brashleyholland

Barboza vs Pearson 2 at FW would be amazing.

Yep, all main events will be 5x5's. Speaking of which, I'm really looking forward to seeing Bisping vs Miller hit the championship rounds. *IF* it lasts that long, Bisping will tear him to bits.

Bear in mind that this will be nothing like BAMMA at all though...the difference between regular and cageside is probably about 6 feet and a slightly comfier chair, lol. It's actually being held on an Army base, which should be fun. Crowd full of fighters and drunk squaddies...what could possibly go wrong? :-p In all seriousness though, it'll be a great night. As I said before, if anyone is nearby, or has mates who are nearby, they should come check it out. Some really good prospects on this card. http://www.fullcontactcontender.co.uk/default.asp The crazy thing is that there are events like this in the UK happening pretty much every weekend these days. There are some really amateur hour ones, but if anyone wants a recommendation of a good local show, let me know what part of the island you're on and I'll tell you where to look. I've been offered a position covering MMA for The Mirror next year as they expand their coverage, so I'll be bombing round to lots of grassroots shows in 2012. Will post up details as I go.

If anyone on here lives in the Greater Manchester, UK area, there's a great new MMA show going down this this Saturday night at the Bury TA centre. It's called Full Contact Contender: Best of the North West, and it's set to feature ammy, semi-pro and pro MMA bouts between some of the hottest new prospects on the UK MMA scene from all the top local and national gyms, up to and including the Wolfslair. There will also be some boxing and K-1 rules fights. Details here: http://www.fullcontactcontender.co.uk/default.asp £25 quid gets you in, £40 gets you cageside, £300 gets you a table for 8, with all your food and alcohol taken care of. I'm going to be commentating on the event, which should be worth the price of admission in itself. Seriously though, if you're in the area and like MMA come on down, or if you have any mates in the area who like MMA/boxing etc, please let them know. This is the first ever Full Contact Contender show, and they're doing something really good for grass roots MMA. If anyone can make it or has pals that can make it, let me know, as I might be able to swing them some freebies. Ask Fantabulous, he knows I'm good for it

Yeah, different punches, different punchers, different punchees...I don't really think there's any comparison to make. I suppose if you had to look at them side by side, the difference is that Brock didn't really take a single clean shot that put him out like Cain did. The overhand that caught Cain, and the last two shots on the floor, all hit the area from the temple to just behind the ear. That's pretty much one of the worst places to get caught in terms of having your equilibrium scrambled and being put out. Brock took more blows and lasted longer, but he wasn't 'out' at any point. The ballerina dance was more a case of a 275lb man being panicked and losing his balance. The fight was stopped because of a culmination of blows. There's no exact science to it, but on the evidence we have from fights we've seen, watching Velasquez take those MASSIVE shots from Cheick Kongo and go on to win the fight tells me that he takes a punch better than Brock, who we've seen cower and freeze when he gets hit.

Not really. You have to plan for the worst case scenario. The worst case if they put two fights on the broadcast is that both fights go the distance, taking up the full 60 mins. That means no intro/outro, no analysis, no commercials, or commercials between rounds/breaking into fights, generally taking viewers out of the experience. The big gain here is that they're going to make a star out of Velasquez, dos Santos or both. They were tossing around the idea of having an hour and a half show with two fights at one point, but the joint decision was made to go with the current format. People who want to see the other fights know exactly how to do so.

The method behind the madness is that they want to spend some time telling the story of Velasquez vs dos Santos. My guess is that the fight will start around 10 mins into the broadcast. A 25 minute fight is 29 mins with round breaks, so when you factor in walkouts and pre-post fight announcements, they'll need to leave around 40 mins all said and done. That'd leave 10 mins of studio time after the bout to wrap things up. They're going to have Dana and Brock Lesnar in the studio apparently, so if the fight ends after a round or two I'd expect a decent amount of time to be devoted to Brock discussing his bout with Overeem, and how he'd beat the winner of the title fight. It's a solid format IMO. I doubt there will be a massive amount of viewers who have never seen any form of MMA before, but there will definitely be large number of casual fans getting their first real UFC experience. Makes sense to tell them what they're watching and get them invested. Even if they'd had an hour and a half, I'd still have only gone with the one fight. The Hendo/Guida fight has the potential to be very ground-heavy...especially if Guida decides he wants to ride the bout out from top position. That could potentially turn a lot of fans off. 10 mins of hype, then throwing us right into the action makes perfect sense.

That's a pic of him after a test cut, as if he was weighing in at that moment. Lots of fighters do it to see if they can handle the cut, followed by a really, really intense sparring day 24 hours later to simulate fight conditions.

Speaking of amazing, if fights were won based on who had the best shorts, KID would be the heavyweight champion of the world! http://krazybee.jp/shop/images/item/pc/kb2011037CG.jpg

That and the fact that Marc's arms are almost as thick as the dudes waist :-p

It was Marc Goddard http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2603/cageinvasion.jpg I wouldn't argue if he was showing me the exit :-p The LG Arena is part of the NEC (National Exhibition Centre), where Marc had his last MMA fight about three and a half years ago, drawing with Henrique Nogueira. Che Mills and Brad Pickett were also on that card, one of the last ever Cage Rage events. I miss those cards.

