WeeAl

"What's a good way of stopping a fire?"

"Don't provide it with oxygen."

You can replace fire with moron, and suddenly, there are a few less ridiculous opinions knocking about. 

9 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

UFC doing big business:

 

 

Ariel with the blinkers on again there, with an unfair and factually incorrect statement. I'm glad I stopped watching/listening etc to him years ago, as he's a shill for clicks or his employer. Which is absolutely fine if you accept that being levelled at you and are open about it. He though, takes offence to criticism that he's not the impartial reporter that he thinks he is. 

Nah, Tony is going to do a Bigfoot Silva. 

He was on the other day about winning five more fights and fighting for a title. Obviously not going to happen, but it's the talk of a man that's not going to be able to walk away whenever it looks time/past time that he should. 

1 hour ago, hallicks said:

Randy Meisner, original bassist of the Eagles has died:

https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/27/randy-meisner-the-eagles-dies

I know its pretty cool to hate the Eagles, but I have a big old soft spot for them. Meisner didn’t have lead vocal on many songs, though he had a unique voice and exceptional range, as shown on “Take it to the limit”:

RIP. 

I didn't know it was cool to hate on The Eagles either, but if that's what it takes to be cool, then I'm glad to be a square. I love The Eagles. Meisner on "Take it to the limit" is so far and away the most superior version of the song. 

I think a lot of people joke about them only playing the hits and never having new material. I couldn't care less when the hits are as good as theirs. I saw them last year in Dublin (well, the existing lineup) and they were fantastic. Henley and Walsh still put in a brilliant performance that night. 

RIP Randy. I've probably deafened many a poor bird while trying to sing along to you in the car. 

Yeah I seen that earlier and thought the same myself. Maybe there was an issue with a planned location/it's not finalised yet, as that's a much stronger 1-2 combo up top than they have been going with in the Apex for quite a while. 

I haven't seen anywhere near enough of him to know if he can do it, but should Raul Jimenez get even half of his best form back, then he will be an utter steal for Fulham at £5M. 

@wandshogun09's purgatory would be a clip of Norma Dumont saying "wanna watch me twerk?" When he starts rubbing his hands with glee, the camera cuts to Frank Mir shaking his ass and giving Wand a cheeky wink. On a loop. 

Tom Aspinall had himself a night right there. As perfect a comeback night as he could have hoped for. Tybura is as solid a test as you'll get right under that small class of tip-top guys of the division (which is also shrinking), Aspinall proved here that he's ready for the sternest tests that he can be given. I loved his post fight interview too, where he just told Bisping to give him the microphone and that he'll tell him exactly what's going to happen. Good on you Tom. I hope it works out for the big lad. It can too. 

It's unlikely Jones or Stipe are staying around for very long after this, as we've all speculated. As well as that, depending on how the fight goes it could roll right into a re-match. Stipe having sat out for a couple of years is the only thing that's making me doubt my opinion on this, but i've long thought that Miocic, at the very least, gives Jones an extremely difficult night. If this fight happened after Stipe/Cormier III, I'd have picked Stipe all day. Everything I see is that it's a foregone conclusion Jones beats him. Jones has fought one fight at Heavyweight and for that W, he got handed the keys to the safe by Francis Ngannou. It was the easiest nights pay he ever got. A half checked out Miocic is going to be a much harder night that that. On top of that, Jones himself isn't exactly the man he used to be nor would any of us be surprised to learn that his foot is at least half way out the door as well. 

So for Aspinall, fighting Gane (hopefully/probably) should give a bit of time to see what happens following the HW title fight. I'm expecting either a vacant title fight like Wand, between Aspinall and big Sergei. Or else they knock off a contender between themselves while Jones and Stipe decide if the money worked enough for them that they want to do it again, brother. 

Paul Craig looked great down at Middleweight. A lean, mean, Terminator of a man is what he looked like on Saturday night. That W will put him in the rankings. If they have another European card coming up, fights with Hermansson, Dolidze or Imavov could all be good next steps. I like the Brendan Allen fight too that Wand mentioned. Really and truly though, I wouldn't mind a jot if they stuck him straight in there with Marvin Vettori, who's still ranked quite highly but realistically is dead in the water as far as advancement goes. Let Craig put a few of those elbows on Chunk and see if it'll knock some brains into him. 

He doesn't have it. He's had enough chances now as it is. Bray is a liability to anyone that works with him and if they bring him back to work with Cody, and Cody agrees? Then he doesn't have the sense of self preservation that you would have been sure he'd have by now. 

We've seen what Bray Wyatt is by this point - and it's not fucking good.

Maybe they can drop the House of Black next and send Malaki and Buddy back to WWE. In an alternate universe, there's a fun run to be had in Black simply doing a 911 style gimmick and just doing the lights off/lights on stuff,  then knocking someone out with the spin kick. People on their way out of the territory, or the likes of Mark Sterling or QT after bragging over a cheap victory.

