It’s multi-man madness time again as we step into the Impact Zone for Total Non-Stop Action’s latest offering, Turning Point, headlined by A.J. Styles defending his World title against long-time rivals Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels, and shown on a three day delay here in Britain on Bravo 2. As usual, Taz and Mike Tenay are handling commentary duties.

The show began with Don West’s number one guy, Amazing Red, defending the X Division title against Homicide. Yep, that’s right, we’ve got an X Division match on pay-per-view that only involves two men. I couldn’t believe it at first either. But anyway, as far as show openers go, it’s very good, with Red and Homicide showing some great chemistry in the ring, and West annoying the hell out of me with his constant shouting, sounding even louder than he did when he was on commentary. This nice little romp came to an end after Red took Homicide out with the code red. Very enjoyable.

The title action continued with The Beautiful People taking on ODB, Taylor Wilde and Sarita, with ODB’s Knockouts and Wilde & Sarita’s Knockouts Tag Team titles on the line. This was another example of just how much this division is missing Angelina Love. While Madison Rayne and Velvet Skye looked good as a team, Love’s replacement Lacey Von Erich didn’t really do anything. The match action was okay, but it wasn’t exactly awe inspiring. No title changes here, as ODB got the pin on Rayne after a big slam.

Sadly, I’m unable to review the next match, which sees the British Invasion defending the Tag Team Championship against Beer Money and the Motor City Machine Guns. Long time readers will know that this is because Nick Aldis, the man behind the Brutus Magnus gimmick, has threatened me with legal action if I say anything against him on the internet, which means that I can’t give any of his matches a truthful review. As I’ve said before, I’m not going to go crawling to the man begging him to withdraw his threat, but if anyone reading this wants me to start reviewing his matches, then just Google him and you’ll find out how to contact him.

Normal service is resumed then with Awesome Kong facing Tara in a cage match. This was a whole lot better than the other Knockouts match on this show. Kong and Tara are definitely the best thing about TNA’s women’s division at the moment, and it showed in this match. Great action throughout as we were treated to the great sight of Tara power bombing Kong off the ropes. The end came when Tara dived off the top off the cage and pinned Kong after what looked like a Lou Thesz press, although Tenay said it was a cross body block.

Six man action followed with Rhino and Team 3D going up against the team of D’Angelo Dinero, Hernandez and Matt Morgan. So when did Team 3D turn heel again? And when did the Pope turn face? You can tell I’m not a regular Impact viewer, can’t you? This one had a good storyline as Dinero tried his best to prove to Morgan and Hernandez that he was a good guy, even taking the bullet for Hernandez by taking 3D’s back suplex/neck breaker combo. This one saw Rhino getting the win after taking Hernandez down with the gore, ending an enjoyable match.

Falls count anywhere, no disqualification action followed with Scott Steiner and Bobby Lashley. This was another of those matches that left me scratching my head a little. From what I saw in the pre-match video package, Lashley had a damn good reason to hate Steiner, which was why the stipulations for this one were added at the last minute. Sadly, this apparent grudge match wasn’t actually that intense. The action was okay, but it was nothing special. There was a nice bit of brawling outside the ring, but if ever a match needed the obligatory brawl through the crowd then it was this one. Steiner took home the win here, pinning Lashley after clobbering him with a metal pipe he’d pulled off the scaffolding near the Spanish announcer’s table.

The match I was really looking forward to was next, as the artist formerly known as Nigel Mc****ss, Desmond Wolfe, took on Kurt Angle. My fellow Brit and former ROH Champion put on a great display here as both men played their part in putting on a technical classic, the kind of match we hardly seem to get on pay-per-view these days. The fans were right about this one, this was awesome, and I really can’t speak too highly about it, as Angle got the win after Wolfe tapped out to an arm triangle. Great work guys.

The main event saw A.J. Styles defending the World title against Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels. If anything this was even better than the previous match, with all three reminding us just how great their matches against each other were four years ago when the X Division title was on the line. Tremendous action throughout, with all three men showing just why they’re so damn great. The end came when Daniels took Joe out with the BME, only for Styles to come out with a 450 splash to break up the pin and take the glory for himself. This was definitely one of the best TNA pay-per-view matches of the year.

In conclusion - well, this year’s edition of Turning Point had it’s good and bad moment. The Knockout titles match and the Steiner/Lashley match did leave a bit to be desired, but thankfully those matches I was allowed to review without the threat of legal action delivered, with the Wolfe/Angle and Styles/Joe/Daniels matches delivering in spades. So in all a good and enjoyable outing from TNA here.

