Dai

Not to defend Dana, but how is he forcing Aljo to fight, when Wand's detailed all these other champs taking as long as they want between fights? Is there any detail, apart from one sentence from Aljo? Surely all Dana can do is threaten with the creation of an interim champ, which Aljo shoudnt really give a shit about.

Idris Elba's new show, Hijack, is off to a solid start in my opinion. Only 2 episodes in, but have enjoyed it alot, and its does a great job of putting you on edge for the entire episode. Some silly plot holes and some ropey characters (the Danny Dyer guy, Im looking at you) aside, theres more than enough for me to keep watching at the moment. I assume at some point Idris will just become Jack Bauer, which I assume is when the show goes off the rails, but for now Im enjoying it.

On 6/30/2023 at 7:32 PM, wandshogun09 said:

It was mostly a good episode but the fact they completely left out the story about him having to leave Georgia in the 80s because he nonced an underage girl was bollocks. Suppose they wouldn’t have had co-operation from his daughter and ex wife if they opened that can of worms but it’s a major part of his story and for a show called ‘Dark Side Of The Ring’ to just ignore the darkest story about a subject because it’ll ruffle feathers is shite.

Never even knew about that story! Yeah that's really bad that they left that out. I'm sure the daughter and wife didn't have huge creative control or could veto the whole thing if they brought it up, so that's a big omission. 

Thought the Candido one was very good, and covered his story very well for the time they have. As others have said, Sunny is easily a two part episode by herself. Haven't Vice closed for business now though? If so, not likely now. 

Thought the Bourne one was very good too, and a perfect subject for Dark Side. Seemed like an awful person. 

9 minutes ago, Tommy! said:

Can anyone recommend any good history podcasts?

As Bacon says, You're Dead To Me is a great, accesable history one, and is the perfect tone and length for me. It has a comedian as a guest, which can be hit and miss, but most of the time adds a nice layer to the show. Hardcore History is fab too. 

Another favourate of mine is A Short History. This is just a more basic story telling of the subject compared to You're Dead To Me, but the man voicing it is really good. I actually look at this one first over Dead To Me now. A 40 odd minute hit of a topic, such as recent ones like the USSR, the crown jewels, Angkor, which guarantees you something to write in the 'I learned today' thread here. 

In other podcast news, Athletico Mince has jumped the shark for me. I'm up to the late 2022 ones, and the decline has been pretty consistent for the many episodes before this. It's had a general decline in quality, but the Geordie Heat stuff with Sting is consistent garbage in my opinion. The shitter it is, the louder they put Andy's volume up when he's laughing over the top. Getting to the point of stopping listening. 

Agree with wand, this was a lovely little main card. Topuria looked really good, and it will be very intersting to see him next against a top class opponent.

I thought the corner of Emmett was absolutely awful in between every round. He was clearly getting outclassed from minute one of the fight, and they just kept saying 'you're in this fight' to him over and over. No plan B, nothing, and he just kept getting battered round after round. Is he a well known corner guy, or has Emmett done what a lot of older fighters do, and train himself and then just get some yes men in his corner for the fight?

Cracker of a co main too, both girls brought it. 

Isn't there something as well about he had to stop his TRT? Whilst people like Vitor were obviously abusing it, I think Bigfoot genuinely needed it to just to have normal levels? When they banned it, didn't that also coincide with the downfall? 

Just looked at the Nunes wiki to see the run of wins she had, and seeing it on paper makes it look really impressive. The early stage had her absolutley mauling her opponents...Baszler, McMann, Ronda, Tate, Pennington and Cyborg. In between all this she beats Valentina twice. Theres even a Holly Holm KO on the record which I dont reallt remember, but still very impressive. There was a couple of stinkers after this, but then she made mince meat of Megan Anderson. Then the Pena fights. Shes definately slowed down over the years, but during that main run she was phenominal, and definately had an invincible aura about her, something very few fighters have ever had.

"Body kick landed" when it was one right to the face isnt a great call by that announcer!

Pitbull is still one of the Bellator fighters I'll make an effort to watch. Petis hasn't really impressed me from the bits I've seen, so I fancy Pitbull here too. 

Has it ever been disclosed what's wrong with Yoels eye? Even in that promo pic it looks wrong. Must somehow pass the commission tests, but that said Bisping managed to do it as well. 

I actually did the Tidal deal in the original post and it still hasn't been cancelled. I checked last months premium payment and it was 34p! Fantastic deal. 

Did Bigfoot ever have a Slap fight after? 

I heard 5 out of 10 fighters in one of the leagues got popped? Do the PFL use USADA? I haven't been keeping track of the story, so how in 2023 did all these fighters get done for PEDs? Did they just not think they were going to get tested? Was it suprise testing? 

