Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 27, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 27, 2012 On the subject of experiencing cool stuff at UFCs it's got me thinking about the events I attended (UFCs 80, 85, 89 and 138 so far). It's easy to forget now but I've been in attendance for some great stuff.  UFC 80  This was when I lost my 'attending live UFC' virginity. My other V-card was lost to a fat girl who worked in my local newsagents when I was about 16. Bit of trivia you didn't need to know there. I certainly wish I didn't know it. Should have just bought a mix up instead.  Anyway the event was in Newcastle in January 2008. I went with my brother, my best mate and two other mates. I'd had a proper shit year in 2007 and UFC 80 kind of holds a lot of good memories for me because it was the start of me getting my shit together.  It was just what I needed at the time. A great night of MMA with some good lads and then a night out in Newcastle after. All in all it was probably one of the best nights out I've ever had.   "UFC 80 by day....poor attempts at dancing and going on the pull by night. All day"  The card was decent at best on paper but BJ Penn was on it and we were getting a title fight. Plus there were rumours at the time we got the tickets that a Cro Cop vs Arlovski fight was being pencilled in as the co-main event. I'm still gutted that didn't happen.  It turned out to be one of them shows which surpassed expectations.  It was a really fun show. It flew by because there were a load of quick finishes. Tremendous atmosphere and we happened to be sat next to some great Geordie blokes who were a right laugh and ended up coming out with us after the show.  The memory that sticks with me from that night though was BJ Penn absolutely decimated Joe Stevenson. I'm a big fan of BJ Penn so I was never going to pass up the chance to see him fight live. And when they made it for the legit 155lb title after stripping Sherk of the belt I was even more pumped to see BJ finally take back the title.  I was chuffed to bits to see BJ look so dominant  Joe Daddy just never got going  Elsewhere on the card, among all the quick finishes there were two fights that went the distance. One of them was a barnburner between Scouser Paul Kelly and Walsall's Paul Taylor.   Turned out to be the show stealer and this fight and Stevenson's impression of 1980s Ric Flair in a Cage match were the talking points as everyone filed out of the arena.  I remember when I got back home to Birmingham my Dad (who hardly ever watches UFC) had watched it and was raving about the "2 British ones". And he kept telling me he thought he saw me on telly talking to "that bald one who swears a lot" in the front row.   "that bald one who swears a lot"  To this day I don't know what he's on about. I've watched the tape and there's no-one who looks anything like me near Dana. Add the fact that I was on the opposite side of the arena to where Dana was sitting and a good 40 or 50 rows back...also why would Dana want to talk to me? I think my Dad had been drinking.  This also sticks with me;  Dad: "that little Asian fella was good wasn't he." Me: "You mean...he's Hawaiian Dad, yeah he's great." Dad: "DJ something wasn't it? Is he a DJ as well?"  Jesus wept. I didn't bother correcting him or he'd no doubt think Penn gives "BJs" in his spare time. Not worth explaining.  Great night.  Next one was  UFC 85 in London at the O2 in June 2008. This time I went with my brother, his girlfriend, my mate and my ex.  The card was originally set to feature a main event of Chuck Liddell vs Shogun Rua.   I was gonna get to see Shogun fight live and not only that, in a long time UFC vs Pride dream fight with Chuck Liddell. I immediately started saving my money and making plans for my little weekend in London.  Then Shogun knackered his glass knees up (again) and pulled out of the fight. Rashad Evans stepped in and Liddell vs Evans was the new headliner.   But then Chuck pulled out because his leg went like this...  So James Irvin stepped in to fight Rashad. Irvin then injured his foot and pulled out. So the UFC decided to scrap the idea of a 205lb main event and went with...   Matt Hughes getting twatted by Thiago Alves as the headliner. I was happy with that because I've always been a fan of Alves but to this day I'm pissed off that I could have seen Shogun vs Liddell live. FUCK leg injuries.  Like UFC 80, this was another really entertaining show despite not looking anything special on paper.  Highlights for me included  Matt Wiman's comeback KO over Thiago Tavares. A forgotten gem of a fight. I loved this. Tavares was getting the better of it until, between rounds Chuck Liddell just stood there staring ominously through Wiman and saying nothing. It worked a treat because Wiman came out possessed the next round and scored the above KO.   Nate Marquardt vs Thales Leites was another really good forgotten fight. Leites surprised Nate with a knockdown in the first and it was back and forth from there. With Marquardt even busting out the piledriver at the end. Unfortunately a couple of rare dodgy calls from Herb Dean marred this one and Leites wound up getting the decision purely because of points Herb (wrongly in my opinion) took from Nate. Really underrated fight though.  Antoni Hardonk vs Eddie Sanchez was a wild heavyweight fight with a brutal finish as well.  And this little gem from Dan Miragliotta  Really good night. Apart from the fact that my mate and my brother met Bisping at the end of the night while I was having a row with my twat of an ex   Finally the UFC came to Birmingham for UFC 89. So I didn't have to piss about with hotels and travel stuff for once.  Again, the card didn't look great on paper and this card is often brought up as a poor show but I disagree. Not just because I was there but there were some really good fights on this. The fact that most of them went the distance or had a late finish meant the show did kind of drag in places though but there's a couple of fights on this one that are very underrated, probably just because a lot of people haven't seen them.  