Cool Weekend
Just waking up from my memorial day weekend. I had to miss my annual trip to Chicago during Memorial Day week for the Trailer Bash. I’m glad everyone there had fun.
Instead of stout bongs and bean bags, I had Dane Cook and UFC 84. Friday’s Dane Cook show was good, but last year’s Mandalay Bay show was much better. The two openers were quite good, especially Robert Kelly. Last year’s openers were Jay Glazer and Gary Gulman. I’d say the opening sets were about equal, but Dane’s set was a little less funny, although it’s probably because Dane has set such a high standard. I was hoping his show would be a bit longer as well.
On Saturday, UFC 84 was finally here and Kristen, my brother, and Terrence Chan all got to see our first UFC live. We missed the first few fights, much to our dismay, including what looked to be a pretty sweet anaconda choke by Yushiyoki Yoshida and a couple of stoppages due to strikes. The tickets said the first fight was at 5:05 but it seems they actually started at around 4:15 or 4:30. /rant I hate stuff like this. Why is it so hard to just do what you advertise. A similar thing happened in Tunica for the WSOP Circuit event. They announced a certain schedule and switched it when we all showed up. I lost some poker EV in that incident and some entertainment EV in this one and all because whatever organization was involved wasn’t kind enough to publish correct information on the internet and wherever else /mild rant.
Other than missing the first few fights, the show was incredible. Wanderlei Silva came out to an amazing ovation and caught Keith Jardine with a couple short, crisp punches, perhaps showing that he’s ready to return to the top of the 205 division. The Ortiz/Machida fight had it’s down moments but when Tito threw his legs up and locked Machida in a pretty tight triangle, the crowd went absolutely nuts. Tito just missed locking his foot and would have finished the choke if he had. Finally, BJ Penn dismantled Sean Sherk in the main event. Sherk didn’t think he could finish a takedown and it was obvious. His standup was also quite lacking compared to BJ. Sherk’s wild swinging hooks were no match for the precise and brutal jabs that BJ threw at him. Penn finally finished Sherk with a right uppercut that sent him bouncing off the cage and a perfectly timed flying knee a la his fight versus Kaol Uno. The only regret I have from that fight is that I didn’t get to see any grappling from the two best grapplers in the 155 division.
With UFC 85, Elite XC, and WEC’s Faber v Pulver coming up in the next 2 weeks, this is a great time to be an MMA fan.