Serious answer: It just wasn't good enough. Ticket prices went up again, card quality went down again. While tickets prices don't affect me, it's the principle of the situation. I'm not one of these people who moans about the UFC treating us like second class citizens, because we ARE. We'll get a better card or two next year to sweeten the move to Sky Sports, but we're a small market for the UFC in comparison to their plans for South America, Asia etc. Trust me, I go to some woeful MMA events; I know what a bad card looks like and this isn't one. Some good fights, and great matchmaking. The worst UFC event ever blows most of the stuff out of the water, but most events aren't charging £100 for an average seat. My issue is this: I get asked all the time why the UFC's UK cards get worse while the ticket prices get higher. My answer is always the same: Because they sell 10-18,000 seats regardless. If you think the cards are rubbish, vote with your wallet, because that's the only thing they'll react to. I can't tell people that and not follow my own advice, so I simply decided to give this one a miss on principle. They've had such little press interest in this one that they're even letting some of the UK MMA blogs in, which has NEVER happened before. Says a lot.

Let me answer your question by giving you my UFC Saturday itinerary. Bare in mind that it's my job to cover MMA events; I get paid to go, get press credential tickets, have my travel and hotel paid for etc. 6am: Go paint balling with a group of 15 guys for our mate's birthday 4pm: Home and shower 5:30pm: Watch the John Maguire fight on Facebook with the Tsunami boys (John's team mates, my gym) 6pm: Out for dinner, consolation drinks after John gets lay 'n' prayed for 15 mins. 7pm: Off to a mates cocktail bar, free drinks, continued birthday celebrations. 11pm: Nightclub, dance like idiots. Moan that we are five years older then most people there. 1:30am: Run back to mate's bar, change into t-shirts, trainers and glow-sticks. 2am-6am: Rave. Hardhouse, dubstep, drum 'n' bass. Dance like massive idiots. Moan that we are 10 years older than most people there. 6:30am: Back to mates house, pass out in pile of mangled bodies and minds in front room. 2pm Sunday - Pile onto mates couches with sleeping bags, watch DVR'd UFC 138, laugh at anyone who bought a ticket. Reminisce that this didn't used to hurt as much when we were all 19.

<p>I've said it before and I'll say it again...GSP will take Diaz down all day. So will Fitch, so will Kos. </p><p> </p><p> Diaz vs Condit would be great, but makes no sense if GSP is gonna be back training soon. If Condit fights anyone it'll be him. </p><p> </p><p> If I was Diaz I'd sit and wait...do some triathlons, whatever it takes to keep him busy. If he absolutely has to fight, I'd say give him Anthony Johnson on the undercard of GSP-Condit.</p>

<p>Amazing fight! Diaz looked sensational there. </p><p> </p><p> UFC fans love him...will be very interested to see whether or not Condit gets the title shot now...</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="KingJoel" data-cite="KingJoel" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>What's his twitter account?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> @MMABayBrad - Follow at your own risk -p</p>

<p>Jay Hieron just defended all of Ben Askren's takedowns in the 1st round, and Askren out-struck Hieron...have I entered Bizzaro world?</p><p> </p><p> EDIT: Normality has been restored in the second.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="damonster" data-cite="damonster" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Well it said during the weigh-ins yesterday Feburary 14th and on the ufc store before, however it was changed on the UFC store. No one from THQ has confirmered a date at all.<p> </p><p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Tank from THQ has confirmed it.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="damonster" data-cite="damonster" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> </p><p> Game will be out ether January 3rd or Febuary 14th, has not yet been confirmered as to what date is correct.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> The 14th of Feb is the confirmed official date. </p><p> </p><p> Hmm, gonna be interesting to see who the 30 or so Pride guys are. I've been told by someone in the know that the Pride alternates of UFC guys (Rampage, Wand, Shogun etc) will count towards the +/- 30 Pride characters.</p>

<p>That was a close call. Roop took the third, Hioki the second and the first one was a very, very tough one to score. </p><p> </p><p> I had Hioki ahead by a hair myself. Nothing to be proud about with that performance for the supposed number 2 in the world at 145lbs, unless Roop turned onto the 2011 incarnation of 2005 Fedor before the fight or something.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="damonster" data-cite="damonster" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>What do you mean?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Ahh, too young for RoboCop then? <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> It's one of those old pop culture things that's to wierd/stupid to explain. I was basically agreeing with you in a nerdy way :-p</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>LMAO, 30 seconds left. Calls a time out. Walks out of the octagon and backstage, gone for a few minutes, then comes back with a kitchen sink and throws it at the opponent and wins.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I know Brits don't tap but to be honest, if the clock got to 14:50 I'd just tap :-p</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="damonster" data-cite="damonster" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>FOTN so far. Cerrone vs. Loser of Guida/Henderson next, imo. or <strong>Cerrone vs. Pettis</strong>.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I'd buy that for a dollar!</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="damonster" data-cite="damonster" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I thought Vera lost the first round. but didn't watch it that much.<p> </p><p> Wow & ouch.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Think he just about did enough myself. Definitely a shout for a draw though, based on how the judges scored previous bouts. </p><p> </p><p> I hate MMA judging. I say if there's no finish after 3 rounds, give em two extra minutes with swords. That'd prevent 15-min snooze-fests, guaranteed.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="damonster" data-cite="damonster" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>WTF? He was robed.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> How? He lost the first two rounds. </p><p> </p><p> Funny that the judges have been really liberal with 10-8's where they shouldn't have been tonight, yet Marshall didn't get one for round three. </p><p> </p><p> Vera is tough as hell for not tapping when his arm broke.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="damonster" data-cite="damonster" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>lucky</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Yeah, we don't do PPV in the UK :-p</p>