Bellator NYC. KSW 39. UFC 217. The MMA world saw a number of huge events go down in 2017 — but who did we choose as Event of the Year? In the end, it wasn’t even close. In fact, across our entire MMA Year in Review series for 2017, it was the only unanimous selection.

You’ve probably guessed the answer already, but read on to see what our writers chose as the Event of the Year 2017 in MMA.

Event of the Year 2017

Heath Harshman: UFC 218 was a ton of fun, but the history made at UFC 217, along with the performances, is unmatched in MMA this year. Featuring the return of GSP, the grudge match between Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw, and the rise of Rose Namajunas, UFC 217 is tough to beat. The fact that it all took place at Madison Square Garden is icing the cake of the best event of the year.

Paarth Pande: UFC217. There were three “and new” moments. Three major upsets. Almost all fights ended in finishes. UFC 217 was amazing

Jay Anderson: Probably the easiest call of the year-end selections I’ve had to make. KSW 39 was big, breaking attendance records. Bellator NYC was big, but ultimately bizarre. UFC 213 and 214 pretty much fell apart. In fact, it was a rather rough year for the world’s leading MMA promotion. UFC 217 was one of the few bright spots for the company — but what a bright spot it was. Three titles changed hands that night, an unprecedented occurrence we may not see again. TJ Dillashaw reclaimed his bantamweight title by finishing arch-rival Cody Garbrandt. Rose Namajunas shocked the world by usurping strawweight Queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Finally, Georges St. Pierre returned from a four-year hiatus to choke out Michael Bisping and claim the UFC middleweight champion.

Mike Straus: UFC 217 (no explanation necessary!).

Gabriel Gonzalez: UFC 217. While the event lacked the sheer star power of UFC 200 last year, this year’s Madison Square Garden card changed the courses of three divisions. Three belts changed hands, and each champion is set for an incredible 2018. GSP will be the top story regardless of his next move, Namajunas appears to have a rematch in the pipeline, and Dillashaw is set for a super fight. To have all that in one night makes this card the clear winner.

Mike McClory: UFC 217 – 3 title fights, 3 finishes and 3 title changes. The UFC could only hope for more events like this one.

Dan Doherty: Gotta be the night that three titles shifted hands in spectacular fashion. From bottom to top this event had it all: A spinning back elbow KO, referee controversies, a spectacular head kick, and that was just the prelims. Although the main card started out with Johny Hendricks simply surviving for 8 minutes against Paulo Costa, Wonderboy picked things up with a prime performance against Jorge Masvidal. Then we got to the title fights. Rose Freakin’ Namajunas knocked Joanna Jedrzejczyk out in what was the biggest upset of the night, maybe the year given how unstoppable Jedrzejczyk looked prior to UFC 217. Then TJ Dillashaw washes off a rough first round by knocking out his former teammate Cody Garbrandt to reclaim his bantamweight title. Lastly, Georges St. Pierre ends his four-year hiatus by casually winning the middleweight title over Michael Bisping, effectively fixing a great weight class. I have to say, seeing GSP win the title the way he did may have been the most amazing moment I’ve witnessed in MMA. Unbelievable.

Eddie Law: UFC 217. Three belts change hands, all three lost by the trash talkers. It was a win for takers of that “high road” everywhere.

The end result: there’s no doubt about it, UFC 217 was the Event of the Year 2017!

The post MMA 2017 Year in Review: Event of the Year appeared first on Cageside Press.

Also on the card, Polish rapper Popek, who suffered his second career loss at KSW 37 to Pudzianowski, and Pride/Bellator vet Sokoudjou. Former UFC star Norman Parke would appear as well, challenging Mateusz Gamrot for the KSW lightweight championship.

Opening the event (following a live guitarist being driven out to the cage in a jeep) was a battle for the inaugural women’s flyweight title. Ariane Lipski entered into some wild exchanges on the feet with Diana Belbita. Things eventually got to the ground, allowing Lipski to claim gold. While on bottom with guard looking for an arm or triangle, Lipski was able to latch on to an arm, swivel her hips to position her legs, and capture the victory via arm-bar just prior to the round ending. With that, Lipski becomes KSW’s first women’s flyweight champ!

In the second fight of the card, Polish Olympic wrestler Damian Janikowski made his professional MMA debut, and made short work of opponent Julio Gallegos. Janikowski, who won bronze at the 2012 Olympics in London, finished Gallegos with strikes in just over a minute. The end came with Janikowski raining blows from above onto Gallegos as the latter covered up.

