Dai

The new series has been perfectly acceptable so far. Chloe is still the best by a mile. The new season of the New Zealand one has started too, and has Rose Matafeo on it, which is fab as she was always great value on the UK one. Has a better Taskmaster too, as I think Greg has completely checked out of it now.

McMillen/Rahiki was a cracker, and its always great to see fighters have to be separated at the end of rounds and actually fight like they dont like each other during them too. A fairly average R3 and the fact Rahiki was gassed by the end of R2 knocks it down a few levels from being a genuine FOTY contender for me. Edit: Grassos performance was superb too. Those first couple of minutes in R1 essentially won her the fight. When you look at the pic you posted earlier in the thread of Fiorot being absolutely jacked, then it makes Grassos gameplan of hyper aggression in the first few mjnutes even more risky, but it worked a treat

Main event should be a belter. Van is somehow the odds on favourite in this one, which I don't really understand. Its close, but surprised and a bit confused as to why Pantoja is odds against.

Think its actually a good thing for the Jones haters. He has currently completed the UFC and even the heavyweight division aspect. He played the game perfectly, and became champ. Any opportunity for him to mess that up and get chinned is surely better than him retiring having played his strategy perfectly. Mokaev made the BBC sport app today too, as its been two years since he was released when on a 7 fight winning streak. Pretty interesting that he said hes in a WhatsApp group with the match makers of the UFC, he was offered just 10k to do the UFC BJJ thing, and he even claims the UFC messaged him saying they dont want him wrestling and going to decisions, which is barmy if true.

I'll keep my negative energy away from this Coker fed, but need just one post to say how hilariously shit his concept it. "You know what's shit and has failed miserably every time in modern times? 8 fighter tourneys. But you know what would be great though...four 8 fighter tourneys" must have been his pitch that somehow worked with the money mark. Imagine the continental champion of Europe having a bit of hype about him after his wins, and then he gets injured or fails to make weight for the big night. You know for a fact that at least one of those four guys wont be at the grand final night for one reason or another, its always the way with tornements. Combined with the fact hes using featherweights, and has called it Ki, as in Low Ki I assume, its all hilariously bad, and reminds me of all those ECW reunion shows from years back for some reason.

Some cracking stuff on day 1 of the latest Euro Tour. Bialecki/Huybrechts must be one the best R1 games of all time, considering the stakes, and those final few legs. Unbelievable drama. Unbelievable couple of checkouts from Kim to keep himself in the match. Unbelievable final leg with all those missed darts. You dont get many Friday games which were more tense than that. Have to really commend the crowd there at the end too, as they were silent for Bialecki throwing his darts.

Can also throughougly recommend the US version of Ghosts too thats on the iPlayer. A solid 7 to 8 out of 10 for every episode. Due to having way more episodes, it can delve much deeper into different scenarios too. As good as the UK one is, by the end of watching all the US ones you actually think of those characters first, and then refer to the UK ones from the US characters names. Loads on my news feed about The Gentleman having really bad viewing figures, and the Netlifx model of having multiple years between seasons being a big negative. Think it mentioned Wednesday and some other shows which have had much lower season 2 viewers. I think there definitely is something in releasing every episide in one go, and then there being a massive gap between seasons being bad. I watched The Gentleman and enjoyed it from what I remember, but now I cant really remember what happened in it and now am not too arsed about watching the next season. Think that sort of sums up what the issue is when theres a two year gap between seasons, when its not a big show like Silo or Severence.

Just actually got round to finishing it. I actually find it a bit dull when its all the usual suspects toward the end, so my attention was drifting off alot from the quarters onwards. Its a shame none of the second tier stepped up in this one, when theres all the majors coming up. Feels like it will be an iteration of the Premier League guys in all semis and finals, as it seems like one of the lower rung guys have the bottle or nerve to step up when it matters. I would have picked Doets and Nijman to do something at the majors coming up, but considering their form then im not of that opinion any more. Ross Smith, Woodhouse, and Asp are probably the outsiders with the most form, so can see them doing something decent sonewhere along the line, but unfortunately I can see it being another load of fairly forgettable thumpings by Litter at the back end of the tourneys.

There's not much that doesn't make its way onto YouTube, especially when you are talking about mid 90s stuff, but that USWA NOD stuff seems to be one of them. A shame as it sounds class.

Cracking fact, that! She must have co-mained a numered event i assume. Mo exaggeration to say that Shev is 10 times better known that these two as well, which shows you how pitiful this main event event.

