jimufctna24

Sweet. I've told this story on here before, but I will tell it again because it always makes me smile. My friend/DVD supplier attended a Cage Warriors show around 2004/2005 time. Freeman was the MC. He bollocked the crowd telling them to "shut up while I'm talking" and performed a unwanted stand-up comedy routine that died on its arse.

How many Cage Rage shows did you attend? And how did you get into one of their afterparties?

I saw that unfortunate Tweet a few days ago. Underneath it in the commments was seemingly an AI generated picture of Amosov's body being removed from the apparant wreckage, and a screenshot of a fake MSN news report announcing his death. I quickly figured out it was bullshit after a bit of Googling and searching X for any other evidence. However, the initial Tweet did appear as though it could be legitimate for a moment. Scummy behaviour.

I liked Quadros. I recall he disliked Rogan's commentary at one point. Some scamp even started a fake rumour that Quadros beat Rogan up in a nightclub.

I don't watch much modern wrestling, but I watched a match from last month featuring Rey vs Chad Gable a few days ago, If you enjoy the Rey vs Angle bouts, you should enjoy greatly. I did. Yep, June 2005 on Smackdown. They are not at their athletic peak, especially Eddie. They focus more on limb work and long-term selling, and it's quite a brilliant match. Their PPV matches at The Bash and Judgement Day that year are very good imo, but the Smackdown match is easily the best of that series. It's probably my favourite match from 2005. Edit: Their match on the Smackdown after WM20 is excellent too.

Oh dear, concerns have been raised about the Ricky Hatton Foundation - https://craigscott209.substack.com/p/cfft-ricky-hatton-foundation-concerns?r=2k7t6i&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true Paul Speak (the dude Billy Graham hates), Adam Smith, and a convicted fraudster are heavily involved in it. The gambling addiction rumour about Smith is doing the rounds again too. Someone is even claiming he attended a help group with Smith.

This was the third episode. They are worth listening to if you can find the time.

@Egg Shen @NeverYield Fill your boots lads.

I raised my eyebrows when Jones vs Gane was announced, because I thought Gane could cause him serious problems. Obviously that didn't happen. Still, it can see why Jones would not want to risk fighting Aspinall, especially at this stage of his career. From what I've seen of Aspinall, he's a tall and rangy striker, who is indeed mobile, and can kick and punch effectively from long range. In other words, Aspinall has similarities to those opponents who have given Jones the most problems in the past (Reyes, Gusty). At his peak, Jones could probably rely on his durability/cardio and adjustments to carry him through after a rough start to the fight (as was the case in the first Gusty bout), but at this stage of his life he may not be as certain his chin will hold up, or that he could turn the tables as the fight progresses. He was very lucky to get the nod from the judges against Reyes in 2020 (the 1 fight I believe Jones lost clearly). I agree it wasn't an unwinnable fight for Jones though. I'm not confident that Aspinall would've had the endurance to win a decision against Jones had the latter's chin held up.

Nemkov returns in November. From the PFL website: I haven't seen any of Bilostenniy's fights, but on paper he doesn't appear to be anything overly special. He lost via decision to Nemkov's stablemate Moldavsky last year, who I don't rate that highly. If the fight is free on YouTube I will probably watch it, but it doesn't really set my pulse racing.

From Sherdog: I mean, at least Coker has chosen a division that is traditionally rich in talent. I'm still very cynical that he'll be able to put together a decent field of fighters though. Choosing to hold fights in a ring rather than the cage is an interesting choice. It'll certainly play well in Asia, who traditionally aren't keen on the cage. The ring also gives those ringside a better view of the fights. As I, and many others, have argued in the past, it additionally favours fighters who want to trap their opponent (those who want to clinch and takedown their opponent, fight on the inside/clinch, etc), and disadvantages those fighters who would rather evade their opponent (stick and move, etc) The only issue with the ring, and it's a long-standing one, is that it isn't very compatible with ground fighting due to fighters falling through the ropes. This issue cropped up in the recent Rizin main event with McKee and Shaydullaev. You don't get that issue with the cage. Anyway, my interest in this project is pretty low, as much as I would like for it to succeed. And dear god, I hope Coker doesn't convince Fedor to fight again.

