Mixed martial arts is on the agenda again as we take a look at the latest offering from Ultimate Challenge UK, Dynamite, held at the Troxy in London and shown on a three day delay on Sky Sports here in Britain. The show was hosted by O.J. Borg and Dave O’Donnell, with Andy Walker and Rob Nutley handling commentary duties.

The broadcast began with welterweight action, and Alberto Mina facing Edgelson Lua for the Welterweight title. Two good performances in this relatively short fight, with Lua looking good as he defending Mina’s early take down attempts. It wasn’t long before Mina got his wish though, as he took Lua down to the ground and showed some great transitions before he locked in an arm bar for the submission victory. Nice way to kick off the show.

The welterweight action continued with former Ultimate Fighter contestant Dean Amasinger taking on Scott Jansen. Amasinger looked tremendous here, quickly taking Jansen down and getting side control. Seconds later he had the win, courtesy of an arm triangle. The time, just forty-four seconds. Very good performance from Amasinger here, even though I forgot to use my blink and you’ll miss it affair line.

Then it was down to the lightweight division as Abdul Mohammad faced Jason Young. This proved to be another enjoyable fight. Both men had their moments in the first fight on the show to make it past the first round, but as time went on Young began to assert himself more. With the fight going the three round distance, the judges were called on to make their decision, and they gave their respective nods to Young. A decision you definitely couldn’t argue with.

The usually watchable Tom “Kong” Watson was up next, defending his middleweight title against Denniston Sutherland. This was the second fight to go the distance, and although it featured some good action, it just seemed to lack that certain something, that little spark that usually make Watson fights great. Both men just seemed to cancel each other out, which was probably why the judges gave a split decision to Watson.

The main event featured the Goliath himself, Neil Grove, defending his Heavyweight title against Martin Thompson. Young Thompson looked dwarfed the massive Grove, and the champion used his size advantage to good effect, dropping Thompson with a big right hand before delivering the coup de grace with the ground and pound, knocking his man out. The referee wisely stepped in, giving Grove the title retaining win in just fifty-three seconds, giving us viewers our second blink and you’ll miss it affair of the night. See, I did manage to get that line in!

In conclusion - four out of five great fights made for a good showing, and another example of how Ultimate Challenge UK is the leading lights in British mixed martial arts at the moment. And you know what the great thing about this show was? Absolutely no mention of Katie Price and Alex Reid, proving that Dave O’Donnell and his crew don’t need to turn their product in a circus sideshow to draw in the punters. Nice work Dave.

The busy pay-per-view period continues, and this time it’s World Wrestling Entertainment’s turn, with a new name - Bragging Rights - as members of the Raw and Smackdown rosters try to see just who is best, as well as the Undertaker and Randy Orton defending their respective titles. Sadly, Jim Ross is still indisposed, so Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Todd Grisham are handling commentary duties.

The show began with the first of the tournament matches, with Raw’s United States Champion The Miz facing off against Smackdown’s Intercontinental Champion John Morrison in a non-title affair. To say that this was a good way of starting the show would be an understatement. A good background story was backed up by a very good showing from the two former Tough Enough contestants. It featured good solid action with plenty of near falls, and Miz getting the win after pushing Morrison off the top rope, just as he was about to take Miz out with the starship pain. Good stuff, with Raw going one up in the series.

Tournament match two saw the Divas in action, with Smackdown’s Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix and Natalya against Raw’s Melina, Gail Kim and Kelly Kelly. Another good encounter here. I was really impressed with the exchanges between Beth and Gail. WWE just seems to be missing the boat with the former TNA Knockouts Champion. But anyway, Kelly was the proverbial punching bag in this one, before we got the obligatory mass brawl, and Beth pinning Melina after slamming her face first into the mat. See, these Divas can have some good matches sometimes!

Then it was on to the Undertaker, defending his World title against three former champions, Rey Mysterio, C.M. Punk and Batista in fatal four way action. This one began at a rather frantic pace, but slowed down a little when the two big men began to duke it out. There were plenty of near falls, with each one being broken up, and it looked like anyone could win this, until the dead man finally got the pin after taking Batista out with the tombstone. The animal was none too pleased though, as his little buddy Mysterio had broken up his pin attempt just moments before. You kind of knew that something as going to happen when Josh Matthews got into the ring to interview Mysterio and Batista after the match. Batista flipped, blaming his “best friend” for his loss, before beating the hell out of him. So I guess the big guy is a hated heel now then. Oh, and the match wasn’t too bad either.

