ECA
I am a FH squatter
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2003
- Messages
- 9,439
Well I had an amazing seat, just behind and above the reporters desks on the third row back, right behind the fighters corner ( gonzagas corner ).
I arrived ar 5:40, and purchased a program+soft drink and was seated at 5:45, the first fight was scheduled for 6:30, so I was slightly surprised to see two semi-naked men in the ring and further surprised when the bell rang and they started beating each other up. I assumed it was throd and trem having a giggle, but apparently the schedule had been re-arranged.
The fights were for the most part very good, the only dissapointing fights being the David Heath vs Lyoto Machida fight ( and arlovski werdum ), I had been looking forward to this fight but both fighters are strong counterfighters and it was three rounds of minimal things happening, so much so they didnt show it on the states re-broadcast.
The Terry Etim and Paul Taylor ( brits on the non-PPV cards to boost uk fanbase perhaps? ) fights were both underdog situations and they both put in convincing shows and won.
David Lee was shocking, and worse I was sat next to his sister who was shouting "GO ORN DAVID GO ORN BABY" every 10 seconds until thankfully he got submitted and the bitch left crying. Mental note: Bring earplugs next time in case of similar occurence.
The Bisping vs Sinisic fight was basically letting the local contender smash someone fight in theory, in practice it was about the same, except in the second round Sinisic dropped Bisping and almost submitted him in a very nasty Kimura which he managed to escape and then got half mount on Sinisic and pounded away until the ref stopped it.
The Arlovski vs Werdum fight was pretty well anticipated but it turned into a snoozefest as Arlovski refused to put himself inside and risk getting taken down and turned into a point scoring snoozefest.
And onto the main event, Mirko Filipovic vs Gabriel Gonzaga with the winner getting a shot at Randy Couture.
The fight was fairly even, with Cro Cop doing his usual stalker style, just keeping close and throwing punches and kicks, Gonzaga was giving it back to him though, until late in the round when Gonzaga managed to take Cro Cop down in full mount and spent about a minute smattering his faces with nasty elbows that the crowd was oohing and aahing at when they connected.
They were eventually stood up when Cro Cop got underhooks in and prevented the onslaught of elbows, however about 15-20 seconds after they were stood back up Gonzaga threw a tight right head kick which connected and sent cro cop unconscious onto the mat for a good 2-3 minutes.
All in all a great night, and if UFC is back in manchester I'd definately recommend anyone going, even if you're not a fight fan.
I arrived ar 5:40, and purchased a program+soft drink and was seated at 5:45, the first fight was scheduled for 6:30, so I was slightly surprised to see two semi-naked men in the ring and further surprised when the bell rang and they started beating each other up. I assumed it was throd and trem having a giggle, but apparently the schedule had been re-arranged.
The fights were for the most part very good, the only dissapointing fights being the David Heath vs Lyoto Machida fight ( and arlovski werdum ), I had been looking forward to this fight but both fighters are strong counterfighters and it was three rounds of minimal things happening, so much so they didnt show it on the states re-broadcast.
The Terry Etim and Paul Taylor ( brits on the non-PPV cards to boost uk fanbase perhaps? ) fights were both underdog situations and they both put in convincing shows and won.
David Lee was shocking, and worse I was sat next to his sister who was shouting "GO ORN DAVID GO ORN BABY" every 10 seconds until thankfully he got submitted and the bitch left crying. Mental note: Bring earplugs next time in case of similar occurence.
The Bisping vs Sinisic fight was basically letting the local contender smash someone fight in theory, in practice it was about the same, except in the second round Sinisic dropped Bisping and almost submitted him in a very nasty Kimura which he managed to escape and then got half mount on Sinisic and pounded away until the ref stopped it.
The Arlovski vs Werdum fight was pretty well anticipated but it turned into a snoozefest as Arlovski refused to put himself inside and risk getting taken down and turned into a point scoring snoozefest.
And onto the main event, Mirko Filipovic vs Gabriel Gonzaga with the winner getting a shot at Randy Couture.
The fight was fairly even, with Cro Cop doing his usual stalker style, just keeping close and throwing punches and kicks, Gonzaga was giving it back to him though, until late in the round when Gonzaga managed to take Cro Cop down in full mount and spent about a minute smattering his faces with nasty elbows that the crowd was oohing and aahing at when they connected.
They were eventually stood up when Cro Cop got underhooks in and prevented the onslaught of elbows, however about 15-20 seconds after they were stood back up Gonzaga threw a tight right head kick which connected and sent cro cop unconscious onto the mat for a good 2-3 minutes.
All in all a great night, and if UFC is back in manchester I'd definately recommend anyone going, even if you're not a fight fan.