When I first started reading rumours for this one the common one was that the main event might be Anderson Silva vs Yushin Okami for the title. With Wanderlei Silva vs Thiago Silva as co-main. Fuck me. Luckily I took it with a pinch of salt and I'm glad I did because neither amounted to anything.  Bisping fought Chris Leben in the main event in a pretty good fight and won on points.   Again, as mentioned, the reaction Bisping gets on his entrances is amazing to witness live. The two fights of his I've attended the place has been shaking from the noise.  There were some lackluster fights like the co-main event of Brandon Vera vs Keith Jardine but I enjoyed the show for the most part. Actually the original co-main event was set to be Thiago Alves vs Diego Sanchez but it fell through and Alves ended up fighting Koscheck a week later at UFC 90.  They then booked Lyoto Machida vs Thiago Silva but Thiago went down with a back injury postponing the fight until UFC 94 the following January.  So we got Vera vs Jardine as 3rd choice consolation prize.  At least we got this though;  Chris Lytle was another one on my list (I don't actually have a list) of fighters I really wanted to see fight in person. And how can you go wrong with Lytle vs Paul Taylor? Fantastic fight which I don't think gets the praise it deserves to be fair. I watched it again a few months back and it's still great. I still think Taylor edged it though, he was unlucky with the judges that night.  There was some good stuff on the prelims as well. You had an excellent and (again) forgotten technical striking match between Terry Etim and Sam Stout. Jim Miller's UFC debut. Dan Hardy's UFC debut.  Actually Dan Hardy vs Akihiro Gono is another really underrated fight. Looking back I wished this was on the main card over Davis vs Kelly or Cane vs Sokoudjou.  Oh, and Gono's entrance live was brilliant  All in all, I'd have to say UFC 89 was the weakest of the four shows I've attended to date just because I enjoyed the other three so much. But it was still a good night and it had it's moments.  Finally  Probably the most fun top to bottom of the four. Birmingham again so easy for me to attend. Had a great time.  Seeing Leben back in Birmingham was good. Although why he decided to fail his drugs tests only when he comes here is a bit odd. The crowd loved him though, he got a great reaction whenever he was on screen either entering the arena, the show's intro, the pre-fight video, his 'Mad World' entrance the lot. It was like he was a Brummie or something.  Really enjoyed Leben vs Munoz  Shame about how it ended on the cut but it was a wild two rounds before that.  Highlight of this one for me was Renan Barao  He's probably my favourite Bantamweight now and a lot of it was just how awesome he was on this night. I'd seen a few of his fights before and knew of his impressive record but this performance vs Brad Pickett was incredible. He made Pickett look sloppy and average.  The finishing knee and transition to the choke was a thing of beauty and then the little celebration where he fell on his arse after. I became a Barao fan that night.  He's come a long way even since then  Pickett did his bit as well, it was about as exciting a one round fight as you'll see and the collective gasp and silence when he lost was a moment in itself. Everyone felt for Pickett but the crowd soon cheered Barao for the manner in which he took Pickett out.   The other highlight was Terry Etim's return to action after a year and a half layoff and a load of setbacks. He walked right in and casually threw a spinning body kick then choked Edward Faaloloto out in less then 20 seconds.   Etim went mental and so did the crowd. It was the main card opener and it blew the roof off. In my section at least, that was the single loudest crowd reaction of the night. It was deafening. My ears were still fucking ringing in the next fight.  Aside from that we got...  Papy Abedi's smashing entrance  Then he got battered by Alves  I was well pleased to see Alves looking like a beast again.  And this fucker stole the show on the prelims;  Gypsy Jiu Jitsu.  So yeah, have a good night there whoever's going on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted September 27, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted September 27, 2012 Jesus Wand, you put more effort into some of your posts than I did in my Business degree's dissertation haha! Â Ridiculously I became a fan of Maguire's upon discovering Bret Hart is his hero. Whilst I no longer watch wrestling, I still count Hart as one of my hero's too. Therefore I'm hoping for a Hathaway beat down. Â Â Â Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
METAL ON METAL Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Travel arrangements have been sorted for saturday so now nothing left to do but enjoy the event. Can't wait to see my first MMA event, but to be fair, I've no idea how to act. I've never even seen a live wrestling event in my life so this is the first time I've ever seen fighting in the flesh. Â A good thing by UFC, for those who aren't used to fights without commentary, is that they sell little ear pieces on which you can hear everything Goldie & Rogan (or Anik/Florian in this case) are saying on broadcast. Haven't bought one before but they're meant to be good, though I think they set you back either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 27, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 27, 2012 Jesus Wand, you put more effort into some of your posts than I did in my Business degree's dissertation haha! Â Ha, no real effort just open another tab with Google images and if I'm looking for something specific it only takes a minute to find That and I'm bored. Â Forgot to mention about 138 as well, that was the only time in UFC history a fan has got in the cage so pretty historic in a pathetic way. And Leben vs Munoz was the first scheduled non title 5 round main event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted September 27, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted September 27, 2012 Jesus Wand, you put more effort into some of your posts than I did in my Business degree's dissertation haha! Â Ha, no real effort just open another tab with Google images and if I'm looking for something specific it only takes a minute to find That and I'm bored. Â Forgot to mention about 138 as well, that was the only time in UFC history a fan has got in the cage so pretty historic in a pathetic way. And Leben vs Munoz was the first scheduled non title 5 round main event. Â Haha, tell me about it. My evening has consisted of catching up on some sleep then watching endless Gordon Ramsay cooking shows! Then my evening took a bizarre twist where it looks like my girlfriend and I got nonchalantly engaged..without all the corny getting down on one knee stuff. Went along the lines of "recon we should get married next summer?"