That uses the two best things Black has going for him and ignores the rest of the shite that he does. Never give him a promo or any influence over a program. He's another Bray Wyatt in that regard. Just let him kick people in the head. 

I'd have The Acclaimed beat them, then kick start a Brody King singles push. 

Like @METAL ON METAL has said above, it's great to see the cinema's get a much needed injection of life within the last four week period. With the release of Indy 5, MI:7, Oppenheimer and Barbie, we've had four blockbusters, something for everyone to get excited about and yet not a cape in sight. Lovely stuff. 

What incredible reactions MJF & Cole are getting for the most basic of stuff. It's been a heap of fun this, and has allowed MJF to change gears at a time when he was getting stale. It's a shame that the shenanigans with the belt at the end showed that the split is probably going to take place as soon as next week, as well as it being clear MJF is going to turn on and batter Cole. MJF is ready to be a face. Of course he's young and it might be a bigger deal the longer they hold off on that . . .however it's also possible that he's no longer part of the company if they wait too long and don't get to see how a face run for him could go before WWE swoop in and possibly make him the offer he won't refuse. This whole thing has been a ball of fun, and the only time I've enjoyed Adam Cole on a wrestling show. 

Jungle Boy needed a music change to go with the switch, but I'm not sure that's what I would have went with. It may well grow on me. Thought they had a good match here though. 

Kota Ibushi eh? Poor get. Time may have finally caught up with him. He was really poor here. Didn't look like himself, didn't move like it and didn't work like it. I haven't even seen that much of him really. Maybe 6 or 7 matches in total, but he never appeared anything less than spectacular on those occasions. That style, when it finally gets you, leaves you a used up, broken, shell of the person you used to be. I hope for his sake he doesn't come straight back into a full work schedule and tries to continue healing and getting healthy again, as he didn't look to be that here. 

Ibushi wasn't alone though. This match was off. Way, way too long for a start. Immediately those gaps between entrants should be cut to two minutes to help tighten this thing up. Then stop going so long in the match beyond. Quit with the props that involve set up - this is supposed to be a fight from start to finish, not a general wrestling or a stunt show style match. Above all, the production was a shit show. Missed stuff constantly with camera panning and cuts. Not only were they too frequent, but they often happened the wrong times. 

It should end the BCC v Elite Feud, allowing Kenny to move fully onto Takeshita. Not sure what's next for The Bucks though, possibly teaming with Hangman to chase H.O.B? BCC should split, I think they are at their natural end. The Kingston/Mox pairing against Claudio/Wheeler is one I'd be in favour of. PAC is just as likely to be disappearing again, however I'd love to see him stick around for a while. There's always fresh stuff to do with him as he's around so little. 

@Davidis going to be delighted at that news! DDP will have to sit out a while in that case, he may not be back in there until February or March, if Adesanya fights in September. 

Those two heavy weight divisions in the UFC are in a perilous position at the moment. As noted above, 205 is a far cry from the Liddell era years and the Jones/Cormier/Gusty years. It's a bit of a mess. Heavyweight though - if Stipe doesn't beat Jones, then it's very conceivable that both of them walk out the door right after the MSG show. After that, Blaydes and Gane are both damaged goods. And that's after the real world champ has already left Dana crying into his supper when nobody's looking. 

https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/tcm-movies-closed-777880

A crying shame that. It's been my favourite TV channel to watch for many, many years. There's never a day goes by that there wouldn't be at least a couple of different movies on it that I'd want to watch. Another casualty of the WBD cost-cutting measures. 

14 hours ago, Mr_Danger said:

He’s gone to Al Ahli. Shame really he’d offer a top side loads off the bench but those veneers don’t pay for themselves.

Yeah, pity that. Might have to give Martial a new six year deal now. . .

3 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

Still the belt on the line in the Blachowicz/Pereira fight and we rollin'

 

What date is that one? Is that the PPV at the end of this month?

205 in turmoil again. MMA Junkie are reporting Jamaal Hill is injured, with a ruptured Achilles, and has vacated the belt. Rough injury right there. Is Jiri nearly healthy to come back to come and steer this division right again?

27 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

He's gone to Saudi Arabia hasn't he?

Probably. I just hadn't seen it anywhere and thought I'd try and will it into existence. Ed Woodward might end up giving Shane Long a shout if he thinks he'd fancy it. 

4 hours ago, Mr_Danger said:

I love Hendo and to lose him, Bobby and Milner in the same window will be gutting but other than Bobby neither are offering much more than character and experience and whilst they are extremely valuable traits to have it’s not like we don’t have players capable of stepping up. The offer to make £80m after tax over the next few years probably means he can convince himself that he can help be part of the change in culture over there or whatever bollocks he’ll tell himself.

