I think the Villa have had a really fine season finishing sixth, and of course any other year would have seen us qualify automatically for the UEFA Cup. I still think two games in July is a small price to pay to get us to the qualifying rounds.
From what is a small squad anyway we obviously lose Olly Mellberg - I've done a blog update about him alone, but once again - he's been a start through many rough times and many average defensive partners. I wish him all the best and we will miss him.
Scott Carson - well, who knows. He's done OK but I won't cry if he leaves - The Croatia game knocked the stuffing out of him.
Gareth Barry. As mentioned elsewhere, he can leave for Liverpool and be in and out of their side. At Villa he can lead us onto much better things and be a major player. However, an instant doubling of the wages and Champions League football will be impossible to resist IMO.
Patrik Berger - Go and play for Leicester or some other place where has-beens go. Typical David O'Leary signing - absolute rubbish, complete waste of time.
So four out and Luke Moore as good as gone - we've got a lot of buying to do. In previous years we've always failed miserably so let's see what Randy and Martin have up their sleeve.
Unlike Small Heath, Cheltenham Town didn't get relegated. Keith Downing achieved a minor miracle in keeping the Robins up and I willingly eat alot of humble pie as I thought his appointment signalled certain relegation. Well done to everyone at Whaddon Road.
Bristol City are at Wembley after a great 2nd Leg at Ashton Gate - I hope they beat Hull as this will be a great trip for Villa and I have a few friends down in those parts!
I'll look forward to hearing Sepp Blatter and his UEFA buddies give Glasgow Rangers all sorts of threats after their fans disgraceful antics last night. Oh, of course he won't - they're not English are they?
UFC 83 Review - St Pierre V Serra II
Setting a new UFC record with over 21,000 in attendance, UFC 83 had a distinctly different feel. After being knocked out by Matt Serra the last time they met in a huge upset, St. Pierre would likely benefit from that different feel for sure in his attempt to take revenge on his New York based rival.
First up was a match between Mac Danzig and Mark Bocek. The fight started with Bocek taking Danzig down and controlling things for the majority of the initial stanza. That said, Danzig was never really in any danger and toward the end of the round turned Bocek over to deliver a nice flurry of ground and pound.
A huge right knee by Danzig floored Bocek early in the second round. From there, a rather furious ground and pound onslaught followed that even involved Danzig taking his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt opponent’s back for a time. Still, with about 1:30 left in the round, Danzig stood up, letting his opponent to his feet. Even with this, Danzig shirked another takedown attempt by his adversary and ended up on top raining down punches before the bell.
The third started off with Bocek gaining a nice takedown. However, soon after Danzig kicked him off and got to his feet. From there, Danzig nailed his opponent with a hard right knee and later a terrific left jab, opening up a gash over the Canadian’s left eye. Later in the round, Danzig tripped Bockek to the canvas and then took his back. From there, he sunk in the rear naked choke.
A great showing for Mac Danzig. Still, Mark Bocek certainly showed some toughness.
Next up was a match between Charles McCarthy and Michael Bisping in the Brit’s first fight at 185 pounds. He looked good coming in. But would that mean anything?
Basically, this fight went like this. Michael Bisping threw punches early on and Charles McCarthy didn’t. Though McCarthy came up with a huge takedown and nearly pulled off the armbar on the ground in the initial stanza, the British fighter got out of trouble and to his feet. From there, he ended the first round with a flurry of punches and knees.
After the bell sounded, McCarthy continued to lay on the canvas, unable to continue. Not a great showing for Charles McCarthy at all.
Next up was a very interesting fight between Nate Quarry and Kalib Starnes. The first round was rather uneventful in that Starnes seem to be backpedaling for nearly the entire round. Quarry landed some good shots and clearly won the stanza, but it was all made hard by his opponent’s style.
