UFC champ Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre meet on the ice

The promotion continues for UFC 217’s headliner between middleweight champion Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre.

The rivals today met at center ice for the ceremonial puck drop between the NHL game between the home Montreal Canadiens and visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

St-Pierre, a French-Canadian who gave Canada some of the biggest events in UFC history, got a thunderous welcome from the crowd of 20,000-plus. Bisping, meanwhile, got the type of reception you might expect for an outspoken Brit who’s soon fighting the hometown hero.

Here’s video, which includes UFC President Dana White and some jawing between the fighters (via Twitter):

Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC), who’s No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings, and St-Pierre (25-2 MMA, 19-2 UFC), a longtime welterweight champ who returns from a four-year layoff, meet in UFC 217’s pay-per-view headliner at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Nov. 4.

Their recent press conference had plenty of fireworks.

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

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie‘s official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.