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.

UFC 94

Few days into the aftermath of what started out as a pretty awful card and only picked up after the Machida knockout (seriously), seems that much of the talk is about vaselinegate, but even if what happened was done deliberately, could Penn have come back from there at all? I’m not sure. The way the fight went, Penn didn’t look like he had any realistic way to keep the fight standing from round 2 onwards, and GSP was controlling ridiculously from the top, any extra grip that Penn might have had from the back seems to be of very limited use.

As for how the fight actually went down, St. Pierre looked slightly better in most areas in the first, but didn’t do anything to really punctuate it. Penn’s takedown defence was useful enough here, but a 10-9 first round. Second round was far more one-sided, and his ability to inflict damage and pass on top against someone with Penn’s BJJ skills was really impressive. 10-9 again, nearly 10-8 but that’d probably be a stretch. Third was another clear St. Pierre round, not as emphatic with less damage sustained by Penn, who by now was offering little. Fourth round was 10-8 imo though, GSP ran him over to the point where Herb Dean nearly stopped it, and wouldn’t have been at fault if he did, as Penn had no way to win.

Machida – Silva was a mismatch. Silva was picked apart by Machida’s counterpunching, twice being knocked down before being KO’ed at the buzzer. Someone give this guy a title shot already. Would be hilarious if he had to wait behind Jardine should he somehow beat Rampage.

Jones – Bonnar wasn’t a terrible fight compared to the first two, the first round was (at the time) easily the best round of the fight with Jones winning it clearly, using nice unorthodox striking, good takedowns, scoring a high quality knockdown and nailing a good knee to boot. Second round I also scored to Jones but it was much more even, with Bonnar coming back with good striking later in the round, and there were hints that Jones might have been tiring. As such, Bonnar took the third (but lost the fight 29-28 on my card), was much better standing, and when Jones took Bonnar down he wasn’t able to do much, with Bonnar looking closer to finishing the fight via triangle.

Prior to that we had two instantly forgetable fights, Karo Parisyan edging a very close 29-28 decision over Dong Hyun Kim which highlighted some of the flaws of the ten-point must system in a fight with few rounds, with him taking the first easily with superior positioning and control, threatening subs and doing some damage. Parisyan was much improved in the second with Kim not offering much at all, and he just took the third in a very close and dull round. I think the right result here would be a draw (but not a draw that necessitates a rematch) but Karo’s two rounds outweigh Kim’s much clearer first round.

Clay Guida – Nate Diaz was similar, I had Guida taking the first two but Diaz the third. Diaz looked to have a slight but noticable striking advantage, but after a takedown Guida’s solid ground game was enough. Second was much slower and duller, with Guida controlling an extended grappling session, barring brief sub attempts from Diaz. Diaz took the third by doing enough in early striking but nobody really cared by that point.

A potentially good card that went down the toilet quickly, rescued by two interesting if unbalanced fights. And they really need to stop referring to the penultimate fight as the co-main event regardless of what the fights are. It implies they are on the same billing, and if anyone thinks Machida/Silva is as important as St. Pierre/Penn 2, I want some of what they are smoking.

Affliction 2, Winter Ales Fest, UFC 92

Way too long past UFC 92 to write masses about it, so will just comment briefly. The big three fights of the night didn’t disappoint, obviously the big story was Rashad Evans defeating Forrest Griffin to win the light-heavyweight title, which came as a bit of a surprise given how the fight was going (had Griffin up 20-18 before the third round stoppage), but not majorly as most informed viewers recognised that it was an evenly-matched fight. It’ll be interesting to see how Evans does in his first defence, and I’m not sure who a good opponent would be. It’d be nice to see Machida not continually get jobbed but I really wouldn’t be surprised to see the winner of Rampage/Jardine get the shot, although that’ll be a way off. Elsewhere, Frank Mir shocked everyone by defeating a horribly out of sorts Nog to set up a rematch against Brock Lesnar which more or less sells itself, although I’m not sure that Mir can actually win a second time, Lesnar should have learned enough by then (if not already) to avoid cheap submissions. Rampage also knocked out Silva in somewhat of a grudge match, fairly entertaining unlike the rest of the card, although the quick finishes allowed some of the decent undercard to get promoted.

