The UFC made its debut at Madison Square Garden a year ago with UFC 205. Like the first event at the venerated arena, Saturday’s UFC 217 lineup features three title fights at the top of the card.

Trash-talk has been at a premium ahead of the trio of championship bouts. Middleweight champion Michael Bisping chided his opponent, Georges St-Pierre, by saying the former welterweight champ “hasn’t got the balls to fight anyone that he doesn’t think he can beat.”

Not to be outdone, bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt dismissed former champ T.J. Dillashaw as nothing more than a distraction ahead of a desired fight with flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson.

Strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk got more personal in her attack. She called her challenger, Rose Namajunas, “mentally unstable” in the lead up to their contest.

UFC 217 takes place in New York City. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Here are 10 reasons to watch the event.

1. It’s about more than gold

St-Pierre (25-2 MMA, 19-2 UFC) knows there’s a lot more on the line than a title at UFC 217. After four years away from the sport, the surefire UFC Hall of Famer returns to the octagon to put his legacy on the line against middleweight champ Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC).

There are UFC fans out there who never saw St-Pierre compete during his historic run through the 170-pound division. If he fails in his quest to become the fourth UFC fighter to hold titles in two weight divisions, those fans could look at St-Pierre as nothing more than a has-been, a diminished competitor who should have stayed away from the game. For a proud fighter like St-Pierre, that would be heartbreaking.

As for Bisping, who’s No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middle rankings, he would love nothing more than to bloviate about adding another UFC legend to his list of recently vanquished opponents.

2. Good, clean hate

Garbrandt has been one of Dillashaw’s fiercest critics. He claims his former teammate lacks loyalty. At times the current bantamweight champion has come across as almost obsessed with his former teammate.

Garbrandt (11-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has taken Dillashaw’s (14-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) departure from the Team Alpha Male camp extremely personally. His preoccupation with No. 3-ranked Dillashaw could help or hurt him in this, his first title defense.

If Garbrandt brings too much emotion into this fight, he might become unfocused and over-aggressive. On the flip side, if he’s able to focus his anger, Garbrandt could prove to be a big problem for Dillashaw.

3. The memory remains

Ronda Rousey’s presence looms over the fight between Jedrzejczyk (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) and Namajunas (6-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC).

In 2014, UFC President Dana White implied Namajunas had the potential to be a Rousey-like presence. Namajunas, who is currently ranked No. 6 in the strawweight division, fell short of that prediction when she dropped a title fight to Carla Esparza that year.

At the time White made his claim about Namajunas, Jedrzejczyk was 1-0 in the UFC. Today, the Polish star is the unbeaten strawweight champion. With a victory at UFC 217, Jedrzejczyk will tie Rousey’s UFC record of six consecutive title defenses for a female champ and extend her UFC unbeaten streak to nine.

It’s hard to see anyone replacing Rousey in the minds of mainstream fans, but with a victory at UFC 217 – and a big marketing push – one of these women could become the dominant face of female fighting in the UFC.

4. Sometimes things just work out for everyone

In June, welterweight title hopefuls Stephen Thompson and Jorge Masvidal both appeared at a fan Q&A. During that appearance, they were asked about a possible fight between them.

“We definitely want it, to get together and get out there in the octagon and face off,” Thompson said. “Obviously, you saw him in his last fight, which I thought he won against Demian Maia. (Masvidal is) a very good striker, and I think it’s going to be fireworks.”

Not long after, the UFC booked the fight between No. 2-ranked Thompson (13-2-1 MMA, 8-2-1 UFC) and No. 9 Masvidal (32-12 MMA, 9-5 UFC).

With both fighters anxious to get back in the win column after losses in their most recent bouts, this matchup could be a sleeper pick for “Fight of the Night.”

5. Prospect vs. former champ

Rising middleweight prospect Paulo Costa (he’s no longer going by Paulo Borrachinha) has never been past the 6:06 mark in his 10 professional fights. The rankings honorable mention meets Johny Hendricks at UFC 217.

Costa, the former Jungle Fight middleweight champ, has devastated his two UFC opponents, stopping both Garreth McLellan and Oluwale Bamgbose with powerful strikes.