It was time for the Brits to shine again this past Saturday night as the Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to the MEN Arena in Manchester for their latest offering, with Randy Couture and Brandon Vera going at it in the main event of UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera, shown live here in Britain on ESPN, with Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan handling commentary duties.

The broadcast began with Ultimate Fighter 9 lightweight winner Ross Pearson making his UFC debut proper against Aaron Riley. This was a hell of a debut for Pearson, as he put in a dominating performance, controlling the flow of the fight from the beginning, with Riley looking very tentative. Pearson looked great in all aspects, and he probably would have finished the fight himself if the doctors hadn’t stopped it, with Riley having sustained a nasty cut, courtesy of a Pearson flying knee. Good stuff from Pearson here, giving us Brits another fighter to keep an eye on.

Then it was on to James Wilks taking on Matt Brown at welterweight. Wilks looked good to begin with, but as the fight progressed Brown really got into his game, controlling the fight and putting in some nice work. He may well have got the submission win with a triangle in the second round, but the clock was against him. Wilks looked exhausted as the third round started, and it looked like he was about to stage something of a comeback until a sustained ground and pound attack from Brown earned him the TKO win. Another very good fight, with Brown in particular looking great.

Fight three was the proverbial blink and you’ll miss it affair, with Andre Winner facing Rolando Delgado in a lightweight encounter. Delgado went for a few knees and kicks early on, but a big right from Winner sent him crashing to the mat. It wasn’t long before Winner unloaded with the big right hand again, and this one completely knocked Delgado out as he fell to the ground like a sack of spuds, ending a very impressive performance from Winner here.

Britain’s most popular mixed martial artist, Michael Bisping, was up next, looking to get his career back on track as we went up against Denis Kang in a middleweight bout. Kang came into this one with a big reputation, and many people thought that this would be a cake walk for the former Pride star, and he put on a good display in the first round with his ground game. However, Bisping proved to be his equal, quickly shaking off the right hand that had knocked him down to put on a tremendous defensive display. So having been on the defensive in the first round, Bisping went on the offensive in the second, scoring with numerous take downs. When Bisping went for the ground and pound after the second take down, Kang got busted open, and from there you could tell it was only a matter of time, with the referee calling a halt to proceedings when Kang failed to respond to Bisping’s final ground and pound onslaught, earning him the TKO win in what was possibly the best performance of his career.

The second blink and you’ll miss it affair came next, with Alexander Gustafsson facing Jared Hamman in a light heavyweight fight. This one began as a slugfest, but soon saw Hamman down on the mat after a Gustafsson right. Brief ground and pound followed, but Hamman was out of it by the time the referee stepped in. A short but impressive display from Gustafsson here as he earned the TKO win.

The big welterweight fight followed, with Mike Swick facing Dan Hardy for a possible shot at Georges St-Pierre’s title. This may have been the best fight on the night, a great encounter between two fighters looking to get that big fight. Both men put on a good display in an even looking first two rounds, with Hardy really upping his game in the third, showing some good stand-up and ground work. All in all it was a very good fight, with Hardy getting the unanimous decision after three hard fought rounds, and rightfully so. This writer hopes that he gets that well deserved title shot.

The main event saw Randy Couture returning to the light heavyweight division to face a man who had recently gone down there himself, Brandon Vera. To say that the Natural got a great reception would be an understatement. This fight proved to be a little controversial to say the least. Couture’s game plan was to use his wrestling skills against Vera, and this involved controlling his opponent up against the cage. If truth be told, Couture did a good job here, but it was in the third round that many thought Vera had won it, rocking Couture with his punches and causing damage to his ribs with several great kicks. But this just didn’t seem to be enough in the eyes of the judges, with all three giving the fight to Couture, which didn’t sit too well with Vera. Many thought that even though Couture had controlled the majority of the fight, the damage Vera caused in the third was enough to get him the win. And I have to admit, I thought Vera had edged it.

In conclusion - the UFC’s latest foray to this side of the pond proved to be a very good show, and a very good advertisement for how far mixed martial arts has come in this country over the past few years, with Ross Pearson, Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy all putting in great performances. As for the main event decision, well, we’ve had two dodgy main event decisions in a row now. Let’s hope we don’t get another one next weekend.