A heavyweight bout between Michal Andryszak and Michal Kita followed, with Andryszak securing the win via anaconda choke. Kita actually initiated the takedown after taking damage on the feet, only to be trapped and choked out by his opponent.

The following bout saw Kleber Koike Erbst take home the victory with the KSW featherweight championship on he line, defeating Marcin Wrzosek via unanimous decision. Erbst spent much of the bout in control, and threatened submissions particularly in the third, but was unable to finish his opponent.

Mateusz Gamrot (c) v. Norman Parke

Following an intermission, former UFC fighter Norman Parke and Mateusz Gamrot battled for the promotion’s lightweight championship. The pair had engaged in a shoving match at the weigh-ins a day earlier.

The first round of Parke vs. Gamrot saw some solid action, with both fighters exchanging kicks. Parke in particular ate a stiff head kick, but soldiered through. In the second, Parke showed some solid defense with a good sprawl, but once taken down found himself in trouble, eating punches, and soon gave up his back. However, reminiscent of a skirmish between the fighters during weigh-ins, Parke shoved Gamrot while the ref had the pair separated, much to the displeasure of those in attendance. Upon replay it appeared Parke was unhappy with some attempted small joint manipulation and/or a possible finger bite by Gamrot that left Parke with an injured finger.

Once the action was re-started, Gamrot continued to shoot while Parke defended, and looked for a choke. Using the cage as leverage, Parke managed to tie up his opponent for quite some time but could not lock anything in. The crowd exploded once Gamrot managed to break, but after a brief exchange on the feet he again shot in unsuccessfully.

The third was much more active on the feet, with Parke putting on pressure while Gamrot circled out of range. Gamrot used his jab to keep Parke at bay, though he did attempt to shoot in, only to be denied, halfway through the round. They would finish trading on the feet before Gamrot appeared to try for a leg, but in the end it went to the judge’s scorecards. Gamrot would retain via unanimous decision.

Lukasz Jurkowski vs. Sokoudjou

Up next on the docket, Pride and Bellator MMA vet Sokoudjou faced Poland’s Lukasz Jurkowski. Sokoudjou ate a jab a minute in but was able to floor his opponent all the same. He managed to tie Jurkowski up against the fence as they clinched for a time, til the pair finally broke apart. A front kick later just missed by Sokoudjou. The remainder of the round was spent with the pair circling but failing to engage often, until Sokoudjou launched a spinning back kick towards round’s end that appeared to be a tad low as the bell rang.

In round two, Sokoudjou managed to mount then take the back of Jurkowski, landing some bombs from the top as the Polish fighter covered up. He would regain his feet only to be taken down again. The Pride vet would continue to control alongside the cage, and Jurkowski came away bloodied. Sokoudjou would miss a spinning backfist. Jurkowski would later answer back with a spinning back kick. With under a minute in round two remaining, Sokoudjou shot in and secured the take down, quickly passing into half guard and landing more shots.

The third round was contested primarily on the feet, and seemed much more even that the first two. Jurkowski was able to press the action, forcing Sokoudjou into defensive mode. Jurkowski managed to clip his opponent with just over a minute remaining in the fight, but ultimately the fight went to the judge’s scorecards. In the end, Jurkowski was awarded a split decision.

Tomasz Narkun (c) def. Marcin Wojcik

Light heavyweight champion Tomasz Narkun took on Marcin Wojcik next. A slow start featuring a feeling out process gave way to Wojcik briefly dropping the champ, but choosing not to engage on the ground. Narkun ate a number of blows with a smile, showing patience and selectively throwing leg kicks. Once the action went to the ground again, Wojcik found himself on top, but the strong guard and submission game of Narkun made the difference, as he was able to lock his legs around the neck and left arm of his opponent. Pulling down on Wojcik’s head, Narkun was able to force his opponent to tap out with just a second left in the round! With that, Narkun retained his light heavyweight championship within the first round.

Fernando Rodrigues Jr. (c) vs. Marcin Różalski

It was over before you could blink! Marcin Różalski was countering a Rodrigues attack when he connected with a short right hand, sending his opponent crashing to the canvas! And with that, Różalski captured the KSW heavyweight championship, within twenty seconds.

Paweł “Popek” Rak vs. Robert Burneika

In another short heavyweight (actually open weight) bout, Polish rapper Popek hurt his foe with a counter right early and followed him to the ground, scoring some ground and pound. Though Burneika popped back up, Popek dragged the bigger man back down to the ground and unleashed fury. The bloodied Robert Burneika had no answer, and the ref waved off the fight. Popek wins by TKO!

