There's a message in the wire and I'm sending you this signal tonight

When I started writing this blog I never thought I'd be given the opportunities that mma has given me. I just knew that I had something buzzing in my head that I couldn't shake and I needed to get down on paper.

Today I was given the news that my 9-5 job doesn't exist anymore which, to be honest, I was expecting in a funny kind of way.

If I can simplify it all then here's the deal:

I teach people
They want me to sell things

That's pretty much the top and bottom of it all.

I've got a weekend to figure out what I'm going to do and just how I'm going to do it.

Teaching, for me, is about helping people.
Sales, for me, is about trying to convince people that they want something they don't need.

Anyhow excuse my rambling I'm still a bit shell shocked by the whole situation at the minute.

To the point then.

How much of this is a sign?

How much of this is the universe reaching out and saying if you don't write/commentate/judge/teach or do something you believe in then you'll end up a soulless robot?

The Message

The time is now it seems.

I'm declaring myself formally available for any mma work that any of you people may need.

Want press releases writing? I'm all over it and have done hundreds for different organizations and companies.

Want articles writing? I've had over 700 pieces published across print and Internet outlets both sides of the Atlantic.

Want an MMA event judging or commentating? I've judged well over 100 fights and have attended the best judging seminar in the entire country run by Mr Marc Goddard and have commentated for HD Net Fights and Sky Sports.

Want some personal training? I'm qualified to do that as well as it happens.

Want to rescue me from this nightmare? Well I'd fucking love you forever if you did and I'd stay up all night writing about how happy I am with it.

All my contact details are available here: http://www.ukmma.info/ben-cartlidge/

Speak real soon.

Love always

Ben

Halcyon Days

Just spent a pretty amazing weekend in Wales with my lovely girlfriend.

Driving to Wales is always kinda emotional somehow as I always tie it to being really little and going on holiday with my mum and dad.

There's a million and one memories of those holidays that are special and that I take with me every single day but somehow I always link Wales with arcades.

This weekend I went into loads of amusement arcades and was really shocked at just how much they'd changed.

Back in 1995 I remember seeing the Playstation appear on the end of Gamesmaster on a Thursday tea time and thinking it didn't look real. Here was a home console that could do Ridge Racer as perfect as it was in the local Quasar.

Before that point the arcades were a look at the future while still being rooted firmly in the past.

Any arcade you went into in the 80's/early 90's had the same carpet, the same smokey atmosphere you almost had to swim through and the same local radio station over a crackly speaker system.

Every machine would have a story and every kid walking up and down would be waiting for their opportunity to be the local arcade hero; to be that kid who beat Double Dragon on one credit or that kid who beat M.Bison or part of that team who two manned Crime Fighters or even four manned Gauntlet.

Every single time I stepped into an arcade it was like a home away from home and that's why going on holiday was so special because I loved going away and I loved new things but I was still comforted that, even in a different country, I could walk in an amusement arcade and everything made sense.

The arcades now are clean and 99% of them are full of gambling machines simply because they're the only way that owners can make any money.

We wandered round Llandudno for ages in search of a really old school arcade but, as you might imagine, we were about 15 years too late.

I'm not taking anything away from what was a beautiful time this weekend simply that, as I was driving home, I realised that my life had entered another phase in a lot of respects and that times had changed.

That was, however, until I got home and saw that Sony had uploaded the Golden Axe coin op onto the PS Store. I downloaded it straight away and almost had to stop myself from loading my PS3 full of 20p pieces when it booted up.

Golden Axe was the one machine that my dad used to take me down to Longton to play in the late 80's and a classic example of why Sega made arcades better than anyone else.

The point of all this?

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be making some big changes to address my work/life/mma balance but I'm approaching it with a different mind set; determined to walk forward looking for the next challenge rather than wishing it was yesterday again.

This is about to get really interesting so I only hope that you good people are safe and well and I'll speak to you all soon.

Ben

The big three one

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Kind of a big deal

*Puts kettle on*

*logs on MMAJunkie*

*Scrolls down*

*Reads the following article*

http://mmajunkie.com/news/24203/hdnet-fights-video-vault-jeremy-horn-vs-thales-leites-at-superior-challenge-7.mma

I can't believe any of this is real.
Any of it.

I love you all
Ben

Stockholm Weekend 2 - Big in Japan

Back to Sweden with Rob Nutley to dub English commentary for Superior Challenge 3,4 and 6 for distribution to a big Asian network?

What did you think I was going to say?

I snaffled that puppy up like a fat kid on a Toblerone and, as I walked home from work on Thursday night, I knew that this weekend was going to be pretty special but I wasn't ready for just how full of win the next few days would be.

After a good tea, some last minute packing and draining the town's electrical grid by charging up every electrical device known to man, it was time get to sleep and prepare for a big day.

Friday June 3rd.

Day started pretty early and I made it to the airport for 7ish as my flight was at just after 10am.

I decided against buying a copy of Britain's Hardest Bastards on paperback, a decision I'd probably regret, and played some fruit machines. The Top Giza machine that had slayed Lethaby and I on the previous trip payed me out so I sat down and got some food. It was win already and I grabbed a cup of tea and an unfeasibly expensive cheese and meatball sandwich as time ticked away.

I got on the plane, listened to Copeland and played some Pokemon Soulsilver whilst contemplating what was surely going to be a very long day.

Flight was pretty sweet and I walked into the arrivals part at exactly 1:33 pm feeling quite awake but herein lay the problem. Due to some flight issues that I'd had when booking, this was the only flight available and Rob wasn't going to get to Sweden until 11:40 pm.

What did I do in an empty Swedish Airport for ten hours on my own you ask?

