Shock and Awe 11 - Outrun Europa

Big old drive eh?

406 miles return to be precise but my love of the ritual that is the Sunday all you can eat Chinese fuelled my workmanlike attitude to get to bed at 3am and up at 11am.

I ended up going to the Golden Orient in Stafford, upmarket I know, and I'd definitely recommend it.

Anyhow you're not reading this to hear about my tales of Duck and Hoi Sin pancakes and Black Bean Chicken I imagine. You good people are here for the bullet points right?

•  It's been raining a bit ain't it? It's a bid unnerving arriving in a coastal town in a monsoon. 
• Good standard of scraps on the semi pro protion of the card. I've come to expect it from Shock n Awe to be honest. 
• Martin Avery vs. Damien Weeden was perhaps the most ridiculously entertaining K1 bout I've called in a very long time. Those guys threw down like it was going out of fashion. 
• Good to see that guy who shouted at me from Silverback Submissions at Into the Cage not being so vocal. He wasn't happy with the call in the Harry Fox fight in Andover and he's clearly instilled a 'never leave it in the hands of the judges' ethos in his guys. They didn't. They both got finished.
• Luke Killick's a unit. Yet another monster from Gym 01. I bet sparring with that guy's becoming more and more like hard work every day.
• Karl Harrison's elbows from the top were brutal. I was impressed that I didn't get bled on though, considering how close I was to the incident. That cut was nasty btw. Looked like the eye of fucking Sauron.
• Alexei Roberts flash KO'd his way to the title. Impressive. Very impressive. It was a walk off KO as well which is always so much cooler. I'll be the first to say I underestimated that guy. 7-2 and looking better all the time.
• Davey Grant came into hostile territory and took the title against a big favourite in James Pennington. There's no doubt that both guys will go on to bigger and better things but Grant opened a lot of eyes with a performance like that on Pennington's turf.
• Great hospitality and good to work with another commentator for the first time in CWFC's own John Gooden. Worked out very well but you're never quite ready for a man in a bow tie breaking out the term "spitting the lyrics." Good fun.

OUTRUN EUROPA

 

Ever play Outrun Europa?

Soundtrack was bad ass.

Most overlooked game in that franchise. Probably because US Gold did it and it didn't involve a girl or a Ferrarri for the most part. 

Anyhow, your mission is to track down some evil criminal types in a plethora of stolen vehicles. Here's the thing. There's no feeling I can relate in gaming like the sinking feeling I got when you get stopped by the police in Outrun Europa. If they stopped in front of you then you lost. It was heartbreaking if you were on an amazing time as well which always seemed to be the case.

I got the very same feeling driving home at 2am when pulled over by the fuzz. Luckily enough they were on the way to another gig and I got away with a telling off and nothing more.  Fucking Sat Nav. Lesson learned.

Cage Warriors this Saturday.

ONWARDS!!

See you soon

Ben

Fight UK 7 - Dynamite Headdy

I should have done this a while back as Fight UK 7 actually took place on June 23rd but a hectic schedule, my quest to complete Super Castlevania 4 on one credit and my growing addiction to French bread got in the way.

Still we're here now and it's nice to be able to recount what was another cracking event put on by the Fight UK team. The welcome was warm as always and the fights, as I've come to expect, were well matched and very enjoyable.

WHY DYNAMITE HEADDY?

Did you ever play Dynamite Headdy?

It was bad ass. 

Shock and Awe next then Cage Warriors the week after.

ONWARD!!!!!!!!

Take Care

Ben

Into the Cage 6 - Thunderforce

I'm already hardened to this lifestyle that combines road trips, violence and Rocket Queen. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't change it for the world but, like everything else, it quickly becomes about efficiency and routine.

This past weekend I drove down to Andover to work at Into the Cage 6. As far as domestic shows go it's fairly standard but they're moving in the right direction with the matchmaking/presentation.

The fights were entertaining but the drive home was arguably the part of my night that required the most focus. Dave was staying in Reading with his family so I drove home alone after the show and got to my door at around 3am.

I drank a few cans of some sugar free energy drink that tasted like a cross between Vimto and Vinegar and crushed up some pro plus into them for good measure. It reminded me of the start of Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (1:53) somehow and, not wanting to make the experience seem artificial, I obliged by blasting out some late eighties hair metal to keep me awake.

