brashleyholland

Genuinely saw a sign in a shop recently that said '10p mix up - 25p'. 'Penny sweets - 2p' always crops up too.

Loving this. Presumably she'll be a terrible, hammy actress - which is kinda the point of Machette, right? Can't wait.

Christopher Eccleston is going to be the bad guy in Thor 2. Malekith The Accursed, whoever that is. I was never a fan of the Thor comics and haven't heard of the character before. Eccleston is a damn good actor though.

So Twitter informs me that Monday Night Raw is on fire, and everyone has been evacuated. In unrelated news, Ricky The Dragon Steamboat has been seen looking very sheepish nearby.

:-D

So my first week working for Cage Warriors was ok, I guess... It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="ampulator" data-cite="ampulator" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Are you going to be asking smarmy questions that annoy fighters?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I wouldn't have said yes if I couldn't!</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Arrows" data-cite="Arrows" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>10 year olds don't buy heel t-shirts.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> 10 year olds don't buy anything. 16-25 and 18-35 year olds do though, that's why they're the most prized advertising demographics. Old enough to have spare cash and the authority to spend it on whatever they want, young enough to buy stupid stuff like wrestling shirts and not worry about kids/buying a house etc. </p><p> </p><p> Presumably a large chunk of the 10-15 year olds who were Cena fans 5-8 years ago are now in their mid-late teens/early 20, and would buy heel shirts? The only times I've ever seen Cena wrestle he's been pretty much boo'd out of the building by half or more of the crowd - seems like fans are ready for a change.</p><p> </p><p> I was a Hulkamaniac in the late 80's/early 90's, but my fondest memories of wrestling where when Hogan went bad. I grew up - just like the 10 year old Cena fans have/will.</p>

<p>As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Bisping vs Stann has been confirmed at the co-main event of UFC 152. The main event will be Joseph Benavidez vs Demetrious Johnson for the first ever UFC flyweight championship. BJ vs Rory Mac is also on that card. </p><p> </p><p> Not bad at all!</p>

<p>I'm not following wrestling at all these days, so I might be over simplifying this...but I don't get why people would think that WWE would be scarred to make John Cena the bad guy for a while. </p><p> </p><p> Didn't WCW have it's most successful run on the back of the biggest wrestling good guy of all time turning bad? All I ever remember Cena being is 'white guy in jean shorts who raps sometimes' - surely a darker take on his character would revitalise him, and give a couple of younger guys the chance to be his foil? Someone said he's 35, so he can't have that long left...give him a few years playing the bad guy, let him go and do some more terrible movies then bring him back in his early 40's for a good guy nostalgia fest. </p><p> </p><p> Hogan got away with it (good guy, bad guy, good guy nostalgia run) - why not this guy?</p>

<p>So I can officially reveal that Cage Warriors new signing is....</p><p> </p><p> ...ME! </p><p> </p><p> I accepted a role with Cage Warriors a couple of weeks ago, and I officially start next week. My job title is 'Ariel Helwani'. I'll basically be doing all the stuff he does at UFC events, but in-house for Cage Warriors. The promotion are going to be doing a lot of new media stuff on their website, videos, interviews etc, which I'll be the face of. I'll be running around to various gyms with a camera crew, and I'll be kind of a 'backstage correspondent' on fight week and during events. </p><p> </p><p> I honestly can't wait - Cage Warriors are one of my favourite promotions and the chance to work alongside that team is something I'm buzzing about. I'm also relishing the opportunity to travel to places like Abu Dhabi and Aman, Jordan etc...although funnily enough next weekend's event is in London, so I'll be living in a hotel room an hour from my house all week. </p><p> </p><p> What that means for me as a journo I don't know - Hopefully I'll be able to keep doing some of the freelance stuff I do without any conflict of interest, but we'll see. This is one of those opportunities you just don't turn down though. I'm gonna be starting a blog soon where I'll record some of my CW/MMA experiences - I'll stick a link up here when I get around to it, if anyone is interested.</p>

Dave Batista is making is MMA debut against some guy I've never heard of at a show I don't care about.

<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 hate the fact people are saying wideman should get a shot at Anderson soon, only way I see that is if Lombard and Bisping lose. Wideman needs one more bit fight IMO.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> W-E-I-D-MAN <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 gonna be Stann for Bisping next, but if I wouldn't have minded seeing Weidman vs Bisping for a shot at the gold. </p><p> </p><p> I think they'll might go with Weidman vs Belfort next. If he gets clocked then no biggie, he got clocked by the 'legendary' Vitor Belfort. Couple of wins against the likes of Palhares, Herman, etc and he's back in the mix. If he beats Belfort, which I expect he would, then it's the 'big name' scalp he needs to be taken seriously as a title challenger.</p>