Mariusz Pudzianowski vs. Tyberiusz

A heavyweight showdown between a pair of strongmen served as the co-main event of KSW 39. Mariusz Pudzianowski (10-5) has been in the MMA game a while now, facing the likes of James Thompson, Bob Sapp, Oli Thompson, Peter Graham and others. Fellow strongman Tyberiusz Kowalczyk, meanwhile, has gone 3-0 in the sport since his debut in 2014.

In the first round, Pudz controlled the distance early with jabs and leg kicks, as Kowalczyk looked to counter. Pudzianowski caught a kick and nearly took the back of Kowalczyk but couldn’t hold on, and was warned for holding the fence. Kowalczyk threw a leg kick once action was back underway. A number of punches from Tyberiusz Kowalczyk just missed. Pudz then hurt his opponent with a kick and they started swinging wildly. Then went right into the spin cycle. Surprisingly, both men were still standing by the end of the round. Kowalczyk was switching stances by round’s end thanks to the solid leg kicks of Pudzianowski.

Round two saw a brief lull, then more action as Pudz was clipped, but countered and scored a knockdown. The former World’s Strongest Man then followed up on the ground trying to work from the back, then moved into the guard of Tyberiusz Kowalczyk. Pudz worked in body shots, as ref Mark Goddard warned them to keep working. Pudz tried to mount, got into half guard but couldn’t pass pass. Pudz looked for the choke, tried for the back then got back in guard, landing an elbow across the face of Tyberiusz that forced a tap. Pudz wins by submission to strikes.

Mamed Khalidov (c) vs. Borys Mańkowski (c)

In the main event of the evening, welterweight champion Borys Mańkowski met middleweight champ Mamed Khalidov at a catchweight of 181lbs in a champ vs. champ fight.

In the first, Khalidov looked to use kicks and his reach to control pace and distance. That forced Mańkowski to circle and search for a way in, at times launching kicks from the outside that at least once caused him to slip. An Axe kick by Khalidov connected but didn’t seem to phase Mańkowski. That move would be repeated by Khalidov later in the round. The middleweight champ appeared to take round one.

Khalidov opened the second round with a push kick, and later landed a spinning back kick. Mańkowski struggled to find an opening, and once Khalidov went to the mat in an open guard, Mańkowski declined an invitation to follow. Mańkowski was again forced to settle for throwing leg kicks from the outside. An upper cut and left hook combo from Kalidov about halfway through the round connected, but Mańkowski was able to answer back and hurt Khalidov for the first time in the fight. He survived the scare, but towards the end of the round tried a flying knee but was caught with a counter. Definitely a better round for Mańkowski.

Mańkowski opened the third round swinging hard, utilizing some looping hooks. He began putting the pressure on in the early moments of the round. For perhaps the first time in the fight, he also managed to work his way inside. Khalidov answered with a hard leg kick. Khalidov then shot in looking for the take down, but Mańkowski was able to defend and reverse position against the cage. Khalidov then worked in a trip but found himself rolling away in trouble. He smartly threw another knee coming out of the roll, but Mańkowski continued to come on strong. Khalidov shot in and secured the takedown with less than a minute in, and that could easily have swayed the round in his favor. Mańkowski utilized a rubber guard to keep Khalidov at bay. That took them to the bell! Ultimately the judges awarded a unanimous decision to Mamed Khalidov.

Results:

Mamed Khalidov (c) def. Borys Mańkowski (c) by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Champion vs. Champion
Mariusz Pudzianowski def. Tyberiusz Kowalczyk by submission (strikes), Round 2, 2:50
Paweł “Popek” Rak def. Robert Burneika by TKO, Round 1, 0:45
Marcin Różalski def. Fernando Rodrigues Jr. by KO, Round 1, 0:16 For the KSW Heavyweight Championship
Tomasz Narkun def. Marcin Wojcik via submission (triangle choke), Round 1, 4:59 For the KSW Light Heavyweight Championship
Lukasz Jurkowski def. Sokoudjou by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Mateusz Gamrot (c) def. Norman Parke via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) For the KSW Lightweight Championship
Kleber Koike Erbst def. Marcin Wrzosek via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28) For the KSW Featherweight Championship
Michal Andryszak def. Michal Kita via submission (Anaconda choke), Round 1, 1:14
Damian Janikowski def. Julio Gallegos via TKO (punches), Round 1, 1:26
Ariane Lipski def. Diana Belbita via submission (armbar), Round 1, 4:47 For the inaugural KSW Women’s Flyweight Championship

The post KSW 39: Colosseum – Live Recap and Results appeared first on Cageside Press.