All manner of exciting things including:

• Listened to every Spitalfield album twice
• Completed Pokemon Soulsilver
• Walked up and down a lot
• Contemplated sleeping somewhere
• Tried not to text anyone
• Listened to Rime of the Ancient Mariner 6 times (To be fair that killed a load of time)

After a whole lot of nothing it was finally time and,`when Rob came through the gates, I was pleased to hear  that I may have waited for ten hours, but at least he got free sandwiches on his flight. That being said he did share so that was pretty win.

We got back to the hotel, checked in and, after a good chat and a cup of tea it was time to prepare for a day of the best kind of organised violence.


Saturday 4th June
 
The breakfast buffet took the kind of pounding that Jenna Jameson would have been proud of and it was soon time to trek to the studios for the first day of recording. Babek picked us up and drove us to the studio where we met the editor, Mikael Hjelm, who was cool as fuck and, much to my delight, used to play a warlock on the horde side. Fucking bad ass.

We soon got into the booth and began our day's "work"

Over the next 8 hours we commentated great fights from Superior Challenge 3,4 and 6 and I was fortunate enough to watch some truly great tussles featuring the likes of Daniel Acacio, Papy Abedi, Assan Njie and others.

There was a mid day McDonald's, which was DEAD expensive for some reason, a lot of walking in the sun and a boat load of hot drinks and shit talking.

It was perhaps the greatest day's "work" that I've ever done in my entire life.

Sunday was going to have to be pretty special and as I ate more junk food and chatted to Rob about where to get a truly great cup of tea in Sweden I was pretty fucking contented with my life.

I fell asleep watching Midsomer Murders according to Rob. Home from home indeed.

Sunday 5th June

More of the same you say? MMA, hanging out, a bit of table tennis and a load of latte? This was turning into the greatest weekend since records began and we wrapped up the dub with some intros and outros and  truly awesome fights featuring Bielkheden, Acacio and Hellboy to name but a few.

As quick as the weekend had got here it had gone and as we commuted back to the airport after saying our goodbyes to Mikael it was time, once again, for the long trip home.

Flight back was fairly beautiful as I set my Ipod to play Copeland on random select and drifted in and out of sleep with my head on the window; waking up to see nothing but clouds was pretty.

I got home, was picked up by my brother and was greeted by my lovely girlfriend who, as luck would have it, was really pleased with the Hello Kitty lunchbox and pez dispenser I'd got her.

That, apart from the TUF finale and some other goodness, was all she wrote and I sit here recapping on what has been a truly incredible experience yet again.

Thanks to:

Rob Nutley - A scholar, a gentleman and the best play by play man I've ever been fortunate enough to work with.
Jay Benjamin - Without him none of this would be possible.
Babak Aghavali - For the hospitality, the lift, the opportunity and for some of the greatest fights I've seen in a very long time.
Mikael Hjelm - Cool as fuck, everyone who plays WoW is, and a really awesome host and talented professional.
Tim Cartlidge - For picking me up and not judging when I had a Ginsters on the way home

The bottom line

Why the fuck not me? Why can't I be the guy who makes a living out of this at some point? I'm more than comfortable at the minute and I'm never going to stop striving to make this dream happen.

Almost twelve months ago to the day I commentated my third mma show in Hanley thanks to Ross Pointon and it's both humbling and flattering to think how far this has come in that time.

There's nothing on Earth that could make me stop this crusade. The 9-5 may be an essential part of the landscape at the minute but one day it'll be nothing more than a distant memory.

Love always, take care
Ben "Big in Japan" Cartlidge

The Monday Morning Meltdown

John Maguire submits Jamaine Facey at UCMMA 20
Photo by David Lethaby

Monday mornings are always brutal; that's a given.

This morning I walked down the street to the office past the place I sheltered on Friday night to wait until the rain stopped and it seemed like a lifetime ago.

This weekend was my fourth consecutive mma show on a whistle stop tour that took me across continents and capital cities from Shrewsbury to Stockholm to Cardiff and then to London.

This weekend's Ultimate Challenge was one of the craziest events I think I've ever called in my life and I only hope that this Wednesday's Sky broadcast doesn't make me sound like some kind of rabid animal.

Once again thanks to my broadcast buddies Ian "The Machine" Freeman and Rob Nutley who once again showed why they're both true masters of the craft.

This weekend was my fifth UCMMA show and I thought long and hard about how crazy this whole situation is as I drove back home and Alison slept in the front.

Lethaby and I talked for hours on the drive, much obliged by the way as I'd have probably veered off the road, about the show and so many other things in general.

The drive is about 170 miles and the same thing happens every time I do it.

I get out of London ok and, thanks to the rush from commentating, I'm still wider awake than Sonic the Hedgehog on three cans of Ripper but as I get to the M1, I can feel the energy drain out of my system.

I usually manage to get to Northampton Services before I have a cup of tea and a Ginsters Spicy Chicken Slice and some Monster Munch.

I'll be wide awake for the rest of the M1 but usually start to fade by junction 11 on the M6 but, thanks to a cocktail of open windows and local radio, I'll coast over the line at 3 am and head for bed.

I spend Sunday's trying to recuperate, taking out an all you can eat buffet and then collecting my thoughts for the MMAHQ round up of events.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I always remember Monday's being weak but, when you've spent a weekend at a big show, they seem unbearable.

I've not got an mma show now for a week or so but I can't wait until I'm charging up my sat nav, picking some CDs and getting those crazy butterflies once again and I thank every single one of you for reading this and taking the time to say hello.

Until next we speak
Take care
Ben

Superior Challenge 7 - Round Up

Superior Challenge 7 Round Up

Here's exactly how it all went down on Saturday night from Hovet in Stockholm.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible.