One of the biggest UFC events of the year went down on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Hosted in the world's most famous arena, UFC 217 was a thrilling event filled with upsets and awe-inspiring performances. In the highly anticipated main event, Canadian MMA legend and former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre made his return from retirement to battle defending middleweight champion Michael Bisping for the title.

When St-Pierre walked away from the sport in 2013, the MMA landscape was radically different. There was no Conor McGregor, no women’s strawweight division, and the Fertittas still owned Zuffa. It feels like we’ve come a millennia since then.

Naturally the question on everyone’s mind Saturday night was how would GSP do after the layoff? Could he become a champion again in a new weight class? Did he still have it?

Well, of course he did. And he proved it by choking "The Count" unconscious with an impressive rear-naked choke in the second round.

St-Pierre's jiu-jitsu coach, John Danaher, categorized the feat as among the most difficult achievements an athlete can accomplish. A comeback of that caliber simply doesn’t happen every day in sports. But, of course, most athletes don’t have coaches such as Danaher and Freddy Roach working in their corner.

"The time off meant that he was not under constant demand to ready himself for a next opponent, but could develop new skills. He developed very strong leg submissions from bottom position and excellent back finishes from top position working with the squad."

Danaher is a true grappling guru, but GSP's win on Saturday night is just one more in a long line of successes that his athletes have had this year. 

John Danaher with Gordon Ryan moments after a match at ADCC 2017. Photo: Hywel Teague / FloGrappling

Before ADCC 2017 many doubted if Danaher’s star pupil, Gordon Ryan, had the experience and skill set to walk away a champion in the tournament's most crowded division, which included Xande Ribeiro and Romulo Barral. While the list of former champions and savage grapplers was extensive, Ryan proved to be ready for the challenge and was the last man standing in the division.

When asked immediately off the mats what the secret was to his success, Ryan blurted out without hesitation, "John Danaher."

Garry Tonon has enjoyed the biggest success over the last few years working with Danaher. Tonon has consistently dominated at the Eddie Bravo Invitational, but none of his performances was more impressive than his in regulation submission of ADCC vet Vagner Rocha at EBI 11.

Danaher also has a whole slew of up-and-coming savages that he is quietly preparing in the blue basement. Within a very short period of time while training with the Danaher Death Squad, athletes such as Oliver Taza, Ethan Crelinsten, and Nicky Ryan have all demonstrated their grappling prowess on an international level.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

We'll be seeing a lot more of Danaher in MMA. Both Tonon and Ryan have spoken about dabbling in the dark art of MMA, and there will be even more following behind them. As Danaher continues to innovate the world of grappling, his mark on MMA is just beginning.

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