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