johng Blog

The dedicated few made the difficult trip up to Newcastle to check out UFC 80 this weekend. The Metro Radio Arena is a tiny shed of a venue compared to the O2 and the M.E.N. making our cheap ‘nose bleed’ seats seem considerably closer than previous shows. This was a great show to see live as only one fight went the distance (the opposite of UFC 75) and even that was pretty exciting. The roof blew off whenever BJ Penn did anything and we were all pleased to see him finally get the lightweight belt, he deserved it. I don’t think the noise in the arena came across on TV, although I didn’t realise quite how bloody the fight was till I watched it back at home.

Oh and due to a hilarious lapse in security when the show ended we got octagon side, met Mike Goldberg and got involved in the numerous chants aimed at Joe Rogan, Dana White and of course Micheal Bisping. At one point there were about 20 guys chanting like crazy at Goldberg right behind the camera while he was doing a fill for a prelim, if you watch it back you can just make out the noise but Goldberg never cracks - what a pro.

Great show, fun weekend, shame about the location, come on Dana bring UFC to Birmingham!