This epistle already feels less celebratory than my previous few. It's nothing intentional. I think it's because I'm reading so much about Richey Edwards at the minute. His whole situation, personna and vanishing is just so fascinating to me. I think that a big part of me never got past being 19 and going to Chicos dressed as Nicky Wire.

One of the best things about the Internet is how quickly you can revisit things and the wealth of transcribed interviews and videos available. You can only imagine what Richey would have made of it. I regularly spend hours watching videos of people completing old arcade games on one credit, gigs from 20 years ago and the old protect and survive videos about how to deal with the threat of a nuclear assault. Something about the futility of those videos fascinates me.

Why Thunderforce?

There's something predictable about 16 bit games, not in a bad way, that means you can expect certain aspects but never be prepared for them. If you ever played the later Thunderforce games you'll realise just how this works. Those things are bathed in heavy metal synth done through the screaming Sega sound chip.

Anyhow, the point was that when you heard that crazy music start you realised all manner of shit was about to go down. Big solo meant boss music and boss music meant it was time to die unless you knew the attack patterns.

There was a scene in Andover, where I almost thought that something crazy may have happened. In my head, for a second, I almost heard the boss music start to prepare me for the incoming carnage.

As it happens it didn't but I still got that rush of adrenaline that I always used to get when the level music faded out on Super Probotector and the haunting tones of the boss music started.

Cage Warriors 47 - Sonic Blastman

I'm not one to throw around the obvious and the cliche when they're not required but I feel justified by writing what I'm about to write.

Cage Warriors 47 was the most intense show I have ever worked in my entire life.

It was my seventh show for Cage Warriors and before I got there I was faced with arguably the shortest flight on record.

The event took place in Dublin and as soon as I was afforded the opportunity on the plane, I put on my headphones and my Ipod picked me Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

The song finished and as it did I saw a shape enter my peripheral vision. It was the stewardess telling me to take my headphones off as we were preparing to land. I've had good cups of tea that last longer than that flight but I'm certainly not complaining you understand. It made a nice change.

We got to the hotel, which was nice in an understated kind of way, and found out we'd be staying in an adjacent house because there was a wedding this weekend at the hotel.

It'd be Dean, Rich, Tony and myself which, as it happened, was a perfect cocktail for tea, trash talking, the occasional coffee for Dean and all kinds of merriment.

The fight night came round fast and as soon as the first bout started I could sense something different. The crowd, although still growing, was gloriously vocal and I truly wasn't prepared for what was to come.

Then this happened.

Photo by Dolly Clew/Cage Warriors

I've never ever seen a place erupt like that in a very short time before. I've seen many displays like that but not for a second was there a sense of danger in these proceedings; there was nothing but intense celebration from the Irish fans.

This wouldn't be a weekend recap however, without a bullet point list and a niche videogame link so here's both for you good people.

• The mental game is so overlooked by some people in mma but I'm fast realising that it's probably the most important part of the whole puzzle somehow. It's like having a 1000bhp engine but no clutch. You can't translate that power and ability into anything without it.
• If you're all about The Young Ones metaphor in that house then I think I was Rick Mayall, Dean was Vivian, Tony was Neil and Rich was Mike.
• Train rides are really underrated somehow. If they weren't so expensive I'd do more of them.
• I started reading my dad's book last night briefly. I really hope I've got that in me somewhere.
• UN Squadron with anyone apart from Greg Gates is unfeasibly hard.

Why Sonic Blastman?

As a kid growing up the noisiest machine in any arcade was the Sonic Blastman machine. You'd get crowds of would be tough guys surrounding it trying to hit that pad to get the biggest score, or headbutt it which I saw once, to impress whoever was watching. There was a special noise that surrounded that machine. It was crystal clear yet ear splittingly loud.

“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”- Jack Kerouac

Mutant Fighter - CWFN6 & UCMMA 28

This may very well be the most miles I've covered in a single weekend and that's saying something.

Last week's crazy schedule went something like this.