As for Affliction, it was another all-round decent card, although they still need to work on their production (although the comms, including Tito who was useful enough, were good, the backstage guys were morons who should be fired). Lauzon-Green was all-action although marred by frequent groin strikes, preventing any real rhythm to develop in the fight. Paul Buentello laid the smackdown on Kirill Sidelnikov, who would have lost a decision very comfortably (easily 30-27, not sure you can argue any round 10-8, maybe the last?) were it not stopped late in the third. Sokoudjou really needs to work on either his gastank, his fight planning, or both, as he looked to use up most of what he had against Babalu Sobral in the first (which, imo, he edged), but offered little in the second, eventually tapping to a choke. Maybe he’s just one of those that needs to finish a fight early, at least he has time on his side but there’s a lack of obvious fights outside the UFC apart from perhaps little Nog/Matyushenko from the undercard to this. Belfort’s quick KO of Lindland was brutal and a bit of a surprise, definitely one to catch if you’ve just watched the main event and that’s it. Barnett-Yvel was a mismatch, notable only for Yvel’s ability to defend from submissions and absorb a lot of punishment before eventually tapping in the third, and Barnett’s inability to finish the thing, instead just being content to work dominant ground positions (had the first 10-8 to him) and not really look to finish a clearly inferior opponent after the first round. Fedor-Arlovski was a weird one, Andrei looking to be a bit better in striking exchanges before oddly going in for a flying knee and being hit with a one-punch KO.

With Zuffa looking for any reason to chop fighters, and other organisations looking less than secure if not folded already, there’s enough talent out there for them to be able to put on a third card, whether they will isn’t something I’ll believe until I actually see it.

Will slot in a couple of beers from the Christmas period:

108 – A. Le Coq Viru (5.0%) – 6.5, distinctive slanted octahedral bottle. Rather light, malty but lacking as full a flavour as you might expect from this strength of beer.

109 – Okocim Jasne Pehe (5.5%) – 7, may have the style typoed or incorrect, slightly cloudy, crisp flavour, solid but not spectacular, typical Polish beer.

And from the festival itself, which had a nice setup, two largish rooms on different levels was a bit annoying but probably necessary, reasonably priced, food queues too long though.

110 – Sharps Doom Bar (4.0%) – 7, a standard, well balanced bitter.

111 – Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild (6.0%) – 9, very dark, fruity and well balanced.

112 – Nethergate Priory Mild (3.5%) – 6, dark, heavy, smoky, overpowering.

113 – Bryncelyn Holly Hop (3.9%) – 6.5, noticable initial sourness, gives way to solid, light hoppiness.

114 – Hesket Newmarket Old Carrock (6.0%) – 7, sharpish bitter taste, bit malty, becomes slightly sweet later.

115 – Wells & Youngs Winter Warmer (5.0%) – 7, slightly sweet and a bit nutty.

116 – Kelham Island Pride of Sheffield (4.0%) – 6.5, very light, very hoppy.

117 – Beartown Black Bear (5.0%) – 8, fruity and heavy, very dark.

118 – Spire Darkside of the Moon (4.3%) – 6.5, deep, smokyish but subtle.

119 – JW Lees John Willies (4.5%) – 6, ok but a bit bland and watery.

And some other randoms from out and about:

120 – Naylor’s On Target (3.7%) – 7, decent bitter but unremarkable.

121 – 1648 Triple Champion (4.0%) – 6.5, smooth, full, balanced, average.

122 – Wye Valley Butty Back (4.5%) – 6, light and hoppy, but too sour and thin to really recommend it.

123 – Purity Mad Goose (4.2%) – 7, slightly hoppy but otherwise very well balanced.

124 – St Austell Tribute (4.2%) – 6.5, little bit malty but otherwise decent if unimaginative.

And up to date finally. Just in time for GSP/Penn 2