Hendricks’ best bet in this fight might be to return to his wrestling roots and test Costa (10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) on the ground. Hendricks (18-7 MMA, 13-7 UFC) is mired in the worst run of his professional career. The former welterweight champion is 3-7 in his past 10 fights. He lost his most recent contest, to Tim Boetsch via second-round TKO.

6. First fight on new deals

Two lightweights who recently signed new contracts meet in the featured prelim. James Vick secured a four-fight deal after his first-round knockout of Marco Polo Reyes in May. In July, Joseph Duffy earned a seven-fight pact after a brief time on the free-agent market. Duffy defeated Reza Madadi by decision in the last fight of his previous deal.

While both of these fighters are well-rounded, they prefer to do most of their work standing. Duffy (17-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has a very good boxing game while rankings honorable mention Vick (11-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC), who is 5 inches taller than Duffy, uses his height and reach to employ more of a kickboxing style.

If these two can deliver the striking battle this booking suggests, the winner could be in line to face a ranked opponent in his next bout.

7. Ambitious plans

With his placement on this card, it looks like Corey Anderson’s star has fallen a bit. Anderson recently fought in UFC Fight Night 107’s main event, where Jimi Manuwa knocked him out in the first round. Despite the devastating loss, Anderson remained upbeat.

“I’m in this sport to be the best, eventually. I’m not the best right now, but eventually I will be,” Anderson told MMAjunkie. “I plan on it before I leave this sport, and wherever it is, I’ve got to go, I’m willing to go.”

Anderson (9-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), a light heavyweight rankings honorable mention, faces No. 10 ranked Ovince Saint Preux (21-10 MMA, 9-5 UFC), a short-notice replacement for Patrick Cummins. Saint Preux has won his two most recent bouts via Von Flue choke.

8. A fourth ‘title’ fight

Mickey Gallrecently crowned himself the “Dana White: Lookin’ For a Fight” champion. Gall signed with the UFC after winning his pro debut during the filming of the first episode of that show. In his most recent bout, the New Jersey-based fighter submitted Sage Northcutt, who signed with the UFC during the filming of the pilot of the reality show.

At UFC 217, Gall (4-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) fights for the first time in nearly 11 months. His opponent, Randy Brown (9-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC), was signed to the UFC after the same “Dana White: Lookin’ For a Fight” episode in which White watched Gall compete, hence the fictional title Gall is defending.

Brown lost his most recent bout to Belal Muhamad by decision.

9. Some differences

There’s a vast difference in experience between heavyweights Aleksei Oleinik and Curtis Blaydes.

Blaydes, who made his debut in 2014, has nine bouts under his belt. He was 6 when Oleinik made his debut in 1997. The Russian has fought 63 times since then.

The gap between the two in the rankings is much smaller. Blaydes (7-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) is No. 15 in the division while Oleinik (55-10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is an honorable mention.

Blaydes has looked better in each of his four UFC fights, but he showed an inability to adjust when things went sideways in his most recent bout, a decision win over Daniel Omielanczuk. In that contest he attempted takedown after takedown even though he was unable to put his opponent on the mat. That could be a problem against a veteran like Oleinik.

Oleinik submitted Travis Browne in his most recent bout.

10. Be in your seat

Rising bantamweights Aiemann Zahabi and Ricardo Ramos meet in UFC 217’s opening bout.

Zahabi is a good technical fighter who prepares well for his opponents. That should be expected considering he is the younger brother of famed trainer Firas Zahabi. The one knock against Zahabi in his UFC debut was that he was a little too patient. His six first-round finishes indicate he can step up the aggression.

Ramos (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), like Zahabi (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), likes to fight at distance. He’s good with his counters, but he too was reluctant to work in close during his UFC debut. Ramos is an outstanding ground fighter with six submission wins to his name. He could have trouble getting this fight to the ground as Zahabi defended 11 of 13 takedown attempts in his sole UFC fight.

There is the possibility that this could be a snoozer, but there’s also the chance these two will be anxious to show how they’ve developed since their promotional debuts.

For more on UFC 217, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.