UFC 105 turbo report

Going to be real quick as I want sleep before the Pacquiao fight…

Aaron Riley – Ross Pearson: After a tentative feeling out period early, Pearson aggresses more, has better strikes, and good knees in the clinch. 10-9 Pearson. Second saw Riley look to aggress more and takedown, but it wasn’t really working. Pearson just looked a better, more technical striker with a decent muay thai clinch game. Riley was cut very badly late in the round via a knee causing a technical stoppage, likely down two and needing a miracle at that stage anyway.

Matt Brown – James Wilks: Some nice early clinching, Wilks jumping on back, and Brown later angling for chokes. Brown with good combos, forcing Wilks to clinch. Wilks lands a nice kick following a break but can’t follow up. Wilks walks into a standing guillotine, which looked dangerous until he took Brown down. 10-9 Wilks. Brown hurt Wilks with a flying knee early in the second, and looks to pressure. Wilks nearly counters with a leglock. Fight returns to feet, Wilks is slowing. After a split, Brown drops him, but can’t quite finish. Brown somehow allows a gassed Wilks to get to side control. 10-9 Brown. Round 3 was mundane early until a position arises where Wilks looks for a kimura. Doesn’t quite work and Brown survives, falling into mount and ground and pounding his way to a stoppage.

Andre Winner – Rolando Delgado: Winner tags Delgado early, knocking him down. Can’t do much on the ground though. Standup is mundane until Winner connects with a one-hit KO.

Michael Bisping – Denis Kang: Cagey early. Kang catches Bisping with a good counter punch as Bisping came in. Passes to side control, but Bisping defends to half guard. Kang is looking to pass, gets to mount but Bisping shows a much improved bottom game, regaining guard. Kang mounts again later, but Bisping escapes again and almost got an armbar from the bottom. 10-9 Kang despite him doing no damage from a dominant position. Second round saw Bisping takedown Kang following more cagey standup. Lands some good shots. Takes him back down later. Kang gets busted open. One more takedown and Kang looks to turtle, Bisping stopping him soon after to get back on track.

Alex Gustaffson – Jared Hamman: Basically a very good 40 second striking cameo, Gustaffson getting the TKO. Quick but worth watching.

Mike Swick – Dan Hardy: Round 1 is tight with lots of clinching. Swick is the one trying to take it to the ground more. 10-10. Round 2 sees Hardy catch Swick early, who is able to clinch and relieve pressure. Clinch goes on for a good couple of minutes, Hardy being unable to take him down. Strikes in the clinch were fairly even. After a break, neither was able to land too much of note, 10-9 Hardy. The striking is more effective from both in the third, and somewhat wild. Hardy is able to hurt Swick, clinches again looking for a takedown, which this time he makes. Elbows from the guard by Hardy are useful, and Swick’s attempts to sub from the bottom are nowhere near. They get stood up and the last two minutes wind down without much of note. 10-9 and 30-28 Hardy, who will now get owned by GSP.

Randy Couture – Brandon Vera: Vera hits a nice shot early. Couture is able to clinch but does nothing. Manages to take him down from the clinch following a separation, but cannot keep Vera down. 10-9 to Couture, basically just on octagon control, in an instantly forgettable first. Vera tries to keep outside more in the second. Couture is still able to work inside and clinch. They are separated (too slowly), and Vera lands a great kick, knocking down Couture, who pulls to guard. Neither look to do much from there, it’s stood up and following that they clinch with little happening. 10-9 Vera. Third sees Couture looking to clinch again, except this time with better striking leading upto it and whilst in the clinch. They are separated again, and Vera lands good body kicks. Couture takes it to the clinch again, but Vera takes Couture down and mounts him. Couture holds him so he cannot do much from the mount, and after giving up his back rolls to his feet. Wild exchanges late. Vera looks to have done enough to win 10-9 and 29-28, but the judges all score it 29-28 Couture. But for that questionable decision, the fight isn’t worth viewing again.

 

UFC 104/5, Haye – Valuev, Beer

I’ll just mention Haye/Valuev briefly because for one my stream died at the end of the fifth, and for two it wasn’t that good in the first place (and Sky can fuck off if they think that fifteen quid for a Valuev fight is a good idea). But Haye on points? Seriously? I had Valuev up 49-46 after five, and from the reports nothing changed overly until Haye rattled him in the last round. Oh well, it sucks for my sports betting bankroll but it’s very good for the division. Pacman/Cotto should be good tonight after 105, which despite taking place in my home town looks crappy, Couture is cool but old enough to be my dad and Vera sucks, maincard doesn’t have any real big names (well, Bisping, but Bisping is crap), undercard looks slightly better.

104 then. Barry – Hardonk just looked like a K-1 match. Hardonk looked better in the first, Barry looked decent on the ground but couldn’t break Hardonk’s defence, Hardonk won the first, but Barry’s striking was that much better in the second, resulting in him first rocking Hardonk, then knocking him down and getting a stoppage.

Stefan Struve against Chase Gormley was OK, Gormley put on early pressure with good GNP after a takedown, followed by an intriguing leglock duel. Struve gained top position, but needed to take him down again in order to continue with effective hammerfists. Could have been stopped but wasn’t, but Struve was able to mount and finish with a triangle.

