Tag Archive for ‘MMA’ at johng Blog

Tag Archive for 'MMA'

UFC 80 Live Report

Published

on January 20, 2008

. 0 Comments

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!

MMA Year in Review 2007

Published

John Griffin

on January 1, 2008

in MMA

. 1 Comment

Go read my round up from last year first. Wow. What a difference a year makes.

Most turbulent year in the history of MMA: 2007

Best Division: UFC Lightweight
A ton of high quality fighters having a ton of high quality fights. Fast paced, entertaining and highly competitive. It will be interesting to see who gets the winner of BJ/Stevenson vs Sherk next year.

Favourite Fighter: Quinton Rampage Jackson
Inside and outside the octagon always a character and with a new training team behind him this year was able to take out Liddell and defend against a very game Dan Henderson.

Favourite Match: Phil Baroni vs Frank Shamrock
This one is too hard. I picked this match because of the story, the characters and the fight all built up perfectly. Both guys were physically and mentally destroyed afterwards. Also worthy are Tyson Griffin vs. Frankie Edgar, Chuck Liddell vs Wanderei Silva, Clay Guida vs Roger Huerta, Roger Huerta vs. Leonard Garcia, Tyson Griffin vs Clay Guida, Forrest Griffin vs Shogun, Randy Couture vs Tim Sylvia. The list goes on.

Favourite Moment: Randy Couture comes out of retirement to defeat Tim Sylvia
This was such a special fight, it was Rocky but real. Everyone disliked (hate is a strong word) Tim Sylvia and everybody loved (past tense) Randy. No one expected that first punch and no one expected it to be such a great performance. I was standing for all 25 minutes.

Worst Moment: Randy Couture parts ways with the UFC
After the high of winning the belt and then crushing Gonzaga, Randy decided to hang up the gloves due to some really dumb reasons. I think he is hiding something now. UFC should just call his bluff and co-promote a Fedor vs Couture fight with M1 Global. With the cool $2 million that will get him there will be no excuses.

Worst Trend: It’s all about the money
Randy, Tito, Fedor, etc. Stop bitching and start fighting.

Best Match That Never Happened: Fedor Emelyanenko vs Randy Couture
See above. Fedor ran away and Couture left his contract.

Show Of The Year: Pride 33
An absolute classic filled with upsets. The last great Pride event.

Jens Pulver Is A HUGE PC Gamer

Published

John Griffin

on December 7, 2007

in Gaming and MMA

. 0 Comments

Jens Pulver Is A HUGE PC Gamer

Didn’t see any of the other MMA blogs pick this up. On the most recent episode of the PC Gamer podcast they had Jens Pulver on to talk Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and more. He goes into a ton of detail about the games he plays, his old clan and shows a deep appreciation for gaming that you don’t hear often from athletes. Turns out he even has a deal with Activision to sponsor him for his debut fight in WEC next week against Cub Swanson.

UFC 70 Podcast Report

Published

John Griffin

on April 23, 2007

in Life, MMA, Podcast and TV

. 0 Comments

Myself and Andrew Griffiths round up a weekend that was full of UFC action in Manchester. We have a full card run down, live reactions, fun happenings before the show and our future predictions looking forward.

Download here

UFC 68: WOW

Published

John Griffin

on March 4, 2007

in MMA and TV

. 1 Comment

If you went into a lab, studied the strengths and weaknesses of Tim Sylvia, then built the ultimate machine to defeat him the result would be Randy Couture.

Last night Randy Couture was the perfect weapon against the monstrosity that is Tim Sylvia. It was an incredible sight to watch a 43 year old decimate this man for 5 rounds straight. HE OUT BOXED HIM. He took him down. He knew exactly what to do and it was one of the most perfectly put together plans I have ever seen in MMA. I was standing for the entire fight along with the 19,000 in attendance. This is one of those special events that those of us who saw will remember for a very long time.

Pride 33 - A Night of Upsets

Published

John Griffin

on February 26, 2007

in MMA and TV

. 3 Comments

This was one crazy but great show. Major upsets across the board and pro-wrestling style booking during the show made this one to remember. The constant jabs at the UFC came off as cheap and considerable damage has been done to the potential Liddell vs Silva fight now. From the pre match footage it was clear they were trying to prove that Silva is better than Rampage, Rampage is better than Liddell and therefore Silva would beat Chuck. Scratch that then.

Gomi was once again calling out GSP, Hughes and BJ Penn. Then he stepped into the ring, gassed in the first round and got choked out in the second. An amazing match (fight of the year so far) but Gomi needs to start actually training for fights before he even thinks of going 5 rounds with GSP.

Pride might be dying but this was a highly entertaining show that I recommend checking out for the main events at least.

We’re Goin’ To The UFC!

Published

John Griffin

on February 21, 2007

in Life and MMA

. 1 Comment

The tickets have been booked, Manchester is the place, April 21st is the date, now we must wait. Welcome to England Mirko Cro Cop may you kick the piss out of all who stand in your way.

UFC 67: A New Look For a New Year

Published

John Griffin

on February 5, 2007

in General

. 1 Comment

Finally with the move to HD and at the first PPV of 2007 the UFC updated their presentation of the show. At UFC 67 were treated to new snazzy graphics all round with sound effects thrown in for the fun of it. This is a good move and the investment was sorely needed after years and years of the same stuff on PPV and TV.

Although I didn’t watch the show in HD initially I did manage to catch a couple of the fights in High Def the following day. Just check out the crispyness of these caps:

Heath Herring Promoted Using ‘Kiss’ Footage

Published

John Griffin

on January 21, 2007

in MMA, Site and TV

. 1 Comment

The footage of Heath Herring’s now famous pre match confrontation at 2005’s K-1 NYE show is now actually being used by the UFC to promote him! Being first ever site to post the video I do feel slightly responsible for ‘the kiss heard around the world’ :-).

[via UFC Junkie]