UFC 217 predictions: Who will leave the Big Apple with gold?

Prior to Saturday's UFC 217 in New York City, theScore's Themistoklis Alexis makes his picks for the evening's noteworthy bouts.

Main Card

Middleweight Championship

Michael Bisping (20-7 UFC, 30-7)
vs.
Georges St-Pierre (19-2 UFC, 25-2)

It'll take more than a few extra pounds of muscle to keep Bisping pinned to the canvas.

Heart-wrenching as it may be to pick against a bulked-up GSP and his takedown-heavy attack tailor-made for a win on points, the fact remains it's hard for even decorated wrestlers to bring Bisping to the canvas and even harder to hold him there. If the middleweight champ can keep the fight upright, his volume striking should be enough to keep the strap around his waist and make him the only man to have beaten both St-Pierre and Anderson Silva.

THE PICK: Bisping

Bantamweight Championship

Cody Garbrandt (6-0 UFC, 11-0)
vs.
TJ Dillashaw (10-3 UFC, 14-3)

If Garbrandt proved anything in his coup of Dominick Cruz, it's that a simmering grudge can bring out the best in him.

The champ submitted a breakthrough performance after months of jawing with Cruz, riding tight footwork and clean counters to a unanimous decision over a notoriously herky-jerky technician in Cruz. While the comparisons to Cruz may not fully do his style or abilities justice, Dillashaw could very well bring much of the same to the Octagon against his former teammate Saturday, and unless he reverts to his wrestling roots, odds are Garbrandt repeats last year's effort and takes a surefire thriller.

THE PICK: Garbrandt

Strawweight Championship

Joanna Jedrzejczyk (8-0 UFC, 14-0)
vs.
Rose Namajunas (4-2 UFC, 6-3)

Jedrzejczyk has a way of handing her opponents an L before the cage door is even shut, and stoic as Namajunas has looked in the face of her psychological warfare, she won't be playing spoiler come fight night.

"Thug" wears her moniker better than most, but Jedrzejczyk has seen the likes of Claudia Gadelha and Jessica Andrade aim to bully her against the fence and on the canvas, and pulled away with the victory regardless. Look for the Polish queen to stave off Namajunas' takedown attempts, stay on her bicycle, and subject the challenger to a death by a thousand strikes for yet another lopsided decision victory.

THE PICK: Jedrzejczyk

Welterweight

Stephen Thompson (8-2-1 UFC, 13-2-1)
vs.
Jorge Masvidal (9-5 UFC, 32-12)

How do you beat a striker whose success depends on maintaining his distance?

You take away his space.

Saturday's tilt will mark Masvidal's first against a karate stylist of the unpredictable Thompson's ilk, but he proved he can hang with rangier strikers in his statement win over lethal kickboxer Donald Cerrone. If the Strikeforce alum can cut off the cage and keep Thompson from setting his feet - thereby nullifying the karateka's deep bag of kicks - he should find a home for his mitts with regularity en route to a W.

THE PICK: Masvidal

Middleweight

Johny Hendricks (13-7 UFC, 18-7)
vs.
Paulo Borrachinha (2-0 UFC, 10-0)

How the mighty have fallen.

A move up to middleweight hasn't cured Hendricks' longstanding bout with listlessness, which spells nothing but doom against an archetypal frontrunner in Borrachinha. A move to Jackson's MMA may bring out the tactician in the former welterweight champ, but his recent tape doesn't inspire much confidence in his ability to weather the typhoon his foe will unleash as soon as the ref kicks things off.

Borrachinha by early knockout.

THE PICK: Borrachinha

Featured Preliminary Bout

Lightweight

James Vick (7-1 UFC, 11-1)
vs.
Joe Duffy (4-1 UFC, 16-2)

In a veritable coin toss of a matchup, it's the bigger man who'll get his hand raised.

What Vick might give up to Duffy in cleanliness in the striking department, he makes up for in length and his first-rate grappling. The lanky lightweight isn't one to shy away from trading leather, but he'd be wise to bring this one to the mat at the first opportunity, as Duffy boasts crisp boxing. Once on the canvas, it shouldn't be long before Vick puts the squeeze on "Irish Joe" for his third straight stoppage win.

THE PICK: Vick