Ryan Bader vs Eric Schafer was an odd match, the first two minutes were mediocre until Bader exploded and dominated, nearly finishing Schafer, but he held on and tried a kimura and omaplata. Bader won the round clearly, but looked to lack the same explosiveness in the second. Schafer looked better standing in a mundane second round, easily stuffing cheap Bader takedown attempts, and I gave it to Schafer. In round three, Bader caught Eric easily, who pulled guard and slowed the pace down. Schafer is cut, but the fight continues at a more subdued pace, Bader takes him down with about a minute left and he just ran down the clock to get the round without either fighter looking to finish it. 10-9 and 29-28 Bader on my card, which was tighter than what the actual judges gave.

Yoshida – Johnson was at a catchweight and it looked like a horrible mismatch with Johnson being so much bigger. Funnily enough, a KO quickly ensued.

Spencer Fisher and Joe Stevenson fought a close first round, good early standup followed by Fisher stuffing an extended Stevenson takedown attempt. Fisher is cut early and it looks like it might cause trouble. Joe gets back very late, getting in good shots to win the round. In the second, Stevenson shows better control, getting top position but not being able to mount. He applies good elbows, not overly exciting but effective, as it caused a stoppage.

Okami – Sonnen was somewhat surprising. Sonnen brought the early pressure with takedowns, but Okami showed good strength to keep getting it back to standing. That was how the first round continued, quite close but 10-9 Sonnen. Okami’s striking was better in the second frame, Sonnen was able to get his back in the clinch though and just nicked the second round as well. Third round had fairly even striking, Okami appearing to lack any sort of game plan in order to get back into the fight. Sonnen takes Okami down, landing in a very good position and does some damage, Okami got it back to the feet but Sonnen was still on his back. Okami was unable to work any miracles and lost 30-27 which everyone in the world, Cecil Peoples included, agreed with.

Josh Neer against Gleison Tibau was a big clash of styles. In the first, Tibau was able to continually hit big takedowns, but Neer had enough on the ground to prevent him from capitalising once there. Neer had an obvious striking advantage, but not as big as advertised, and he wasn’t on the feet enough to use it. 10-9 Tibau. Second was similar, except this time Tibau was actually able to mount Neer, and Neer gave up his back at one stage but again Tibau couldn’t break through solid Neer defence. Close, but still 10-9 Tibau. Third round saw Tibau trying more takedowns, but Neer looked better, starting to stuff them and was able to land some damage with striking, and also from the bottom whilst on the ground. He won it for a 29-28 Tibau points decision.

Velasquez – Rothwell looked on paper to be interesting. Don’t know why the crowd were booing Rothwell. Cain looked solid early with good takedowns and control. He was able to find spots to ground and pount, and mount. The last 1:20 of the round were just nasty with Ben looking completely ineffective. 10-8 Velasquez. Early in the second Cain took him down easily, it could have been stopped very quickly, but when it was looked to be a touch early, but I don’t see a way that Rothwell could have got back into the fight at that stage, barring some lucky punch which didn’t look like being in his arsenal at that stage.

And oh boy did someone fuck up the main event. First round Rua had an edge. He looked to clinch and take down, had some success, was fairly even and passive but 10-9 Rua. Second had Machida looking more aggressive in the standup. Machida stuffed a takedown attempt. Rua is managing to get past Machida’s elusiveness somewhat. Very even, 10-10 for me, Rua did enough with knees in the clinch late to level it. Third saw Rua making a solid start with kicks. Isn’t much to separate them. Shogun had an edge in the second half, the action picked up, Machida pushed on a bit more but took enough in return for Rua to win it 10-9. Round 4 was quiet early, Machida landing a nice kick. Rua attempted a takedown early following a Machida slip but it went nowhere. Rua continued to push on but Machida’s striking was a lot better and more noticable. Rua had the fight swing to him more in the latter stages but not enough to prevent Machida winning the round. Could have gone either way though. Fifth had plenty of good shots and countershots, Rua pushed early, Machida landed good knees, looked decent in spots but Rua was more consistent, 10-9 and 49-47 Rua. Some rounds were very close, and I think you can make arguments that Machida won three of them, but I’m not sure how all the judges were able to come to the same 48-47 Machida decision. There’s a rematch due but I wonder if Rua’s chance has passed him by.

Beer fest finally!

239 – Oakham Baja 1000 (4.3%) – 8, has the appearance of a lager, has a slightly dry bitter aftertaste, refreshing with subtle citrus aromas

240 – Quartz Crystal (4.2%) – 8, light brown ale, slight fruity taste and a decent subtle hoppy finish

241 – Phoenix Arizona (4.1%) – 6, very light, touch hoppy, way too dry

242 – Salopian Symphony (4.3%) – 6.5, ever so slightly dry golden ale, actually hilariously bittersweet, perhaps slight hints of grapefruit

243 – Phoenix Earthquake (7.5%) – 7.5, slightly dark, hence light given the strength, which is noticable. Warm flavours, but fairly thin. Almost a barley wine/whisky taste

244 – Hoskin Brothers Hob Best Mild (3.5%) – 6.5, fairly standard darkish mild with slight ruby hints

