On his latest ‘Fight Companion’ podcast, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan let slip that ticket sale for UFC 217: Bisping Vs GSP aren’t as good as you would hope they would be for one of the most stacked shows of the year.
“Bisping vs. GSP. Now, I’m hearing, that that’s not selling well, Madison Square Garden,” Rogan told Brendan Schaub and Eddie Bravo on the podcast while watching UFC Fight Night 118 on Saturday. “That’s unfortunate.
“Here’s the thing, though. If you really stop and think about it, that was four years ago since (St-Pierre) last fought Jonny Hendricks. The people that are into the UFC now, they’re post-Ronda Rousey, post-Conor McGregor, the casual fans.”
“The hardcore fans like you and I, we’re gonna watch that fight, for sure. Like, ‘OK, I want to see what Bisping looks like fighting a guy like Georges St-Pierre who’s smaller than him, taken four years off. Bisping’s got this opportunity to make a shitload of money. And then Georges, how’s he gonna look? We haven’t seen him in four years.”
Nevertheless, it still seems strange that tickets aren’t doing well given that the whole event is filled with great fights, including no less than two other title fights, with bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt fighting his bitter rival TJ Dillashaw and women’s strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk fighting Rose Namajunas, and lets not forget Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson vs. Jorge Masvidal is also on the main card.
Still, Rogan clearly feels its the main event thats the root of the problem, and he went on to suggest that perhaps St-Pierre isn’t looking at his best at 185lbs.
“He’s a little soft,” Rogan noted. “kind of heavy around the middle, (like he was) eating a lot. There’s a big difference between that and Kevin Lee (who) was jacked. Like that picture of him on top of Tony, when he was dropping bombs on him. Jacked.
“Georges does not look that good. You can be in great shape at 35 years old, but it really, completely helps if you were super active for a long time.”