<p>Wanted to put this in a different post, as it's an entirely different subject matter to the trivia post above. Big of a long one, but good for the conspiracy nuts out there :-p </p><p> </p><p> Jason Reinhardt's entire career is the blueprint to can-crushing your way to the UFC. At 16-0 he fought a debut guy. His two wins between his UFC runs were against a guy who was 2-9 (now 2-11) and a guy who was 0-0 (now 0-9!!)</p><p> </p><p> What's interesting to me is that the debut guy he fought immediately (albeit two years) prior to his 2nd UFC run was also Pat Schilling's last opponent before his UFC debut. By the time Schilling fought him the dude was 0-8. If you look at Pat's other opponents, you'll see that baring the first, they all had similar records when they fought (as is normal with guys with just one or two fights). So here's a guy with a spotless ammy record (Sherdog lists five, but it's nearer 7-8) and a 5-0 pro record against evenly matched competition, who all of a sudden fight an 0-8 bum. Why? </p><p> </p><p> Here's why. I was put on to Pat a couple of years ago, just after he'd turned pro. Zuffa was interested in him in 2010, as there was a lot of hype surrounding him on his local scene. Trouble was, he was only 4-0 at the time and with the WEC being folded into the UFC, that was a pretty meagre record. </p><p> </p><p> Now, in Pat's particular case I'm speculating - but I do know for a fact that a lot of British fighter have been told by the UFC (especially at the TUF trails over the past few years) to 'pad' their records. I've been told by numerous fighters (some who have been cut from the UFC and others who have yet to fight there) that the message is "We like what you're doing, but we'd like to see a couple more wins. Oh, and if you lose in that time, it's a definite no." </p><p> </p><p> I believe that's what happened with Pat - he was told that the UFC were sniffing, so losing was not an option. He went from six fights in 2010 to one against Mr 0-8 in 2011 before answering the UFC's call. His options were to continue taking progressively tougher fights to improve himself and risk everything, or fight bums to (essentially) guarantee wins. </p><p> </p><p> What's interesting to me is that Pat kinda washed out in the UFC, and that's something we've seen more of in recent years. Young guys with a lot of hype not cutting it on the big stage, especially some of the guys who come through TUF. It used to be that you'd hear about guys wanting to get on big shows to get big fights so that the UFC would notice them. What I'm hearing more and more is that its now a case of playing it safe. </p><p> </p><p> Part of me thinks that there's nothing wrong with that - it's happened to some extent in boxing for years. But boxing is different in that there's no one 'big show'. What worries me is that in the coming years guys wont be testing themselves before they get to the UFC, and they'll wash out when they get there because of the massive jump in competition. Then, in order to get back to the big show, they'll crush another couple of cans. </p><p> </p><p> It seems to me that 'earning you way into the UFC' has changed a lot recently - what do you guys think? Are the UFC potentially hurting the development of their own stars due to this 'play it safe' culture they're fostering?</p>

<p>So as some of you might have guessed, I'm a bit of an MMA trivia nut. </p><p> </p><p> Karlos Vemola became the answer to a trivia question last night - namely : What do Jason Reinhardt and Karlos Vemola have in common? </p><p> </p><p> Answer: They are the only two fighters in UFC history to have three consecutive losses (not in consecutive fights) in three different weight classes in the UFC. </p><p> </p><p> Vemola lost at HW to John Madsen, LHW to Ronny Markes and MW to Francis Carmont. </p><p> </p><p> Reinhardt lost to Joe Lauzon, Zhang Tiequan and Edwin Figueroa at LW, FW and BW. </p><p> </p><p> The only difference being that Vemola's losses came in the same UFC run, while Reinhardt's loss to Lauzon came in 2007. He was then cut, fought a few weeks later then took a year out before his next fight, both on small regional shows. After that he took over two years out, before inexplicably being given a second shot in the UFC, losing two on the bounce.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Zoloftjunkie" data-cite="Zoloftjunkie" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="26660" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Well what I saw was a two time loser.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Your point?</p>

The planned appeal was by his coach, independently of his manager, that's why there has been so much confusion. "What I'm looking for is a rematch" - Scott McQuarry. There is no legal basis for the result to be overturned. I love that Sonnen has blurred the lines so much that people are genuinely struggling to see what's real and what isn't with him.

The point of the appeal isn't to get the result overturned, it's to drum up interest in a rematch. And the trolling continues!

Well spotted. What does that have to do with UK vs Australia?

Bit of both. Some of the UK guys really shouldn't be on TUF, put it that way. I don't know a massive amount about the domestic scene in Australia, but I have mates over there in the business and catch a few shows that stream live. I know guys who have been over there to train too, and the message is always the same: They're years behind the UK.

No and no idea :-p I'm guessing it'll be on Fuel in the US - do you get that in Canada?

Also - my main man John Maguire will be facing John Hathaway. This is a massive fight for UK MMA and should be a great contest to watch. There was serious talk about Maguire vs Hardy at one point...

BAMMA are being gutted of their top talent. Tom Watson and Jimi Manuwa have both been signed by the UFC and confirmed for the Nottingham card today. Watson will face Brad Tavares. Jimi doesn't have an opponent, but I'm guessing Diabate. Also, there are two other BAMMA stars who might be doing something other than fighting on a BAMMA card in September, if you catch my drift. Tough luck for BAMMA...or should that be TUF luck? (hint hint) I've known that Jimi has been trying to get out of his BAMMA contract since shortly after his first fight with them. He had his lawyers on it, and even contacted UCMMA to get him a fight ASAP if he could break free. Can't blame him; the guy is 32 and was wasting his prime in an org that couldn't provide him fights. Since his public spat with them a while back, Tom has always been posotive about BAMMA in the press, although that probably has something to do with one of his main sponsors also sponsoring BAMMA. Slightly related - I've got pretty much all the UK TUF guys confirmed. It's worse than UK vs USA - the Aussies are going to get mangled. If two Aussies even get to the Semi's, you can bet they'll be matched together because there is a high likelihood that the finale card (in Aus) will feature all-Brit finals.

Lol, I think your mum may have misheard something :-p And yeah, sort of. It's being released day by day on their facebook page.

What, at the end of a round or something? I haven't seen the fight yet as I was working at FCC all weekend. Who told you the rumour?