Brief history of Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden (MSG) is one of the most famous sporting arenas in the world. Since 1968, it has been home to the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers. Over the years, MSG has hosted several historical events, including the ‘Fight of the Century’ between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1971, John Lennon’s final major performance in 1974, and the first-ever Wrestlemania in 1985.
In more recent times, the UFC has been able to use the iconic arena, ever since the New York State Athletic Commission gave the green light in 2016 for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events to be held in their jurisdiction. The UFC didn’t waste time coming to MSG, and UFC 295 is the seventh time the organization has held an event at the venue. In this article, we take a look at the UFC’s history in ‘The Garden.’
UFC 205: Eddie Alvarez vs. Conor McGregor
November 12, 2016, was the ever event held in ‘The Big Apple’ and the first UFC event to be held in the state of New York since 1995. The debut of MMA in Madison Square Garden was as big as they come as three titles were on the line, and the sport’s biggest star, Conor McGregor, attempted to become ‘champ-champ’ by winning the Lightweight Championship to add to the Featherweight title he won against Jose Aldo less than a year earlier.
The fight more than lived up to the hype, with McGregor putting on what many consider his greatest-ever performance. McGregor’s sublime accuracy with his hands rocked Eddie Alvarez multiple times before a flurry of punches ended the fight halfway through the second round.
The co-main event at UFC 205 saw Tyron Woodley play out a majority draw against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, with two of the three judges scoring the bout 47-47 and the third having the fight in favor of Woodley by one point as Woodley retained his Welterweight Championship.
Joanna Jędrzejczyk defeated Karolina Kowalkiewicz via unanimous decision in the first title fight of the night. The victory for Jędrzejczyk -who the UFC recently named as one of their top 30 fighters of all time – was her fourth Strawweight title defense.
UFC 217: Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre
Like the first-ever UFC event at Madison Square Garden, three titles were also on the UFC’s return to New York City.
In the main event, UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping made his second defense against one of the best of all time, Georges St-Pierre. Making his return to the Octagon after almost four years, the UFC took the unusual decision to grant GSP an immediate title shot for his first-ever professional bout at 185lb.
Despite getting cut open by Bisping in the second round, GSP began the fight aggressively. Then, with a little over thirty seconds remaining in the third round, GSP submitted Bisping with a rear-naked choke. The comeback was brief for the now two-weight UFC Champion, as GSP retired soon after the bout. The United Kingdom’s first-ever UFC Champion, Bisping, would soon follow suit as he fought for the final time just three weeks later against Kelvin Gastelum in Shanghai, China.
The co-main event at UFC 217 featured a highly anticipated grudge match between T.J. Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt, former Team Alpha Male training partners. Dillashaw won the fight via TKO in round two, winning the UFC Bantamweight Championship and securing bragging rights over his friend-turned-foe.
The third title fight at UFC 217 was Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk for the Strawweight Championship. It wasn’t a happy return to MSG for the Polish superstar as ‘Thug’ Rose won via TKO in the very first round.
UFC 230: Daniel Cormier vs. Derrick Lewis
The card for the UFC’s third appearance at MSG was plagued with injuries and bout cancellations. Valentina Shevchenko was originally scheduled to face Sijara Eubanks in the main event of UFC 230 for the vacant bantamweight title. After the fight was canceled, Daniel Cormier put his UFC Heavyweight Championship on the line against Derrick Lewis in the new headline fight.
It was a dominant display from Cormier as he secured a takedown in the first round and spent most of the five minutes in top control. A similar pattern followed in the second round, and Cormier secured a rear-naked choke, tapping out the challenger.
After fights between Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz and Yoel Romero against Paulo Costa were shelved fir UFC 230, Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza fought Chris Weidman in the co-main event, with Jacare winning via KO halfway through round three.
UFC 244: Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz
With no title scheduled to be on the line for the card at UFC 244, the UFC created a new belt named ‘The Baddest Mother******’ belt, aka ‘The BMF Title.’ Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz competed for the controversial title on November 2, 2019.
After dominating much of the opening rounds, the assigned doctor analyzed a nasty cut above Diaz’s eye at the end of the third and deemed him unfit to continue. Masvidal subsequently won via TKO (doctor stoppage) and became the first-ever ‘BMF Champion.’ He was presented with the belt after the fight by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
UFC 268: Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington 2
The UFC began life at MSG with two blockbuster cards (UFC 205 and 217), and two lackluster cards followed. UFC 268 got things back on track. The event was one for the ages as Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington rematched following Usman’s fifth-round TKO victory in the pair’s first fight two years prior. This time, the fight went to the judge’s scorecards, with Usman winning unanimously (48-47×2, 49-46.)
This wasn’t the only rematch on the card involving a title at UFC 268, as Rose Namajunas fought Zhang Weili for the second time in 2021. Seven months prior, at UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Florida, Rose Namajunas won the Strawweight Championship by knocking out Weili with a picture-perfect head kick in the very first round. The rematch at UFC 268 was a completely different fight. Like the main event, this one also went to the judge’s scorecards, with Namajunas winning via a split decision (49-46, 48-47, 47-48.)
UFC 268 was notable for the fight between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler, who delivered a five-round war that earned them a Fight of the Night bonus. Both men left their sublime wrestling skills at home and decided to go hell-for-leather from start to finish in a fight that Gaethje won by unanimous decision.
UFC 281: Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira
Two title fights were on the line at UFC 281. The main event, Adesanya vs. Pereria, was the third time the pair had met in combat sports. They had previously fought twice in kickboxing, with the Brazilian coming out on top on both occasions.
This was the first time they had fought in MMA, and Adesanya, the Middleweight Champion, was the favorite due to his dominant reign at 185lb going into this fight. The Pereira curse continued for Adesanya at UFC 281, as he lost in the fifth round via TKO despite being up on the judge’s scorecards going into the final five minutes.
The co-main event saw another upset as Carla Esparza defeated Zhang Weili via a rear-naked choke for the Women’s Strawweight Title. The defeat was Weili’s second defeat at MSG in two fights.
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