I always thought the story on Axl was that he died in a McDonalds toilet, not in a hotel? Maybe something Im getting my wires crossed with.

Yeah, with the exception of the 3 round womens fight, the main card was a little belter.

Dern looked fantastic, and Hill looked really outclassed. Dern just seemed way more powerful and dangerous. He cardio was really good too, as I was expecting her to gas out after how intense she was in R1. Didnt happen though. That knee was brutal. One thing that cant be discounted was how tough Hill was; it seemed at several points she was going to get finished, but she managed to survive everything Dern had to throw at her.

This fight was like his Josh Emmett loss, where he actually looks very good right up until he gets sparked out. This fight pretty much sums up his career, looking great one moment and then on his arse the next.

As you said Wand, that Buckley KO was about as Cro Cop as you can get. Identical. The back of the head bouncing off the mat was disgustingly brutal too.

A big ingredient of a fight being great and a FOTY contender is the stakes involved. Bellator have no real stakes to play for, so nothing ever feels like it's really important. Most of the name fighters are either ex UFC guys or not very big 'names', so it can almost never be a really great fight. I think the other big factor is that no one watches it, so even if a fights great, no one has watched it to discuss it. 

I actually ended up watching the Gegard match, which was an absolute stinker, and the crowd at the Apex genuinely seemed louder than this lot did during most of this fight. Was like watching a Japanese show. Awful, and the Lima fight wasnt a whole lot better either, but at least he won.

Yes, that card looks fantastic. Maybe the biggest amount of crowd pleasers and names on a single card for a decade+? It's absolutely loaded. 

If Ferguson gets out struck by Smooth Bobby, then surely that should be the end for him?

10 hours ago, Zebra Kid Mark said:

Who do we think his first opponent will be? From looking at the current PFL HW's there is absolutely no one of name value on their roster.

I will make the prediction that his first opponent will be someone currently signed to the UFC or Bellator who will ask to be released once they smell that "Ngannou opponent" money.

In one news piece I read, it said big Francis is not going to fight until mid 2024! I assume he has some boxing match lined up now that all these negotiations are done. 

Let's be brutally honest, a Francis vs no name on a PFL show will surely bomb badly? It's great that he's going to get paid a huge amount and get his opponent a huge wedge also, but in terms of business it seems like PFL just have an endless pot of cash to burn through. 

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

Y'know what? I would absolutely love it if Big Fran went and picked up the title belts of the PFL and then Bellator. Plastic Caesar would lose his fucking mind.

To be honest, I don't think he'd care. He'd talk about the ratings or PPV buys which he's the main event on and just rip the piss about how 'poorly' the event did, whilst bragging about how well his events were doing. 

Shocker, as I'm sure it was all in my new feeds about how they pulled out of negotiations with him just a matter of days ago. 

Has anyone watched Outlander? Have watched the first season as the other half was watching it, and have got into it myself. Pretty good performances, solid characters and story, and some beautiful backdrops, which must have come with a solid budget. As with every other time travel themed story, does it eventually get lost in a confusing mess of plots, or does it carry on being good? 

Taskmaster continues to be outstanding, too! 

It is very bizarre, as a few years back I'd be all over Mousassi and Lima fighting. This is even on iplayer which makes it so easy to watch, but I skipped this one too. A major promotion and the most accesable way to ever watch it and seemingly no one did. It has to be over saturation for it to be like this! 

Even in 2023, I recommended The Office to a friend whose never watched it, and they now absolutely adore it, and have even already started to rewatch it. Shows how amazing it is, as I don't think there's many other comedies that this would be the case. I bet the vast majority of us on here could probably name at least one person they've switched on to The Office, which speaks volumes as to how good it was 

Fun little main event. I had Aljo winning it too. Cejudo looked really small compared to Aljo, which played a big part in the fight. Not overly impressive, and like Wand says, something just isnt clicking with his title reign yet.

Belal/Burns was awful. It felt like it lasted for an eternity. I started fast forwarding it in R3 and it still dragged so badly. Belal has done himself absolutely no favours in getting a title shot after this. Theres no way Dana is giving him the next shot after this.

As I predicted, but again didnt bet on, Kron was the shits.

Diego Lopes was the star of the show. Tremendous heart and some good skills, especially when he was something like a 9/1 underdog. Some tense moments with some of the submissions he pulled off. Dana gave him his win money and also a 50k performance bonus, so hes done well from it. I saw the vid of Dana telling him hes going to give him the win money, which sounds amazing, but then I realised hes probably only on something silly like 5k to show an 5k to win, so not even a hand of blackjack for Dana to spend.