Sunday 26 February 2012

Body Blows - Fight UK 6

Wow.

What a crazy ass night of fights.

FIGHT UK have always treated me nothing short of phenomenally and last night myself and Dave Lethaby took the hallowed mikes and Mark Milward and Jon Hand came along to judge as well.

My lovely girlfriend Alison made the trip, she rates that show and there was a heavyweight fight on as well, and we were all set.

Here's some brief highlights of a great night in Leicester.
  • FIGHT UK is, without a doubt, one of the best run shows around. It's run like clockwork and everyone knows what they have to do which makes everything so much easier.
  • Doing pieces to camera is getting easier than it used to be and I attribute last night's success to my use of the side parting.
  • That first round of hot buttered toast, after calling an MMA show, is worth the drive home alone.
  • I've had an insane February for sure and recollecting on it all on a quiet Sunday makes me realise how lucky I am.
That just about wraps it up people.
Next show, off the top of my head, is Shock N Awe I think in Portsmouth in a few weeks time then there's another trip with the Cage Warriors crew after that.
I better do the dishes anyhow.
Take care
Ben

Raid Over Moscow - CW46


So Cage Warriors 46 happened this week in Kiev.

Flew out Wednesday morning, got home Friday teatime.

Here's a brief summary of the events of that crazy few days.

  • I ate a lot of croissants and drank quite a bit of tea. That's not unusual I know but it was nice to do it in a foreign country somehow.
  • It's cold over there. Very cold. I wore a hat a lot and spent a lot of time in my Christmas jumper.
  • If you don't have walk out music then it's state law that you walk out to The Scorpions. (This may not be true but it felt like it.)
  • Videogames are an essential part of how I stay balanced in life. If I get a little tired/stressed/hungry/homesick and I play Super Nintendo then everything seems fine.
  • Alison managed to find Sports biscuits while I was away. Best biscuits ever.
  • There were some great fights on the card and it was, once again, a real honour to be able to judge them and to be made to feel welcome by all the team at CW.
This continues to get more fun and more insane as the days go by.

If you want something enough, then make it happen.

You're the only person stopping it.

Take care
Ben

Sunday 19 February 2012

Splatterhouse - CW45


Another weekend and another great show this time it was down to Kentish Town, London for Cage Warriors 45.

I was judging this one and my good friend David Lethaby was snapping the event for Sherdog so I drove us down, stopping for a Ginsters, and got there nice and early.

It reminds me of the kind of venue I would have seen a niche band at a few years back. There was a real touch of the Coheed and Cambria about the place and, as I got into position to judge, I took in the atmosphere and got ready for the fights.

Fights were very entertaining all in all with a lot of exciting finishes and the whole show was very enjoyable to work at.

The journey home was better than the last time I made my way home from London, although there was a tiny bit of snow as I got home which freaked me out a bit, but I got into bed at around 2am and promptly fell asleep as my head hit the pillow.

All in all another quality evening and this week I'm off to Kiev for Cage Warriors and have FIGHT UK and UCMMA Contenders after that.

Stay tuned, this is going to get busy.
Take Care
Ben

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Double Dragon - UCMMA 26 & CWFC FN3


To say it's been an insane few days would be an understatement but having a bit of time to think has given me some clarity.

This year is likely to be yet another crazy one so I'm going to use this blog to record every show I go to this year. Last year I went to over 30 shows in a wide variety of places so I like the idea of using the blog for something like this.

February 4th - UCMMA 26

Crazy night in every way imaginable.

It was snowing a bit on the way down but I, in typical English fashion, adopted the 'it'll be alright' mindset and got to London ok.

The real drama, however, happened on the drive home.

The show finished at 11:20ish and I set off with Alison huddled up in the passenger seat.

We usually go m11,m25,m1 but this would proved costly.

It took about an hourish to get out of London but that's nothing unusual. I managed to get to the m11 but it was crawling. It took about 40 minutes to do 5 miles but when I pulled onto the M25 I could tell something was wrong.

There were abandoned cars on the motorway and, as I pulled up under a bridge, I was ready for a bit of a stop but this felt different.

I pulled up at around 1am but I didn't move from that single spot for 4.5hours. Junction 25 was closed but, in that time, I shuffled close to the exit onto the A110.

We got some petrol but there were so many A roads closed that we kept running into problems.

In the end it was a 2006 AA Road Atlas that was my mums that saved the day as Alison navigated us to the A406 then up the M1/A50. The problem with technology is that, when it comes to the crunch, there's usually a reason why people used more traditional methods for hundreds of years.

I'd set off from the Troxy in East London at 11:30 pm and I rolled into bed at 9:30 am.

It was the closest thing to a horror film I've ever seen. People were wandering up and down the carriageway like zombies and there were abandoned cars everywhere.

The problem with this bubble of society we surround ourselves with is that we're painfully ill equipped to deal with the simplest of asks from Mother Nature.

It's like we share a sphere with an unreasonable landlady who, at any point, could turf us out and leave us with nothing.

Cage Warriors Fight Night 3 - February 11th

Judging this time and it was my first time working for Cage Warriors.

I met the likely lads Dean Weir and Neil Hall at Manchester Airport on Thursday AM and we spent the bulk of the day flying, eating and generally chatting. The guys were really easy going and great to chat to so the hours soon flew by as we arrived in Lebanon.

After a grilling at passport control we were picked up by a suited gentleman with a clipboard that read "Cage Fighters."

We got to the hotel, although the neighborhood we drove through looked like Cabal, and I was shocked with just how luxury this place was.

My room was big enough for at least four and the dressing gown made me look like the Cristo Redentor, and the view from the top of the hotel was like the start of Streets of Rage 2.

Friday was a haze of naps, weigh ins, Rice Krispies, near death road crossings, more naps, tea, smoke, sunshine and naps. An enjoyable day.

Saturday saw it all come together as the fights went out all over the world and I sat cageside with my trusty pen and kept score.

I spent the bulk of Sunday travelling, chatting and preparing to see my lovely girlfriend Alison. It was like an 80's film somehow and driving home felt like an early date. All in all it was quite cute and the trip was a fantastic one.

I'll be continuing in this fashion for the bulk of this year so I hope you'll join me as I try to take in a HUGE number of shows and spend great times with good friends watching awesome fights.

Take Care
Ben