A little bit later than planned due to health problems (I’ve got an infection in the left side of my jaw! Send get well messages to the usual address), we’re now going to take a look back at the recent Strikeforce/M-1 Global Fedor v Rogers show, shown on Bravo here in Britain on a one day delay. Is the Russian heavyweight really the best MMA fighter in the world?

The show began with heavyweight action, two Brazilians going up against each other with Fabricio Werdum taking on Antonio Silva. This was a great way to start the show. Silva tried to keep the fight upright in the first round, scoring with some good shots as he tried to stay away from Werdum’s ground game. This plan worked well in the first round, but as the fight went on Werdum began to stamp his authority on the fight, taking it to the mat and showing some good ground work. Naturally, the fighters began to tire in the third round, but this didn’t seem to stop their progress, and with the fight going the three round distance, Werdum took the unanimous decision. Nice stuff here, and a very enjoyable fight.

Then it was down to the light heavyweight division, with Gegard Mousasi facing Thierry Sokoudjou. The great fight action continued with this one. Both men looked good in a first round that was fought at a rather frantic pace, and Sokoudjou in particular looked quote impressive. Sadly, the man from Cameroon couldn’t keep his momentum going into the second round, with Mousasi soon getting the win after some good ground and pound work. A nice TKO win for the Dutchman here, but Sokoudjou can also be proud of his efforts in this one.

The third fight saw Jake Shields and Jason Miller fighting it out over the vacant Strikeforce Middleweight title. This was the title that Cung Le recently vacated when he retired, an retirement that hasn’t actually lasted that long, as he’s making a comeback next month. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. We got a tremendous display of ground fighting in this one, as Shields put on a great performance, although his excellent work wasn’t to the liking of the crowd at times, as they rained down a chorus of boos as he went to work. Miller look good as well, but as the fight went on it was obvious that Shields was the better fighter, although he just couldn’t get that final submission move. It really came as no surprise that Shields got the unanimous title winning decision, and although his fighting style wasn’t to everyone’s liking, this was a fine example of how you can get an exciting fight without a big knockout punch of quick submission victory.

The main event saw Russian sensation Fedor Emelianenko facing Brett Rogers. It seemed that everyone thought that Fedor would get a quick and decisive victory in this one, but I guess that Rogers didn’t read the script, especially in the first round when a left hook from the big American bloodied the Russian’s nose. Later on in the round Rogers’ ground and pound almost got him the win, but Fedor eventually escaped, almost getting the win himself with an arm triangle. The decisive moment came in the second, when Fedor’s big right hand sent Rogers crashing down to the ground. A brief moment of ground and pound followed, before the referee quickly stepped in and called a halt to the proceedings, giving Fedor the much anticipated victory, and capping off another fine performance from the Russian.

In conclusion - This is by far the best Strikeforce show I’ve seen, and the best MMA show outside of the UFC I’ve seen this year. Four outstanding fights, and a show that finished on a high note as Fedor got the expected win. But that big question is still waiting to be answered - is Fedor still the best heavyweight fighter of all time? Well, I’m afraid that, for me, this fight didn’t really answer that question. Strikeforce may be giving him a bigger platform, but that question won’t really be answered until he steps in to the UFC cage.

The third in The Valkyrie Chronicles series sees a 24th century descendant of John Hammond enlist the aid of the Ferengi government as he aims to create a new Jurassic Park - but with a difference. However, he doesn't count on the findings of Ambassador Phineas Magus, and the course of evolution.

This book can now be downloaded in PDF form FOR FREE by logging on to www.lulu.com/twosheds316

A vampiric plague, mass amnesia, the destruction of Valhalla and more as the crew of the U.S.S. Valkyrie go up against a villain from Anglo-Force's past.

The second book in The Valkyrie Chronicles series, The Theophilus Wars, sees the crew of the U.S.S. Valkyrie go up against one of Anglo-Force's most powerful enemies, the immortal telepath, Doctor Armand Theophilus, along with his fellow immortal, the mutant, Celsius, and the renegade wizard Droome.

Now this story, originally written in the early 1990's and containing the individual stories The Mysterious Mister Alucard, A Loss of Memory and The Wrath of Theophilus is available to download in one volume, in PDF form for FREE. All you need to do is log onto www.lulu.com/twosheds316.

As always, feedback on this, and any past story, is appreciated, and can be left either on the Lulu website, or via e-mail to julian@twoshedsreview.com.