245 – Old Swan Dark Swan (4.2%) – 6.5, dark mild, not overly smoky, slight liquorice notes

246 – Blue Monkey BG Sips (4.0%) – 6.5, hoppy refreshing ale, slight sour bitter aftertaste. Had this elsewhere shortly afterwards and gave it a 7 for what it’s worth

247 – Houston Warlock Stout (4.7%) – 6.5, decent stout, touch dry and smoky, fairly rich

248 – Hoskin Brothers White Dolphin (4.0%) – 6, meh wheat beer, straw coloured and obvious taste

249 – High House Farm Nel’s Best (4.2%) – 7, golden ale, nicely balanced if slightly hoppy, touch dry

And a few other beers:

250 – Titanic Last Porter Call (4.9%) – 6.5, more of a stout than a porter

251 – Rudgate Cuckoo (4.1%) – 6.5, notably hoppy, slightly sour but not unpleasantly so

252 – Storm Downpour (4.3%) – 7, light ale, touch hoppy, strong fruity tastes

253 – Blue Monkey Guerrilla (4.9%) – 7.5, a good stout with fruity flavours

254 – Blue Monkey 99 Red Baboons (4.2%) – 8, great dark and full fruity ale

255 – Summer Wine Joker (4.1%) – 3.5, truly awful bitter that tasted like a bad keg beer, bad enough that it couldn’t be finished

 

Huge beer catchup

Well, it’s not as massive as it might have been as I’ve still got my local’s beer festival to catch up on (some of the later beers here were those that should have been on, but not enough beer got drunk quickly enough, so it wasn’t). Quickly re: boxing, Haye will lose to Valuev on points because it’ll just go like the Holyfield fight except that Haye will have a bit more speed/power, but won’t knock him out and therefore it’ll go to bent German judges again. UFC 104 is ready to watch, but some douchenipple spoiled the main event so I’ve not got round to it yet. Beers:

222 – Kelburn Red Smiddy (4.1%) – 7, nice enough slightly darker ale, not as ruby as the name indicates

223 – Fyne Ale Innishail (3.6%) – 7, lightish ale with grapefruit overtones

224 – Wadworth Stronginthearm (4.0%) – 6.5, fairly middle of the road bitter, slightly hoppy aftertaste

225 – Slaters Premium (4.4%) – 7,  quite pleasant neutral best bitter style beer

226 – Bollington Long Hop (3.9%) – 7, pretty solid beer, leaning towards the hoppy side oddly enough

227 – Hornbeam Dark and Divine (4.0%) – 6, slightly malty and smoky dark ale, fairly standard

228 – Northumberland Wor Bobby (4.0%) – 7.5, fullish and smooth textured ale, slightly malty

229 – Northumberland Legends of the Tyne (4.0%) – 6.5, noticably malty, surprising given the lightish brown colour

230 – Anglo Dutch Kletzwater (4.0%) – 8, good tasting slightly brown dryish session ale

231 – Skinners Figgy’s Brew (4.5%) – 7, fullish darker ale with pleasant malty smoothness

232 – Titanic Lifeboat (4.0%) – 6, ok darker ale, bit heavy and touch smoky, but not that malty

233 – Marston Moor Game Bird (4.1%) – 7, darker ale with toffee notes

234 – Houston Festival Ale (4.0%) – 8, light and well balanced session beer

235 – Titanic Iceberg (4.1%) – 5, very dry and slightly hoppy light beer, almost too dry

236 – Triple F Stairway (4.6%) – 8, slightly sweet balanced light ale, hint of bitterness, very drinkable

237 – Oldershaw Regal Blonde (4.4%) – 8.5, light lager style beer, subtle almost heathery touches, slightly citrusy

238 – Inveralmond Independence (3.8%) – 6, typical warming, malty Scottish ale

 

Sheffield Steel City Beer Festival 2009, real quick fight thoughts

Have got about a dozen or so non-festival beers from the past month to catch up on at a later date, a couple of good ones to recommend but will do the festival and fight notes first or else I’ll never get round to it. The fight thoughts first:

- Audley Harrison wins Prizefighters. And hilariously thinks that he’d have been a world champion but for crap promoting by Warren. Now, I don’t know about you, but I think his lack of world title is correlated to the fact that he sucks and is unmarketable. His fights are boring apart from the odd occasion when he gets knocked out. If he was to get a title shot against, say, Valuev, that might be the worst fight in the history of professional boxing.

- Floyd Mayweather beats Marquez. Thank god for that, bring on Pacquiao. Post-bout interview was hilariously bad, sure Mosley is good but he’s not seriously going to get a shot at Mayweather as he’s only back to make cash money, and that fight, while it makes sense, wouldn’t really cut it.

- UFC 103 didn’t look that great a card so I passed on it. Return of Belfort and dos Santos knocking Mirko into retirement. 104 looks a lot better, even the undercard looks exciting.

- LOL Kimbo.

Beer festival then. Was a lot better than last years, due to it not being freezing, actually having the second marquee up, solid conditions underfoot and a great selection of beers. Was a bit windy on the Saturday, but oh well. The beer:

206 – Fyfe Lemon Twist (4.2%) – 5.5, is noticably lemony, light and thin, beyond the citrusness is a bland, unimaginative ale

207 – Tring Mansion Mild (3.7%) – 8, slightly fruity nose, hints of cherry and raspberry, not overly heavy either

208 – Great Heck Dave (3.8%) – 7, dark ale with smoky roasted taste, while not being too malty

209 – Cairngorm Sheepshaggers’ Gold (4.5%) – 8, slight ginger hints, a lot fuller and stronger than previous beers, very drinkable golden premium beer

210 – Brass Monkey Tamarind Mild (3.6%) – 6.5, looks like a reddish bitter rather than a mild, is ok, barely tastes like a mild either

211 – Naylor’s Roaring Ruby (4.1%) – 7, calling it ruby would be wrong, just looks and tastes like a solid golden bitter

212 – Sheffield Crucible Best (3.8%) – 6.5, a decent bitter that seems stronger than the ABV would suggest

213 – Isle of Purbeck Studland Bay (4.5%) – 7, a rich, punchy bitter

214 – Wilkins Cider (6.0%) – 6.5, on the sweet side, decent enough to drink, a bit cloudy

215 – Bradfield Sheffield Tigers (4.8%) – 7.5, recommended stronger ale

216 – Brew Company Hop Ripper (4.3%) – 6.5, light, hoppy, dry, bad to start with but improves quickly

217 – Kelham Island Best Bitter (3.8%) – 6, looks like a bitter, tastes like a bitter, is ok but a bit dull and a touch on the dry side

218 – Tryst Bla’tham (4.0%) – 7.5, seems hoppy in the nose, is slightly tangy and sour but in a good way, slightly citrusy, improves a lot down the pint

219 – Acorn Sovereign (4.4%) – 6, darker ale, malty smell, strong bodied but with a dull malty taste

220 – Daleside Old Leg Over (3.9%) – 7, good bitter, touch on the dark side with ruby hints

221 – Crown Smokin Oktoberfest (5.7%) – 8, pleasant colour, strength is noticable, nice subtlety with flavours

UFC 102, small number of beers

Real swingy card this, as those that read my last post will know, I was looking forward to this card quite a lot, and for the most part it didn’t disappoint.

Brandon Vera and Krystof Soszynski was dull, to put it mildly. I had Vera winning it 30-28, chopping the second. Vera’s striking was better in the first, landing more kicks and punches, but without any real power, second was closer and Soszynski was able to control with the clinch more, but the third was clearly Vera’s as the Polish Experiment looked to be gassing somewhat in the latter half of the round. No need to catch up on this one if you missed it.

Marquardt – Maia was one I was looking forward to a lot. Quite a few writers I respect had Marquardt as a solid bet even at the -170 or so that he was at, which I didn’t really get, thought Maia would at least be a live dog. Of course, this was dependent on Maia getting it to the ground, and he got to the ground via Marquardt’s first punch. Oh dear. It’s a shame when you’ve got two contrasting styles and what should turn out to be a really interesting ground battle, and it’s over in 20 seconds.

Leben – Rosholt was decent, I don’t care for either fighter much really. I gave the first to Rosholt, Leben didn’t do a huge deal with strikes, and while they were level in number of takedowns, Rosholt did a little bit more with his. Can understand that being given either way, but the second was obviously Leben’s round, his striking was much better and more consistent. A potentially pivotal third round resulted in Leben just getting subbed very quickly.

Hague and Duffee is worth watching, because it was over faster than a Usain Bolt 100m.

Jardine – Silva was also pretty quick, seemed like somewhat of a flash knockout by Silva, somewhat unexpected but it was always going to be fairly close.

Herman – Simpson is another fight worth watching, Simpson ran Herman over like a train in a very impressive first round, with Herman looking like he injured his knee badly late on. If there was doubt before, it was confirmed early in the second when it went ping. Don’t think he should have come out for it really.

Couture – Nogueira is one that you have to see if you haven’t done so already. Possibly one of the best obvious 30-27 fights I’ve ever seen, this was back to vintage Big Nog after the farce that was the Mir fight, it was only Randy being Randy that prevented this being stopped, which Minotauro had plenty of chances to do but couldn’t quite manage it. I wasn’t overly interested in this fight prior to it, but it surpassed expectations by a long way. Nog should get the next shot at Lesnar, which is going to be in 2010 at some point seeing how Carwin is lined up for him first. As for Couture? Don’t know, personally I like him moving down to 205 (again) as he’s clearly never going to beat Lesnar, and I don’t see how he beats Nogueira either in a rematch. Only trouble is is that division is extremely crowded. A somewhat logical fight would be against Forrest Griffin, that’d definitely sell tickets and I think it makes sense for both fighters, neither is anywhere near a title shot right now, but could angle towards a contenders’ fight with a win.

The bonus Aurelio – Dunham fight saw Marcus get screwed in my opinion. First round was Dunham’s, this is obvious. Stayed on the feet, he outstruck him. Final round was Aurelio’s, this is obvious, got the takedown early, threatened to finish, Dunham offered nothing after escaping. The second round is debatable, but the striking was a lot closer and Aurelio got the takedown, controlling a decent chunk of the round. Can understand a 29-28 either way (I obviously had it to Aurelio), but how the hell did one judge give it 30-27? That’s just insane.