The final tournament match saw Raw’s D-Generation X, the Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry and Kofi Kingston face Smackdown’s Chris Jericho, Kane, Matt Hardy, Finlay, R-Truth and the Hart Dynasty. This one certainly lived up to the hype, and I just loved the exchanges between Finlay and Michaels. Tremendous action throughout, with the Big Show turning on his team-mates, and costing them the match, choke slamming Kingston off the top rope, and then taking Triple H out with the big right, leaving his tag team partner Jericho to mop things up by pinning Kofi. Good, dramatic stuff.

The final match saw Randy Orton defend the WWE title against John Cena in an anything goes sixty minute iron man match. This was promoted as the final encounter between these two long-time rivals, and as with the previous matches on this show it certainly delivered. This was by far the best and most dramatic match these two have had this year. You had double pins, submissions, finishers countered with finishers, the champion attempting to blow the challenger up, a brawl through the crowd, and the destruction of the announcer’s table. With just a minute or so left, both men were tied at five decisions each, before Cena locked on the STF again, and with just five minutes left, Orton tapped, giving Cena the one fall lead and the title win. I really hope that this is the end of their rivalry, because I don’t think that they can top this effort.

In conclusion - a really enjoyable show. There wasn’t one bad match here, however, if they’re going to make this Raw v Smackdown encounter an annual thing, how about tweaking the concept a little? Why not make every match a Raw v Smackdown encounter? Why not have the WWE Champion face the World Champion? Why not end the show with a 5-on-5 match? While we’re at it, why not make that a War Games match? It would certainly make for a slightly more interesting show, wouldn’t it?

It’s time to step into the world of mixed martial arts again, with two Brazilian greats in the former of Lyoto “Dragon” Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua battling out for the UFC Light Heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 104: Machida v Shogun, shown live here in Britain on ESPN, and featuring Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan on commentary.

As is the custom, ESPN joined Spike in America for the free preliminary bouts, beginning with a heavyweight battle between Antoni Hardonk and Pat Barry. This proved to be a good way of beginning the evening’s proceedings. Barry got accidentally poked in the eye in the first round, which somewhat worried him a little as the round went on, although these worries seemed to have been put aside as the fight progressed. By the end of the first he was on top, and in the second he looked great, knocking Hardonk down with a right. The referee stepped in when Barry went for the ground and pound, giving him the TKO win. Nice work by Barry, although Hardonk must take some credit for his bright start. But then again, perhaps Barry’s inadvertent eye injury worried him a little as well.

ESPN, in their infinite wisdom, came back from the first commercial break late, missing the beginning of the Stefan Struve/Chase Gormley fight, so the next full fight they showed was Ryan Bader versus Red Schafer at light heavyweight. This developed into a nice back and forth battle, with both fighters putting in a good performance, and the second eye poke of the evening when Bader took one in the face. This didn’t inhibit Bader in any way though, although Shafer also had his share of punishment, sustaining a cut over his eye after an accidental clash of heads while on the ground. This didn’t stop them from putting on a good fight, with Bader winning the unanimous decision, and rightfully so, although the judges’ decision making abilities would be questioned later in the evening.

On to the main show, with Anthony Johnson taking on Yoshiyuki Yoshida in the welterweight division. Well, it was meant to be at welterweight, but Johnson had problems making the weight. He still put in a hell of a performance, showing fast hand speed, putting Yoshida on the back foot, and knocking him down with a big right. Thankfully the referee quickly stepped in to save Yoshida from further punishment. This was a good outing from Johnson, and when our esteemed commentators said that Johnson’s walking around weight was normally around 220, I began to think that middleweight would be a better division for him.

Joe “Daddy” Stevenson against Spencer “King” Fisher at lightweight was up next. Both fighters started well here, although it wasn’t long before Fisher sustained a cut over his right eye. Both men looked good in all aspects, until that critical moment in the second round when Stevenson took side control on the ground and trapped both of Fisher’s arms. From there he was able to deliver a sustained ground and pound attack, and with Fisher unable to defend himself, he soon tapped out. A very good performance from Stevenson here. If he keeps this up he’ll soon get a shot at the lightweight title.

Then it was up to the middleweight division, with Yushin Okami facing Chael Sonnen. The second fight of the evening to go the three round distance found Sonnen in dominating form, outfighting the Japanese star in almost every aspect. Sonnen looked tremendous here, although Okami did manage a kimura attempt in the third, although he soon released that particular hold when Sonnen let loose with a series of punches to the body. It really came as no surprise when Sonnen got the unanimous decision, concluding a nice evening’s work for the middleweight contender.