Bobby Firmino - any word on where he's expected to fall? United could really be doing with big Bobby on a wee free transfer. The fear of fucking about all summer and signing Jamie Vardy for £10M on deadline day fills me with dread. Come on Firmino, you know it makes sense. 

7 hours ago, David said:

I'm just shocked that people still watch wrestling live on traditional television, never mind "channel hopping" during the show like they're part of a skit on MTV or something.

I hear ya. Imagine not being able to fast forward Roman's 20 minute entrance on a Friday night? Or skip through a Saraya and Ruby Soho promo on Wednesday? Life's too short for that shit. 

Leave it to Orange Cassidy to make Keith Lee look the best he's looked in this whole run. The man might yet pip Jeff Jarrett to the podium at this rate. 

Yeah, whilst it was disappointing to see Trump at the centre of so many things on that show the other night, and I imagine quite a lot of fighters do, unfortunately, support him and his ideologies - if he congratulates you after your fight and you accept/offer to shake his hand, in that moment it's an understandable action for that person to take, whether they like him or not. Even if you wanted nothing to do with Trump, it would make a very big statement to, under duress & in the heat of the moment, totally blank him. It'd be funny as shit, but pretty unexpected. 

There's a bit of difference to what Du Plessis did (he may be a big Trump lover, I'm not sure) and what say Colby, Jorge etc do on a regular basis with regards to Trump. As well as that, see Michael Chandler's socials from the event. A clear as day showing that he was proud as punch to be around the Oompa Loompa. 

I forgot to mention about Hooker/Turner. It's rare that a fight that good is going to be second best in the night, but that shows to the quality of this show. It's unfortunate for the pair of them that their pay didn't get a bonus boost considering Turner getting the loss and Hooker's injuries likely keeping him out for a bit. Hooker needed this win though. Turner has time on his side but Hooker's egg timer is running low. Endless interesting fights for both coming off of this too. 

Hopefully it's not an exhibition as that kills the point of it entirely. Francis chance of looking good in a boxing fight lies entirely with the chance he *might, maybe, could, possibly* put somebody's lights out with one half decent shot. He's not outboxing anybody. If he gets paid an absolute wedge though no matter if he's having a badminton match with Fury? Then fair do's to him. 

Jesus oh, but that was one hell of a fight card wasn't it? I just got home from holiday last night and watched the show in two parts, when I got home and the rest this morning. It's card of the year already. Not to this point, but just close the polling on that now. No way anything tops this as a full show in the rest of 2023. 

Volkanovski is just so thoroughly talented. It's a pleasure watching someone on that kind of level, where they are just dialled in and so complete. It's like the MMA equivalent of watching Messi or Ronaldo in the football in 2009-2015. You're getting to watch greatness in the here and now. Volk is going to leave a legacy that I think few will ever get close to. When he does make that move up to 155 again you just have to bet on him that he knows exactly how to make the adjustments to close the gap between his last go at it. 

I scored the fight for Pantoja too, wouldn't have been unfair being 48-47 the other way either, but I hope the crowd were only booing because they were fans of Moreno and not because they thought the decision was wrong. At the end of that fight, that decision was the most likely outcome. Moreno needed to step on the pedal in that fifth round and find the finish I think. I felt Pantoja only needed to win the round, and that's how it played out. Incredible fight. 

Shocked to death how DDP beat Whittaker. Not just that he beat him, but to hurt him in the manner he did. Well done that man. The right hook to the body was a thing of beauty. It's certainly provided Adesanya with a more interesting fight in the aftermath. Speaking of Adesanya . . .oof. Adesanya may feel Du Plessis started this, but Adesanya let himself down an absolute bucketfull in the cage after the fight. If he was drunk, then I hope the next day he realised he made a total moron of himself. This whole thing is going to descend into bad depths it feels like. I'm hoping we saw the worst of it at that show from the weekend, but I doubt it.

At the end of the day, the "Where are you from? No, I mean where are you really from" talk is not going to end up anywhere pleasant. Anyway, fuck the Andrew Tate lover (of which I'm sure there are bazillions of in the MMA landscape). Get it done DDP. 

Robbie Lawler. What a way to do it. He turned back the clock in this one. I thought he looked good against Bryan Barbarena too, but he couldn't hold out to the damage for as long as Bam Bam could and I thought that could be a similar problem here. Price always shows up to get in your face and play last man standing. Robbie didn't give him the chance to turn up. An absolute thing of beauty seeing the great man point his arms to the ceiling right after and realise he had grabbed that most elusive of moments in MMA, finishing on a win, when the lights are on bright, on your own terms. Hopefully it sustains him through any desires of a comeback.