Some quick beers:

203 – Leeds Midnight Bell (4.8%) – 8, very nice dark beer, with hints of treacle and fruit amongst other things

204 – Rudgate Brewski (4.1%) – 6.5, light ale, initially mundane, but improves, slightly floral with a dry aftertaste

205 – Williams Brothers 80/- (4.2%) – 7.5, more or less what you expect from an 80/-, and it does it well

UFC 100/101, large numbers of beers

UFC 100 quickly, because it was a longer time ago – disappointed imo. Mainly because it was fairly predictable in that Lesnar simply repeatedly punched Mir and showed that he’s not going to lose to a cheap submission again, GSP vs. Alves was more or less one way traffic as expected, Henderson – Bisping was briefly entertaining, but we really don’t need to see Hendo lose to Anderson Silva again in the future, Fitch’s fight was automatic, and only Akiyama/Belcher looked to be close (and imo Belcher won the fight). We should all take a minute to laugh at Stephan Bonnar for losing to someone old enough to be my grandfather, but the card just seemed to be a case of failing to live up to very high expectations.

Then we had the whole Fedor to UFC cocktease bullshit, the deal that was reportedly offered by Zuffa was insane, and M-1 are daft to turn it down, and equally crazy if they think that they can actually build up a decent promotion based around Fedor and, er, er, help please?

UFC 101 – Penn/Florian was pretty sucky, KenFlo never really threatened to do anything, Penn didn’t gas, did enough to win all of the first three rounds and finished nicely in the fourth. Silva/Griffin was awesome, mainly because Silva just owned from the minute he stepped into the arena. Sadollah/Hendricks was finished way too early, and as a result we managed to see Aaron Riley be simply too big for Shane Nelson, who needs to get himself to the WEC ASAP. I thought Kendall Grove did enough to win the second round against Ricardo Almeida, but still lost the fight, and if Pellegrino/Neer had been aborted after 30 seconds I don’t think anyone would have cared. An undercard bout between some Australian and some other guy was entertaining enough I guess.

UFC has a few problems in creating meaningful competitive fights right now. Lesnar is well above anyone else at heavyweight, and apart from Big Nog if he can bounce back against Couture in a few weeks, or Carwin/Velasquez down the road, there’s nobody that can really challenge. GSP and Anderson Silva are streets ahead of anyone at 170 and 185 respectively, and Penn looks to be too good for anyone at 155 as well. There could be some decent action at 205, but I don’t know who can obviously beat Machida right now. At least there there is a lot of competition between good fighters who could legitimately have a shot. I don’t know what they can do about it, other than have Silva move to 205 permanently (which isn’t going to happen, and he wouldn’t fight Lyoto anyway), and we don’t need to see GSP fight Silva either. If they can’t get Fedor despite throwing everything at him, I don’t see what’ll happen. Still, I’m excited about 102, the main event does nothing for me, but Jardine/Thiago Silva should be fun, I do like Jardine’s fights even though he somewhat sucks when fighting top-5 calibre at the weight, Maia/Marquardt should be awesome, and hopefully Brandon Vera will get owned again.

Quite a lot of beers to mention, not done any festivals of late, there’s some coming up in October, including Sheffield and one at my local. Without further ado:

177 – Three B’s Bobbins Bitter (3.8%) – 6.5, full flavoured, slightly dry and fruity

178 – TSA Ben Nevis (4.0%) – 7, full, slightly fruity and malty

179 – Holden’s Lambswool (4.5%) – 6.5, not bad, has an odd slightly malty taste

180 – Cottage Box Tunnel (4.3%) – 6, slightly malty, unchallenging bland ale

181 – Cottage Metropolitan (4.7%) – 7, well balanced, touches of fruit and malt

182 – Boggart Bog Eyed (4.0%) – 6.5, bit dry and hoppy, better than other beers they make.

183 – Phoenix St George’s Flag (4.3%) – 7, moderately dry, hoppy and refreshing

184 – Betwixt Skyline (3.5%) – 5, mundane, dull and heavy

185 – Derventio Et Tu Brutus (4.5%) – 6, unimaginative and slightly heavy

186 – Three Rivers Old Disreputable (5.2%) – 7.5, dark, sweet and liquoricey, almost like a dark mild

187 – Rudgate Brandt (3.9%) – 6.5, decent if a touch too malty

188 – Wentworth Small Copper (4.1%) – 6.5, tastes full to start, but weak aftertaste, ok, rich enough

189 – Phoenix Hopsack (3.8%) – 7.5, very drinkable, dry hoppy ale

190 – Slaters Howzat (3.8%) – 6.5, dark, malty and earthy, a bit better than similar beers

191 – Slaters Top Totty (4.0%) – 8, light ale, well balanced and drinkable

192 – Ossett Pale Ale (3.6%) – 7.5, pleasant light and hoppy session ale

193 – Cairngorm Nessie’s Monster Mash (4.4%) – 7, decent darker ale, bit malty and treacley, overrated

194 – Acorn Ginger Nuts (4.2%) – 7, decent lighter ale, ginger noticable but not dominant

195 – Lancaster Amber (3.7%) – 6, slightly dark amber ale, ok but not spectacular

196 – Northumberland Northumbria Ale (4.5%) – 6.5, slightly tangy golden ale on the hoppy side