There were more weight problems in the next fight between Josh Neer and Gleison Tibau. This one should have been contested at lightweight, but with both fighters failing to make the weight, they decided to go ahead with it anyway. This fight followed a particular pattern - Tibau would score with a big take down, and, more often than not, Neer would get straight back up. It certainly looked spectacular to begin with, but after a while it began to look a bit repetitive. But in the end these take downs earned Tibau the unanimous judges decision. The fight may have been over a little sooner though had Tibau done a bit more work on the ground.

The co-main event saw heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez taking on fancied contender Ben Rothwell. Well, he was a fancied contender going into this fight. Cain put in a devastating and dominating performance, and no matter what Rothwell did, he just didn’t seem to have any answer for the new rising star of the heavyweight division, so it came as no surprise that Cain got the win here, although the manner in which he got it was a little controversial. As Cain unloaded with a barrage of blows against the fence, Rothwell began to get to his feet. It was then that the referee stepped in, putting a stop to the fight and giving Cain the TKO win. Rothwell was none too happy, and although he had a point about the timing of the stoppage, it was pretty obvious that Cain had the beating of him.

Then it was on to the main event, with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua challenging Lyoto Machida for the UFC Light Heavyweight title. To say that this fight was a tad controversial would be a slight understatement. Shogun put in a tremendous performance here, working over Machida time and time again with a series of leg kicks, bruising up his ribs and both of his legs, and although Machida himself got in some good kicks, it looked like Shogun had the beating of him. It was a hard fought, five round battle, and by the end Machida had the look of a beaten champion. However, the judges saw it differently, as they gave Machida the unanimous decision. Needless to say that I wasn’t the only one who wondered just what fight the judges had been watching. Shogun looked unbeatable in this fight, and Machida looked the shadow of his usual self.

The show finished with the aforementioned heavyweight battle between Stefan Struve and Chase Gormley. This proved to be a nice little battle that looked like it could go either way, until Struve applied an arm triangle for the submission win. At least we fans here in Britain got to see this one in full!

In conclusion - while UFC 104 will go down as another excellent show, it will always be remembered for the controversial decision in the main event. Shogun proved that he was back to his best after his recent injury problems, and he clearly should have won the fight and the UFC Light Heavyweight title. Kudos to Dana White though, for ordering an immediate re-match. Let’s just hope that they get some judges who actually watch the fight next time!

It’s multi-man madness time again, as Total Non-Stop Action travelled to California for their biggest show of the year, Bound for Glory, headlined by Sting challenging A.J. Styles for the TNA World title, and shown on a three day delay here in Britain on Bravo 2, with Mike Tenay and Taz handling commentary duties.

The show began with Amazing Red, now apparently managed by former commentator Don West, defending the X Division title against Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Suicide, Homicide and Christopher Daniels in an Ultimate X match. It’s the usual X division fare hear, plenty of fast paced action and numerous high spots with those concerned throwing each other all over the place, which was very entertaining in it’s own way. Once again Daniels looked the pick of the crop here, with his battle with Suicide atop the X structure the highlight of the match. It didn’t get either of them the win though. Red had followed them up to the top, and after they’d taken each other out, he climbed down through the structure and claimed the belt, retaining his title in the process. Nice action throughout, and a good way to open the show.

Things went downhill a little as Taylor Wilde and Sarita defended the Knockouts Tag Team titles against the Beautiful People, now with Lacey Von Erich in their corner. This was basically the same kind of match they had last month, even down to the referee bit at the beginning, although that was obviously changed a little, this time with old Earl Hebner applying a lip-lock to Lacey before sending her to the back. The ending was just the same though, with Taylor getting the pin on Madison with a bridging back suplex after Sarita had taken her out with a drop kick off the ropes. Come on guys, if you’re going to give us the same match two months in a row, at least come up with a different ending!

The title action continued with Kevin Nash defending the Legends title against Eric Young and Hernandez, with Young promising to give Nash a big wad of cash if he could take Hernandez out. So you’ve got one wrestler putting a bounty on another. Haven’t heard that before, have we? Anyway, Nash and Young doubled up on big Super Mex, with the big guy once again showing some great moves, before old EY double-crossed Big Sexy. As he was about to power bomb Hernandez, Young pushed him into Nash’s nether region, before pinning the champion to win the title. It was okay, but it could have delivered a lot more.