The second round was more of the same in that Quarry landed several leg kicks to go along with some body and head punches. For a brief moment, Starnes caught his leg and took him down but Quarry was back to his feet before you could count to three. Thus, another clear round for The Rock. Starnes just wasn’t looking right.
In the third it was just more of the same. Not sure if Starnes was injured before this one or sick or something, but he just didn’t look right at all the whole fight.
Next up was one of the big ones. Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter. Franklin landed a hard right early on. However, Lutter grabbed a leg, eventually took him down, and immediately took his back. Franklin worked himself out to half guard before Lutter gained mount and lost the position to half guard again.
Lutter then gained mount again and went for a solid armbar that Franklin escaped from in astounding fashion before getting to his feet. Though Lutter grabbed his leg and looked for a takedown for the rest of the stanza, Franklin countered well and landed a knee before the bell sounded. Lutter won the first round, but Ace showed some prowess on the ground.
The second round was very different. Namely, Franklin connected with several hard knees inside and a big time left high kick. From there, the stand up pounding began, and it only ended when Franklin followed his opponent to the canvas and continually struck him until the referee pulled him off.
Finally, we came to the main event. The crowd boomed loud when Georges St. Pierre came into the Octagon to take on Matt Serra.
The first round was all Georges St. Pierre. Right off the bat he took Matt Serra down and from there the ground and pound onslaught started. Though the pounding started off slow, the intensity of it increased with time. At the tail end of the stanza, St. Pierre connected with a hard knee to Serra’s ribs. A dominant round for the Canadian.
The second round started with much of the same: Georges St. Pierre took his opponent down and began to dominate him. Later in the round, St. Pierre began raining knee after knee into Serra’s ribs as the man from Long Island stayed immobile on all fours. Finally, the referee had no choice but to step in.
Georges St. Pierre is now the undisputed UFC Welterweight Champion of the world.
In the end, UFC 83 was a really good watch for MMA fans. Georges St. Pierre once again showed that when focused, he’s the best welterweight fighter in the world. Rich Franklin put to rest all of those overrated chants. And Mac Danzig showed the world that he is truly a force to be reckoned with.
Cage Rage 26 Review
Cage Rage 26: “Extreme” came and went Saturday night from the NEC Arena in Birmingham, England, with Ian Freeman toppling Paul Calhoun via unanimous decision for the light heavyweight title in the main event of the evening.
Ross Pointon, also came away with a win thanks to a nifty fight-ending heel hook against Ross Mason. In addition, Paul “Semtex” Daley was in the house and revealed that he was not going to retire. In fact, he has a future opponent in mind.
Challenger Ian Freeman captured the Cage Rage light heavyweight belt by defeating Paul Cahoon with a unanimous decision. It was a back and forth battle, but Freeman inflicted more damage and scored more takedowns.
Matt Ewin vs. Mark Epstein for middleweight title
Ewin reclaimed his Cage Rage middleweight belt with a unanimous decision victory. Ewin had a slow start, getting taken down early and controlled for some of the first round, but battled back and dominated the later rounds with takedowns of his own and punishing strikes. It was a very decisive decision.
Ch’e Mills vs. Marios Zaromskis at welterweight
Mills was victorious with a first round doctor stoppage because of a cut Zamomskis sustained over his eye very early on in the fight. It was a good first round with a lot of action, both on the feet and on the mat. It’s too bad the fight had to be stopped — it could have possibly been the fight of the night.
Rodney Favorus vs. James Zikic at light heavyweight
Zikic wins via armbar in the third round. He maintained top position for most of the fight while on the mat and stayed away from Favorus’s power in the stand up game. Zikic looked much improved in his ground game and slipped in a very impressive armbar 25 seconds into the last round.
Ross Mason vs. Ross Pointon at welterweight
Pointon defeated Mason via submission (heel hook) first round. Pointon was actually quite impressive. His gameplan was to take Mason down and submit him and he executed to perfection with a heel hook 1 minute and 26 seconds into the first round.
No comments:
Post a Comment