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.