That is an atrocious Fight Night main event, let alone numbered. I know we live in the age of numbered events meaning Jack shit as people dont have to pay for them any more, so its actually the live event fans I feel sorry for. I just checked and the arena holds around 18,000. I assume its already nearly sold out, as the UFC is the draw and not the fighters, so it probably sold all the tickets when there were no fights announced, but imagine 18,000 paying hard earned money for that shite of a card? By being so gready they will surely lose a huge amount of repeat business by burning them so badly on this shit show. They earn so much cash from the TV deal I bet they dont even care and hope they can do most of their shows in the Apex inn the future, to save even more cash.Think about it for a second though, 18,000 fans watching that 5 round fight. Insanity. Speaking of insanity, bloody Dos Anjos is on the prelims! Thought he retired years ago.

A couple of success stories in the post MMA careers with Cruz and Faber, which is sadly few and far between when you think about it. Cruz has a nice commentary gig, and you still see Faber in the corner a decent chunk of time. Did TJ do a retirement match, or just do it low key? Can't remember, but fair play, its been nearly four years now and hes stuck to it, which you also cant say that of many fighters either.

The new series is off to a very good start. That team one with the bed was very odd though. No loopholes, no outside the box way of doing it, just a completely straight forward way of having to do it. Dont get many tasks where it feels that basic. Chloe Petts has set a Taskmaster record in our house, with the quickest time to go from "Who?", to "Shes great, I'd go and see them live". Think it happened within the first 10 minutes, with just one task and the studio banter to go with it. Usually it takes a good few weeks to get to that stage when they are not well known to us, but they smashed the first impression better than anyone ever has I think. Ayoade just putting a normal egg in the bowl in his first task, not even trying to do anything half decent, combined with his pretty bad song, doesn't give me great hope for him this season. Can see Matt Lucas being a Paul Sinha level of contestant too, with plenty of confusion and literal attempts at every task.

MVP, to the point you made in your post Wand, has even made the BBC sport app, saying its his last fight, and moaning about the fighters he has been offered. He also moaned about the frequency of his fights, which is an extra layer of excuses. For the money he is probably asking for, and the age he is, and the fact hes made absolutely zero impact on his fights so far, then it seems quite reasonable for the UFC not to offer him a new contract. With whatever goodwill and rep he still has, he will still be able to get on the MVP Netflix shows for the next few years, so may as well do that. Bizarre though, that he could end up with a 5-1 Ufc record, with some good names being beat in mix, and it still be considered a major disappointment .

Only just finishing the Euro Tour, and it was a hell of a load of fun. Nothing better than seeing Anderson wins matches at the back end of a tourney. That 80 he hit against GVV was class, as was the 140 against Asp, and then the tops to win. Those last two legs against Asp were absolute stinkers too, so cant believe he won it. Sad to see MVG lose like that. Just seems like he can't be arsed any more. It was just a bad performance, but more importantly there felt like there was no fight left in the dog. Was depressing. No idea if he can pull it around and find the consistency again, or whether hes done as an elite player. Bunting seems like a different player too compared to a few years back. No idea what's happened to him too, but looks like he will be dropping down the rankings if he doesn't sort himself out.

Fair points, and to be honest I cant really remember it by this point. I think my main reasoning behind saying shit rather than outclassed was because Robo has always been on the edge of the Top 15 rankings for years, at least in my memory he has. He's never been top 10 I dont think. For Fluffy, who I think was in the mix at certain points in maybe getting a title shot, then to be getting outclassed and figured out by a mostly unranked fighter could be classed as 'shit'.

I'm not cultured, so is that a famous archway or something? Because if not, thats a very strange, shit picture location. Of all the places in Paris and they pick that.

That Klinge from the Aussie Masters looks like a decent player, doesn't he? Hope he tries to make the move to get a tour card. Showed some good bottle too. Euro Tour is back too, and has been a load of fun already. The Greaves match was tremendous. Cross has definitely picked up the quality a lot recently. Could do some damage in the next few months. Love the crowds at these too. So much better than the British ones, and even the Aussie one was mostly the 'boring boring tables' bollocks. This Euro crowd had a Geisha in the front row, and what also looks to be a fancy dress of Freddie Mecury in I Want To Break Free drag. Where else could you see that. Mason hating the Asterix fella is funny too. Him saying "Sit down" mid sentence when he popped up on screen for the first time was hilarious. And he said something along the lines of "Well done, you put someone off their throw at a double" too, which was great too. Have to disagree with Mase actually too, I think Asterix is class and is definitely a positive for the atmosphere, and he doesn't try too hard to make sure its all about him too.