..."yeah,can do" Â Anyway, MOM, that ear piece sounds pretty cool. Although it may prove to be a distraction trying to take in the atmosphere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 27, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 27, 2012 Congratulations on the engagement  As for the earpieces, I've never tried them myself. It's a good idea but for me personally I think it kind of defeats the point of going to the show live. It would be just like you're watching on telly wouldn't it? Just with a crapper view.  I like to take in the atmosphere in the arena and I think having the earphone thingys in would detract from that in some way.  One more point on attending live UFCs. Weirdly, I always find the arena always looks smaller than I imagined. They always look massive on telly but when I got there they look fairly small in comparison. The cage actually usually looks bigger than I expect though. Has anyone else who's been to one noticed this? Or am I just weird?  EDIT - oh and "yeah, can do" has to be the best and most casual reply to a marriage proposal ever. Mark Hunt would be proud of the laid backness of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
METAL ON METAL Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Agree about the atmosphere, though from what I saw I think they earpiece is only for one ear - which would probably give you the best of both worlds. Â Nah, I'm with you there. The cage looks huge in person, I more expected it to be the sort of size that cage they use only for the Fight Night shows in the US is like. Â And congrats on the masterful engagement Lamby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 28, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 28, 2012 Dan Hardy interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=playe...p;v=scXCxBzLDao  covers a bunch of stuff. Compares training with Roy Nelson to training with Frank Mir, and has another pop at Matt Hughes' habit of killing animals. "Let's face it I don't think he's eating Zebra".  Liked the line on Nelson "We didn't see eye to eye. I like training. He likes cake".   Couple more interviews...  Stefan Struve  Stipe Miocic  Jimi Manuwa  John Maguire  Loved the Maguire interview. Seems a good bloke. Big Bret 'Art fan.  EDIT - Just watched the Struve and Miocic interviews. Haha, the girl doing the interview is terrible. Erm...I mean...I mean....I mean....erm....I mean....Stefan Screw Struve.  Here's a better 20 minute Stefan Screw interview; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Bus Surfer Posted September 28, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted September 28, 2012 Cracking post there, Wand. Â As for the ear pieces, I desperately wanted one when we went to 120. When I asked for some at the merch counter, the dude came back and presented me with some earplugs to reduce the noise levels! Although they did come in handy trying to get to sleep in the hostel that night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members lambyUK Posted September 28, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted September 28, 2012 Agree about the atmosphere, though from what I saw I think they earpiece is only for one ear - which would probably give you the best of both worlds. Nah, I'm with you there. The cage looks huge in person, I more expected it to be the sort of size that cage they use only for the Fight Night shows in the US is like.  And congrats on the masterful engagement Lamby!  Cheers MOM (and Wand). Was a bit weird, and alarmingly I was the one delivering "yeah, can do". The truth is neither of us are that bothered about marriage, but it's more for our parents really. Nothing flashy, not even an engagement ring. Thing is we are currently saving every penny to place a 30k down payment on a new home so we regard our home as a priority over something material like a ring (and thank fuck for that too!),  Anyway, yeah, I don't think i will go for the ear piece but it's certainly an idea I would entertain if I started going to these events on a regular basis.  One day to go and I can't wait! In terms of what match ups I'm most looking to, I would say Manuwa vs Kingsbury, Hardy vs Sadollah, Maguire vs Hathaway and Struve vs Miocic. Then again, literally every matchup sounds good on paper. It could even be card of the year in terms of the quality of fights if they deliver their potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted September 28, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted September 28, 2012 Went the weigh ins. Met Dana afterwards. Got free tickets. Well happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 28, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted September 28, 2012 considering it aint sold out i bet Dana's chucking tickets out, just a case of being lucky enough to get a position to get them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted September 28, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted September 28, 2012 Yeah, speaking to the woman at the ticket office earlier it's clear they struggled to shift the Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 28, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted September 28, 2012 you got the Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted September 28, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted September 28, 2012 I've no idea yet. They just say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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