Mon: Work
Tue: Work - Fly to Abu Dhabi
Wed: Fly to Bahrain, Arrive 9am
Thurs: Judge Cage Warriors
Fri: Fly to Abu Dhabi
Sat: Fly to Manchester, Arrive 7am, Drive to London, Call UCMMA 28.
Sun: Drive to Star City. Win Teddy Bear on grabbing machine for Alison.

The best part is that, this weekend, I get to go on another Cage Warriors adventure as I fly to Ireland to judge yet another stacked card but, without any further delay, lets bullet point this bitch.

Cage Warriors Fight Night 6 - Bahrain - Thursday 24th May

• Most obvious but yet endearing comment of the trip? "It's hot here isn't it." It's in a desert, in a heatwave at 1pm. Yeah it's hot. 
• If you don't know who you're going to be rooming with. Always open up with an offer of a cup of tea. It's usually always plain sailing after that.
• On that note a big shout out to Rich Mitchell who cracked me up throughout the trip. The dude's good people.

UCMMA 28 - London - Saturday 28th May

• Very exciting night of fights throughout. Great work from the UCMMA team who, as always, made Alison and myself very welcome.

Why Mutant Fighter?

Seriously watch UCMMA this Wednesday.

I'm off to play some Super Hang On but I'll no doubt be in touch very soon.
Take care
Ben

Also this:

Wrestlefest - NOTG11 & Lockdown FC 3

Another two shows this past weekend as 300 miles, a load of debates about Hendo's H Bomb, a tasty muffin and some great fights happened in a very short stretch.

Night of the Gladiators 11 - Saturday 21st April - Hanley

• Noisy fans were well behaved. Good stuff.
• Ant Bailey does indeed look like a marginally more portly BJ Penn. 
• It's nice finishing an mma show and walking home. Simple things :)

Lockdown FC 3 - Sunday 22nd April - Hatfield

• Good friends and good conversation make a long drive seem very short.
• Mark Handley's leopard print thong LMFAO entrance was pretty sick. It was the way he had to walk down stairs to get to the cage that made it a bit surreal though. He looked like he'd just got out the bathroom.

Why Wrestlefest?

It's simply not because I'm trying to one-credit it at the minute it's simply the fact that this weekend reminded me that, at any level of the game, wrestling is so overpowered.

A good Ryu will beat a good Guile or a good Zangief any day of the week.

Also I bought some chinos and a cardigan today so I'm pretty sure I've turned into a bad guy from a 1980's martial arts film.

On that note it's time to hit the hay
Speak soon
Take Care
Ben

Double Dragon 2 - UCMMA 27 & CWFN 5

Another double header this time as a break in this pretty crazy schedule affords me the time to record a hectic few weeks.

The Cage Warriors trip home was suitably titanic as I got a coach, two planes, two trains and then walked a mile and a half to my front door. I slept for 13.5 hours on Friday night though so I think I'm over it now.

April 7th - UCMMA 27

Down to London for some UCMMA goodness a few Saturdays back and a card that wasn't rammed full of huge names ended up being one of the most exciting events I've seen for a long time.

• Easy night for the judges huh? Some huge finishes and massive knockouts which is always good for the fans
• Hotelling it was pretty sweet as well and driving down and driving home at a regular speed was both financially rewarding and quite relaxing.

April 12th - Cage Warriors Fight Night 5

Off to Amman, Jordan this week to judge for Cage Warriors as Fight Night 5 took to the airwaves on MMAJunkie.com with an immensely deep card. It was, once again, a pleasure and an honour to judge such amazing bouts.

• I really could mooch in hotel receptions for a living. Every night I planned to go to bed at a reasonable hour and every night I ended up chilling out till 4 am drinking tea on those comfortable sofas and hanging out. Awesomes.
• Business class on a small plane means a free cake and a cup of tea. This was immense.
• That Fisherman's platter I had from TGI's in the mall nearly finished me off. Looked like the season finale of Deadliest Catch.

That just about rounds it up for a little while anyhow. I'll be back in the saddle again next week as I do Night of the Gladiators on Saturday and Lockdown FC on Sunday so expect a similar update.
I'd call it Double Dragon 3 but I recall that game being garbage.
Anyhow till next time, take care of yourselves. I'm off to grab some lunch.
Ben