The Bear, judging from this thread, myself, and the people I know who started watching it, must be the top show of the last five years which people have given up on. Cant think of any other show where 95% of people are 'Really enjoyed the first two seasons, but then gave up'. Have enjoyed a few things recently. Ride or Die on Prime. Hannah Waddington as a Bond like assasin? Sounds like it should be shite, but its a load of fun, has some good characters, a good plot, and plenty of good set pieces. Chugs along at a good pace too. If it comes back then it should definitely be even more over the top with gadgets and stuff. Black Ops on iPlayer is rather good too. The sort of 30 minute comedy drama that BBC seem to still do better than everyone. Not sure of his name, but the lead actor is tremendous too, and is the star of the show.

Was another cracker of a show. They keep talking about Mir being super young and developing, but shes 23. That isnt THAT young, considering shes been in combat since a young kid. I assume she was such a big betting favourite as people got carried away with the last name and all of the other stuff shes been successful in. In MMA, it counts for nothing, as she got outclassed in this one. She showed absolutely nothing, and looked completely lost and not cut out for MMA. Like I said, 23 isnt young, so maybe she should knock the MMA stuff on its head, as shes clearly miles away from being anything decent. Some great performances on this one too. That Scottish guy, Clancy, looked great. Humphrey is someone im going to keep my eye on too. He looked top notch.

You know what was weird, seeing Robocop main event a show in a packed out arena. Just felt completely wrong, as I just feel like hes an Apex main eventer at best. Fluffy looked like shit, I thought. A really one dimensional, sloppy, crap performance. One that only works if you have the gas tank to take it into deep waters, but it was actually Fluffy who was gassed by R4. If a Robocop calibre guy can figure you out and be fairly comfortable in victory, then thats not a good sign. It felt like a Poundshop Cain Velasquez performance, where the world class attributes just weren't there. The Jones fight lived up to expectation too, what a cracker! Another fight exactly how you described him, Wand. He reminds me of Gaethje in this one too. Have to give all the credit to Mederos too. I was like you and had no clue who he was, but he took everything Jones threw at him and didnt wither in the slightest. He looked fresh as a daisy at the end of it, which is crazy when you thjnk of the pace of the fight. RDR had an early Christmas present. An absolute disaster of a gameplan by Dolidze. Leg locks always leave you exposed to head strikes, so to do that immediately when RDRs gas tank has been called into question, and allow yourself to be that vulnerable and not bail on it when it didnt work, just seems crazy.

Hell of a come down for RDR. Needs something impressive in this one to stay relevant. Think it was the Allen fight where he somehow gassed himself after one round of dominant top control/pedestrian stand up (cant remember which it was).

Watched the show from this Tuesday, which is the first time ive ever watched a contender series. Got lucky as it was brilliant. Hungry fighters, a great commentary team, no faffing with Buffer or entrance music, some nice video pieces to get you invested in the fighters, and a feeling of proper stakes being fought for. Great stuff! That first fight was bloody amazing. One of my favourite fights of the year I think. What followed was a bunch of great fights, and then it ended with an unbelievable, Rocky-esque, KO punch. Straight from a movie, with the way it was thrown and the way the guy went down. My jaw literally dropped when it happened. If you read this topic, @wandshogun09, then a gif of that KO and its replays would be great. Another gif request too, which was hilarious and sums up how checked out Dana White in 2026 is. Round 3 of a brilliant scrap happening, and a KO of the year contender, and what does the 'reaction cam' show Dana doing? Looking at his phone, missing said KO, then looking confused as to what's happened. I wonder if you can screen shot just his face when its in complete confusion as to what's happened, the moment he takes his eyes of the phone. Hilarious, and he must be pissed that they showed it.

Some highlights/lowlights from the first night:Dobromyslova putting up a great fight against former BDO Number 1 Robert Thornton. Very enjoyable match. Dobromyslova is hot.The first match they showed on Sky was really poor. Not a great showcase to start the event.Richie Burnett playing abysmal.Priestley playing really well.Mardle playing shit, but still going through.Tonight it gets good, though. Couple of the best matches to look foward to:Michael van Gerwen v Robert ThorntonAdrian Lewis v Wayne MardleVincent van der Voort v Colin LloydLloyd is meant to be on fire, so look foward to see if he brings it to the TV.