealing the round. T.J. came out and landed a left high kick that stunned Cody. He was able to get back to his feet but was still not all there. Dillashaw landed a right hook that put Garbrandt down. Dillashaw jumped at the opportunity to end the fight, reclaiming the bantamweight championship.

Last up was the main event and the return of George Saint Pierre against Michael Bisping for the middleweight championship. GSP moved up in weight (from welterweight) to come back after a four-year layoff, his last fight being a war with Johny Hendricks, which was a controversial victory (most people believe Hendricks won). So the excitement to see how GSP would look after going up in weight and being out of competition for four years was enough to make this card number one on my list, but then the fight started.

GSP came out looking pretty fresh for a man who was out for four years, controlling a lot of the first round, keeping Bisping off balance, and not allowing him to get into a rhythm. GSP was also able to score a take down and landed a Superman left jab to stagger Bisping.

Then Bisping was able to take control in the second round, looking fresh. Known for his great cardio, he was out-landing GSP, beating him to the punch every time. GSP’s long layoff started to show as he struggled at times to catch his breath, leaving openings for Bisping to capitalize on.

Bisping was able to cut GSP with several brutal elbows in the third round, but GSP caught his second wind. He landed a perfectly placed left hook followed by a series of blows. Eventually he was able to take Bisping back and choke out the champ in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden crowd.

And that’s it. The top 3 UFC fight cards of 2017. Full of exciting fights, I can’t wait to see what the UFC has in store for fight fans in 2018.