This article is part of our Fight Stat Wrap series.
UFC 217 turned out to be one of the best events of the year. In the main event, Georges St-Pierre returned from a four-year layoff to defeat Michael Bisping and claim the UFC middleweight championship. The card also crowned two more new champions. The following is a by-the-numbers recap that highlights the stats and milestones that stood out on the main card, with stats courtesy of FightMetric.com.
For DraftKings, the highest possible score was 641 points for a team composed of Curtis Blaydes, Rose Namajunas, Paulo Costa, James Vick, TJ Dillashaw and St-Pierre. On the UFC Fight Pass preliminary card, Blaydes put up the highest score of the night, 122.5, for his second-round finish of Aleksei Oleinik.
Georges St-Pierre turned back the clock against Michael Bisping
St-Pierre scored a knockdown in the third round and then poured it on with elbows from the top. He landed 19 significant strikes before Bisping gave up his back and fell via submission. This stoppage was the first for St-Pierre since 2009, and it was his first submission finish since 2007.
As brilliant as the stoppage was, the way that St-Pierre took Bisping out of his game might be more impressive. Going into the fight, Bisping had landed 4.44 significant strikes per minute. Against St-Pierre, he managed to land only 1.88. That is the second lowest effective rate of his UFC career, behind only the 1.6 he landed per minute against Tim Kennedy.
It is possible that Bisping was afraid to fully engage due to St-Pierre's noted wrestling game. For his career, Bisping stops 63 percent of his opponents' takedown attempts. However, against St-Pierre, he allowed him to land three of his four attempts.
St-Pierre finished with 105.5 DraftKings points, which was good enough for the third-highest score of the night. He was one of six fighters to break the 100-point barrier on the card.
TJ Dillashaw picked up a pair of knockdowns against Cody Garbrandt
Going into this fight, Dillashaw had five knockdowns in 13 fights. He ended up landing a pair against Garbrandt and finishing the fight in the second round. With the two knockdowns, his knockdown per 15 minute rate increased from 0.41 to 0.56. Since busting onto the scene with a new striking game in 2014, Dillashaw has been finishing opponents with an accumulation of strikes. Against Garbrandt, he showed that he has also developed power.
Dillashaw finished with exactly 100 DraftKings points based on 20 significant strikes, two knockdowns and the 70-point second round finish bonus.
Rose Namajunas became the first person to stop Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Namajunas shocked the world and picked up her first knockout victory in the UFC. It was also on her second knockdown in the UFC. It is a small sample size, but Jedrzejczyk was clearly out of her game. For her career, she lands 49 percent of her significant strikes but against Namajunas she managed to land only 11 percent.
Namajunas finished with the highest DraftKings score on the main card and the second highest of the night. She scored 107.5 points based on 15 significant strikes, the knockdown and the 90-point first-round finish bonus.
Stephen Thompson went back to his roots against Jorge Masvidal
At times during his two fights against Tyron Woodley, Thompson seemed afraid to fully engage and throw strikes. In those two fights he landed only 1.92 significant strikes per minute. That fear was gone against Masvidal. Since Masvidal is a much less powerful striker and a less intimidating takedown threat, Thompson was able to land 4.67 significant strikes per minute.
Thompson also gave Masvidal a lot of issues with his movement and elusiveness. Masvidal only landed 29 percent of his significant strike attempts, which is by far the worst rate of his UFC career. His previous UFC low was 37 percent against Tim Means.
Paulo Costa continued to impress against Johny Hendricks
In three UFC fights, Costa has scored three knockouts. He has outscored his opponents 114 to 66. Against Hendricks, he landed 7.68 significant strikes per minute. Costa certainly appears to be the next big middleweight star to come out of Brazil.
For the knockout, Costa scored 104.5 DraftKings points The score was good enough for fourth-best on a night full of finishes.