197 – Springhead Liberty (3.8%) – 6.5, standard pale ale

198 – The Brew Co Dev Cat Brewers Gold (3.8%) – 6.5, light hoppy session ale with dry aftertaste

199 – Victoria Bitter (4.8%) – 7, an almost lager-bitter hybrid that’s on the malty side

200 – Thornbridge Lord Marples (4.0%) – 6, rather malty and a bit heavy

201 – Rudgate Flaxen Dane (4.2%) – 7.5, mildly hoppy, slight dry finish

202 – Northumberland Jolly Rogers (4.0%) – 5, darkish ale with awful aftertaste

UFC 99, Stockport Beer Festival

Speed recap:

Rich Franklin def. Wanderlei Silva (points) – what a tough fight to score. Much like the Henderson fight, this really should have been a five-rounder. I had Franklin taking the first, only just, I thought Silva did more early but Franklin’s pressure following that failed guillotine allowed him to take it late. The second, I really don’t know. Wandy had him rocked, but Rich might have done enough to edge things his way again, after looking better early again. The third I was probably scoring to Silva again until Franklin took him down. Another two rounds might have seen things more decisively towards Franklin, but I don’t know, if it was it’d be due to Silva gassing, as he didn’t look to cut brilliantly. Would watch again though.

Cain Velasquez def. Cheick Kongo (points) – yeah, clear 30-27. Of course Velasquez looked good, Kongo has no takedown defense and no ground game. It’s basically a perfect matchup. This fight raised a ton of questions, Kongo had no business taking that to a decision, and it only did because Velasquez had no power. On the other hand, if Kongo had more power and was able to keep the fight on the feet for more than 15 seconds per round, he’d have knocked him out. There’s no way that Cain could hang with someone like Lesnar who does everything that he does, only a lot better.

Mirko Cro Cop def. Mostapha Al-Turk (TKO 1) – eye pokes are fun. Don’t think it made a difference, once Filipovic connected it looked to be one-way traffic.

Mike Swick def. Ben Saunders (TKO 2) – boring contest, punctuated only by interesting trash talking in the first and a decent finish in the second. Don’t bother looking this one up if you missed it, Swick always looked to be a winner and the TKO thankfully terminated this abortion of a contest.

Spencer Fisher def. Caol Uno (points) – bad decision imo, Uno won it by an odd round, Fisher taking the first. Fairly close throughout so I’m not overly surprised at the decision, but if I was Uno I’d be disappointed. Not a hugely interesting fight again.

Dan Hardy def. Marcus Davis (points) – scored correctly, I had Hardy taking it 29-28, one of the better fights of the night, Hardy just did much more in the last two frames and busted Davis open.

Overall, not a brilliant fight, nothing technically fantastic, no really pleasing KO’s, the better fights were basically trainwrecks of slugfests. For once, a mediocre looking card turns out to be exactly that.

Turbo beer reporting!

162 – Howard Town Wren’s Nest (4.2%) – 7.5, slightly dry, hoppy light ale..

163 – Houston Blonde Bombshell (4.0%) – 7, slightly malty and citrusy light ale, with a mildly dry aftertaste.

164 – Bollington Bollington Best (4.2%) – 6, rather dull bitter, hints of both malt and hops but nothing overpowering, little dry

165 – Ulverston Harvest Moon (3.9%) – 6, slightly floral nose, initially a touch sour. Odd aftertaste. Improves down the pint.

166 – Newby Wyke Kingston Topaz (4.2%) – 4.5, odd grapefruity nose, rather sour and unpleasant and cloudy.

167 – Elland Beyond the Pale (4.2%) – 6, another blandish, hoppy dry-tasting pale beer.

168 – Bazen May Bee Mild (4.4%) – 8, not really a mild, has a golden light colour and rich, old ale-esque taste, with hints of honey.

169 – Durham Evensong Co (5.0%) – 7.5, full, malty dark ale, not ruby as advertised, very solid though.

170 – Pictish OT Special (4.2%) – 7.5, notably dry, light ale, almost tasting like a lager.

171 – Pennine Floral Dance (3.6%) – 7.5, light, slightly thin, but drinkable and a touch fruity.

172 – Fullers/Gales Seafarer (3.6%) – 8, slightly sweet, hints of malt early but hoppier later, well balanced.

173 – Facers Landslide (4.9%) – 7, rich, golden ale, a bit zesty.

174 – Spitting Feathers Thirst Quencher (3.9%) – 6, golden with a slightly spicy aftertaste.

175 – Dunham Massey Cheshire IPA (4.7%) – 6.5, noticable strong initial hoppy taste, otherwise decent bodied albeit bland.

176 – Leeds Gold (4.2%) – 6.5, solid balanced bitter, tasting darker than colour suggests.

UFC 98

Not really the best of cards in my opinion, while most of the fights were OK, there were a couple of snoozers to go with those that had explosive finishes so it was rather average overall. Thoughts:

Frankie Edgar 30 – 28 Sean Sherk – I have no idea what Sherk’s game plan was here. I guess like many other fighters he was overvaluing his striking, and then just got picked apart by someone who had cleaner, crisper striking and a noticable reach advantage. I think both of the first two rounds were close, and scored the third round a draw, which I’d have given to Sherk until the guillotine attempt at the death which levelled things in my eyes, but I don’t see how Sherk thought he could win the fight with how he went about it. I’m not a fan of his, so don’t mind him getting pushed down the hierarchy a bit, but I’m not sure Edgar can take it to the next level against a Penn, Florian or someone similar.

