UFC 85 post-event thoughts

• Every UFC event should have a Mexican wave.
• A UFC doesn’t have to have a title on the line for it to be a good event.
• The standard of catering backstage was high, but no tea or coffee?  WTF?
• Never lose (or have stolen) your media pass at a UFC event, it is hell. I felt like my identity had been stripped from me.
• Watching Matt Hughes get KO’d live and in person is a magical experience.
• Swearing in a post-fight interview is not big and it is not clever, but it is totally fine in my book.  Fucking ay.

Ringside at UFC

Yeah baby.

Going grappling groupie on Camarillo

Me and Dave Camarillo, BJJ and judo black belt and pretty awesome pioneer of ‘Guerrilla’ Jiu-Jitsu.

I was very happy to meet him

24 Hours Later

Those of you who saw the pictures of my lacerated eye yesterday, thanks for kind comments.  It’s going to heal just fine - I really was very lucky.

Here’s a pic from today, which shows a little of the damage to the eye itself.

My big fat lacerated eye ball

Right in the fucking eye!

Tonight I was victim to a bizarre accident in training.  Holding Thai pads for my partner, he threw a knee while pulling my head down at the same time.  The buckle on the straps went through my bottom eyelid and lacerated my eye.  Great.

More pics of the carnage After the jump.

Ringside

My thoughts on Kimbo vs James Thompson and EliteXC on CBS

A-fucking-bysmal.

The whole event looked like one big clusterfuck. The shady shenanigans from the officials had me speechless (bizarre stoppages, overzealous doctors).  The rampant protectionism by Gary Shaw of his two money-making favourites, Gina Carano and Kimbo, makes me sick.  The sub-par production values, the 20-man entourages, the cringeworthy level of skill on display (save for one or two fights)…

And worst of all, all of this going out to the American public on T-fucking-V.

A black day for MMA.

Me, interviewed

It’s not often I get asked to be interviewed. The guys over at EFN Sports (also known the The European Fight Network) kindly asked me to do a voxpop style interview, to which I gladly agreed.  Check it out here!

FO on TV

Not the greatest of TV spots, but my good mate and FO contributor Peter Irving gets some good airtime in this mini-doc that featured on a regional BBC news magazine show.

Pity the reporter put so much of his own opinion into an otherwise rather complimentary piece. I suppose when the facts and popular opinion all weigh in favour of the sport, someone has to play the opposing side.

Also check out this vid of Pete in training; pads, grappling and floorbag work.  Tough stuff.

Stay classy, MMA

You stay classy, MMA

I don’t like TV much. The shining beacon of untruth that rules over people’s lives is one of the few forms of entertainment I don’t enjoy. That’s not to say I don’t like some TV shows, because I do. If I owned a TV channel, it would play Family Guy, My Name is Earl, Blackadder, South Park and random documentaries about snow leopards and stuff 24 hours a day.