Dai

I was just about to watch this show and glanced on here. I knew there would be only one reason Wand posts within hours of the show, so pretty much knew it was coming. It was still even better than what I imagined. Fair play to Van, he stepped up to the plate and had a great performance. There's no way it was 50-45 as one judge had it. How could you score R4 not as Pantojas? Madness. Surely that Menefield decision was ropey too, as i thought he clearly lost two rounds. Back to Van/Pantoja, how good were rounds 1 to 3? Just an insane pace and non stop action. Would have been heading to a FOTY contender had it not been for R4 being a nothing round. We talked a little about father time with Pantoja, and it definitely wasnt the case in the first four rounds. However, maybe it was age catching up with him in R5, as his gas tank completely fell off a cliff, despite a fairly comfortable R4. Very bizarre how it felt within seconds that his tank was empty, with no gradual decline. Great fight, mind. The rest of the main card was full of great KOs, but as with a show from a few weeks back, there isnt a whole lot to talk about with them. Just some lovely KOs.

Yeah good points. Cant believe people are putting so much stock into that one Van fight, mind. Also the age thing makes no sense as its been no issue in any of his fights. I'm going for a 4-1 or 3-2 Pantoja decision.

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.

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.