Chael Sonnen 30 – 27 Dan Miller – What a dull fight. After Miller tried and failed to get a very quick submission, he just got ground and pounded for fifteen minutes. Sonnen never tried to finish the fight and hence never looked like doing so. Sure, it’s professional and he fought the thing in a way where he was never going to lose, but jesus it was boring.

Drew McFedries KO 1 vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam – For some reason I should know Foupa-Pokam having been a veteran of Cage Rage, but I didn’t recognise him, and he got crushed by an early onslaught which might have been stopped prematurely depending on your viewpoint, but the guy looked outclassed, which seemed odd given how the line started with McFedries being a solid favourite and being quickly backed the other way. Just hoped people arbed some of their holding.

Krzysztof Soszynski KO 1 vs. Andre Gusmao – another entertaining early finish, Gusmao looked decent early until he got nailed by some good shots which were enough. I’d like to see Soszynski face someone like Steve Cantwell, Brandon Vera or Luis Cane, something that’s a bit of a step up in class.

Matt Serra 29-28 Matt Hughes – Judges disagreed with me. Bastards. Anyway, I thought Hughes clearly took the second but Serra took the others – in the last round Serra clearly did more after his takedown than Hughes did, and Serra looked closer to finishing the fight in the first part of the opening round than Hughes did in the latter. Oh well, I can understand the scoring, even if I don’t agree with it, Serra’s rounds were at least close.

Lyoto Machida KO 2 vs. Rashad Evans – wow. First round was basically a non-event until the last minute where Machida took control enough to take it. Second round was more interesting, and then Machida took control and got the KO. He was basically a terrible matchup style-wise for Evans, he does everything Evans does except that little bit better. The rumoured first defence against Rampage should, if Jackson is on the ball, be a different kettle of fish altogether.

Elsewhere on the bits of the undercard that got televised, Tim Hague got a nice submission in round 1 against Patrick Barry, who looked good on the feet but sloppy on the ground. Brock Larson’s submission over Mike Pyle was mors of a surprise, given than Pyle spent most of the round prior to the submission trying to score the same result except in the opposite direction.

Overall, worth a look. There’s nothing massively epic, some fights weren’t great, but there’s enough there on those that got stopped to make it worth a look.

Sheffield Union Beer Festival 2009

Oh my god, I am so ridiculously far behind on updating this that I have completely missed a couple of UFC’s, Hatton – Pacquiao (not missing much, just don’t lead with your face, and please retire now), and I have beer to catch up on, which I’ll do now as my tasting notes which were in my pocket for two weeks just got water damaged so I’ll copy them up before I forget. At least they’re readable, unlike at Warwick ‘07 where the same thing happened (which wasn’t due to rain, more leaking Lucozade)

138 – Dunham Massey Choc Cherry (3.8%) – 9, noticable cherry flavours, a touch smoky and a little dry

139 – Betwixt Red Rocks (5.0%) – 7.5, fairly balanced, slightly malty, very drinkable but nothing special

140 – Ossett Excelsior (5.2%) – 7, strongish with a rich golden flavour

141 – Milestone Rich Ruby (4.5%) – 6.5, touch dark, slightly fruity and malty

142 – Brass Monkey Bitter (3.8%) – 5.5, weak, watery and bland

143 – Brass Monkey Silverback (5.0%) – 7, ok, odd slightly sweet aftertaste, hints of ginger

144 – Saltaire Sub-Lime Blonde (4.0%) – 6, smells of lime, tastes a bit of lime, unsurprisingly is too sour

145 – Fruli (4.1%) – 8.5, quality strong strawberry taste. In-running comments stated “it’s fucking Fruli”

146 – Vale Black Swan (3.9%) – 6.5, fairly standard mild that’s a bit smoky

147 – Funfair Rollerghoster (4.7%) – 6.5, bright red colour, moderately fruity but fairly average

148 – Vale Grumpling (4.6%) – 6, day 2 started here, deep and slightly fruity but a bit dull

149 – Thornbridge Jaipur (5.9%) – 8, dry, floral hints, deceptively drinkable given the strength

150 – Abbeydale Mule Cooler (4.2%) – 6.5, light, pale and hoppy, doesn’t really taste of anything in particular so drinkable

151 – Dark Star Original (5.0%) – 7.5, dark ruby coloured beer which is noticably fruity

152 – Saltaire Raspberry Blonde (4.0%) – 6.5, raspberry flavouring is a bit weak and the thing is too dry

153 – The Brew Company Slaker (3.8%) – 7, pleasant enough but unoriginal pale ale

154 – Milestone Raspberry Wheat Beer (5.6%) – 7.5, not sure whether it’s raspberry or strawberry really, subtle and not overpowering

155 – Thornbridge Kipling (5.2%) – 6, slightly acrid, can’t see through it

156 – The Brew Company Bock (4.2%) – 7, decent fairly dark and fruity ale

157 – Hecks Kingston Black (unknown%) – 6, omg a cider, notes too water damaged to read but it looks like it was a bit dry and a standard real cider