Closest was the late 90s when Couture and then Rutten won the heavyweight belt, but then both vacated without losing the title inside the cage. It also kinda happened twice in a row in 2003-2005 too. Sylvia was stripped of the title after popping for PEDs in late 2003. Mir then beat Sylvia for the vacated title in mid 2004, but then vacated himself in 2005 after sustaining injuries in a motorcycle accident. I don't think it's happened 3 times in a row though.

I haven't stayed up for a fight since Crawford vs Canelo. I may wake up early for this one.

No, no, no, Ngannou apparently being overbearing/arrogant at the UFC Performance Centre, and triggering a legitimate clause in his contract to leave the company is far worse than all that (rolls eyes emoji)

IIRC, in the first round very little happened between Daley and Page, and the rest of the fight was mostly a grappling match. I just flicked through the highlights and MVP did land a good flying knee at some point. But aye, it wasn't an especially exciting fight to watch, especially considering the hype beforehand. Coker also often matched him with overmatched opponents, even deep into his Bellator run. Look at his stretch of fights between his first loss to Lima in May of 2019 and his bout with Derek Anderson in May of 2021. 3 out of the 4 fighters he beat during that period don't even have their own Wikipedia page.

When I watched his fights in Bellator Page could be really good at tying opponents up on the ground, creating a stalemate. He's just not that exciting of a fighter a lot of the time.

Scott Coker on X: "I’ve been looking forward to sharing this with you. On September 14, join me, Peter Levin and @rich_chou as we unveil our new global MMA promotion, live from New York City. 6 PM ET / 3 PM PT 
Watch: https://t.co/wQ4l3WK2h7 https://t.co/XirgMhk4oy" / X Tournaments are his plan seemingly 😆

Garcia vs Benn this weekend then. Hopefully this is the fight where Benn is well and truly humbled.

Shaydullaev wins 30-27 on all cards. McKee had the odd moment, the odd decent strike landed, the odd brief advantageous position on the ground, but was still beaten soundly for the first time in his career (his two previous losses were razor thin decisions). Shaydullaev had few issues forcing McKee back to the ropes with strikes, landing takedowns, and controlling McKee on top. Both were clearly fatigued at the end. Still, an impressive performance. Even more impressive was that 48k were in attendance in the Osaka Dome on a random working day.

Ahhh bollocks. I'll have to try and find a way around that tomorrow. Nothing like a big fight in Japan. I like McKee, but I hope Shaydullaev wins. MMA needs fighters with aura, which its sadly lost lately with Chimaev and Toperia both losing.

Lovely.

Long interview with Billy Graham for anyone interested. I had no idea that Thomas Hauser played a role in the Graham vs Ray Hatton feud until now. Regarding the Paul Speak character that Graham openly despises. According to Frank Warren, Graham and Speak almost came to blows in front of press members ahead of the Hatton vs Mayweather fight.

Yeah, I'm hoping to find a video of the fight. Big test for Shaidulloev.

Yeah, those arguments popped up on Twitter immediately after the fight. Breen tackled them on the Sherdog podcast in the hours after the fight, and I recall you dismissing them on here in the weeks after. I can kinda understand why some held those views, given how Anderson had beaten a variety of opponents previously and built up quite the aura, but yeah, they were bollocks. The "fucking around" was almost certainly desperate attempt to get Weidman to open up and leave himself vulnerable to counters. I'm glad you've brought up the finish of the second fight. As others have noted over the years, when Anderson couldn't tease out counters, and was forced to lead, he'd often chip away at his opponent with leg kicks. So Weidman merely punished a tendency that Silva had by checking the kick, not a freak occurrence. I remember the word heading into that fight was that Weidman had partied too much, and perhaps wasn't as well prepared as he was in the first bout. But you would have never guessed that given how the fight went. 100% agreed. Good point about Merab too.