158 – Cathedral Eight Bells (4.8%) – 6, day three started here, bit bland, touch sweet, seemed weak given the percentage

159 – Shugborough Mi Lady’s Fancy (4.6%) – 6.5, golden ale that’s a bit hoppy and citrusy

160 – White Horse Giant (4.3%) – 5.5, dark brown ale that’s malty and earthy

161 – Nelson No. 23 (4.4%) – 7, refreshing and hoppy

Festival didn’t seem as good as previous years. They run out of beer earlier on the Saturday than previously, although they kept some back for Sunday (and ordered some in quickly which obviously couldn’t settle, so take the last few ratings with a pinch of salt). Food on Sunday had ridiculous queues. Bar staff couldn’t understand the difference between three £1 tokens and three strips of £1 tokens, so nearly gave me 12 quid too much beer until I (stupidly?) corrected them. Never actually got back to me re: request to staff the thing. Blades didn’t get promoted.

UFC 95 review, UFC 96 preview, beers

It’s funny how some of the cards that don’t have obvious megastars headlining (and the idea of “Sanchez vs. Stevenson” certainly qualifies) tend to deliver on quality of fights. This certainly happened with UFC 95, with plenty of explosive knockouts. Scanning through the fight card, Paul Kelly looked very solid in dominating Troy Mandaloniz for three rounds which appeared to be his best performance in the UFC so far. Cage Rage veteran Neil Grove showed that the majority of British-based fighters have no ground game whatsoever, as he quickly got submitted by highly-touted Mike Ciesnolevicz very quickly. Junior Dos Santos and Evan Dunham scored quick KO’s over Stefan Struve and Per Eklund respectively, which are worth watching as it takes up no time whatsoever, and Terry Etim scored a victory over Brian Cobb early in the second round after a decent first. The fact that we were able to see the entirety of the undercard indicates that the main card was fairly quick as well, and so it proved – Josh Koscheck being on the receiving end of a knockout out of nowhere from Paulo Thiago who hadn’t really threatened at all prior to the KO punch. Not sure where Koscheck goes from there, although he is back in action really quickly. Demian Maia continued his domination at middleweight with a first round submission victory over Chael Sonnen, who didn’t really seem to have the right gameplan coming into the fight. Would like to see him get a title shot soon, perhaps after one more fight (against who though? Marquardt?).  Speaking of Marquardt, he stopped Wilson Gouveia after two brutal rounds which sees him picking up momentum back towards the top at 185. Dan Hardy got a huge victory over Rory Markham after a knockout early in the first round, which should see him back on our screens again soon. The main event was a little disappointing, going to a decision where Stevenson never really threatened to do anything to end the fight, and the small concerns that I had with Sanchez coming in for the first time at 155 didn’t come to anything.

UFC 96 has some interesting fights, Rampage ought to despatch Keith Jardine comfortably enough, I can’t see too many ways for Jardine to win and I think the -275 that is available is good value for a unit. Gonzaga – Carwin is a much more interesting fight, Carwin’s main strength is his wrestling, but here he is facing a big step up in class against someone who he isn’t going to stop within a couple of minutes, and is also against someone who has world-class BJJ skills. I think Carwin needs to finish the fight quickly, but don’t see a way for him to do it, so I’m on Gonzaga at around -170 for a couple of units. Elsewhere on the card there’s not a massive deal that is of interest – there’s a few fighters (Hamill, Brown, Maynard) that I’m interested in seeing again but not against the opposition they’re lined up against, some names on the undercard that are known fighters but I don’t care about (Grove, Vera), and a couple of fights between people I’ve never heard of. Great.

Beers:

125 – Hornbeam Hornbeam Bitter (3.8%) – 6.5, it’s OK but doesn’t really do anything at all.

126 – Phoenix Palr Moonlight (4.2%) – 6, bad initially but improves to a mediocre pale ale.

127 – Banks & Taylors Bedfordshire Clanger (3.8%) – 5.5, very light and hoppy, would be a decent enough session beer were it not for the massive dry aftertaste.

128 – Storm Desert Storm (4.0%) – 6.5, OK amber beer, bit dull and earthy.

129 – Marston Moor Tod Hunter (4.3%) – 6, a little hoppy, otherwise unremarkable.

130 – Northumberland Newcastle Bitter (4.0%) – 6.5, has a deepish but palatable flavour which is deceptively drinkable.

131 – Rudgate Old Grog (4.1%) – 7, very light and slightly citrusy pale ale with a somewhat bitter aftertaste.

132 – Northumberland Bucking Fastard (4.0%) – 7, light and hoppy, smooth, dry afterwards.

133 – Batemans Winter Cheer (4.2%) – 6.5, full fruity flavour but oddly a touch weak.

134 – Brains Rev James (4.5%) – 7, dark, full flavoured malty ale, hints of fruit.

135 – Hornbeam February Gold (3.6%) – 5.5, light but really dry.

136 – Marston Moor Sneaky Stoat (4.1%) – 6, rather dry and bitter, but well balanced.

137 – Salopian Ghurka (4.2%) – 7, light and refreshing ale with citrus touches.