Sadly, I cannot review the next match, the TLC or whatever it was match featuring Booker T & Scott Steiner, the British Invasion, Beer Money and Team 3D, with both the TNA and IWGP Tag Team titles on the line. If you recall, Nick Aldis, the man behind the Brutus Magnus gimmick, has threatened me with legal action if I say anything negative against him on the internet, and as Mr. Aldis has still failed to withdraw his threat, I’m still unable to say anything about his TNA performances, which I feel is a great shame. But as I’ve said before, I’m not going to send him an e-mail begging him to withdraw his threat. However, I’m not going to stop anyone else from doing this. (His website address is www.gladiator-oblivion.com, wink wink.)

Normal service is resumed with the fifth title match in a row, with ODB defending her Knockouts title against Awesome Kong and Tara. Taz made a good point before this match started - why is a spider getting it’s own ring introduction. Anyway, this was a nice little match, with good exchanges throughout, Tara fighting with a woman in the crowd (that woman looked like a natural by the way), and Raisha Saeed costing her big buddy the match, throwing a chair into the ring that Kong just didn’t want to use, which ODB later used by driving her face first into it, getting the title retaining pin. One question though - ODB did this right in front of the referee - so why wasn’t she disqualified?

Finally, it was on to non-title action, with Samoa Joe facing Bobby Lashley in a submission match. This turned out to be a rather exciting encounter, and some good submission exchanges early on, and both men putting in a good effort, with Lashley getting the win with what looked like an arm triangle. No tap out from Joe here though, as the referee stopped the match.

The Monsters Ball match pitting Abyss against Mick Foley, with Dr. Stevie as the special referee, was next. This was another of those okay matches, although it could have been a whole lot more. Big Abyss took the big bump early on, falling off the entrance way scaffold through the stage after a series of punches from Foley. Later, Stevie was taken out a couple of times, Daffney went through a barbed wire board, Foley used the taser on Abyss, before the masked man got the pin by choke-slamming Foley onto another barbed wire board, using Stevie’s limp arm to make the count. Okay, some of the bumps were good, but still, this just seemed to be lacking that certain something.

Then came the sleeper match, with big Matt Morgan facing Kurt Angle. This was a lot better than I expected it to be, with some good back and forth action, plenty of near falls, and both men putting in great performances, before Angle got the winning pin with a victory roll. This was definitely the match of the night for me, and a nice show of sportsmanship at the end with Angle shaking Morgan’s hand.

Not even the main event could top that, as Sting challenged A.J. Styles for the TNA World title. This proverbial battle of the generations was great, with Sting putting in his best performance for ages, and Styles looking as great as always. So we had good action throughout, and again, plenty of near falls, until the finish came out of nowhere, with Styles taking Sting down with a pele kick from the ring apron, and getting the pin after a splash off the top rope. Styles didn’t celebrate in the ring afterwards though, as he called Sting back to the ring. The icon didn’t announce his retirement as everyone expected though, saying that he could stay in TNA forever. A good match, but the quick finish kind of spoiled it a little for me.

In conclusion - once again the boys and girls of TNA have given their fans a mixed offering. While some matches were very good, others weren’t that good, and others just left me scratching my head, because they could have delivered so much more. But then again, that’s TNA for you I’m afraid, and you have to take the good with the bad.

It’s time to step into the mixed martial arts world again, and this time we’re going to take a look at the debut show of British promotion Martial Arts Partnership Promotions UK, and their debut show The Champions, filmed by A1 Productions and held at the Cedar Court Hotel in Leeds back in May 2008, with a massive thirteen fights on the card.

The show began with Kevin Coop facing Alfas Miah. This proved to be a very enjoyable contest, but sadly it had a rather unfortunate ending. After putting in a very good performance, Coop connected with what looked like an inadvertent low knee. After a few moments it was deemed that Miah was unable to continue, with the MC saying that it was due to a blow to the head, which did confuse me a little. The fight was therefore ruled a no contest, which was a shame, because Coop would probably have won, given his performance here.

Fight two saw Dave Kettlewell taking on Chris Noon. Two rounds of great action here, with numerous take downs, reversals and submission attempts. Both men put on a good showing, impressing this particular writer. The end came in the last minute of the second round. Noon slammed Kettlewell close to the corner, with Kettlewell verbally submitting almost instantly, ending a nice little fight, with Noon just edging it for me performance wise.

Declan Williams against Oobie Rahman was next. This one was fought at a frantic pace, with Williams getting the first take down, Rahman countering, Williams countering him, and so on, and just over a minute into the fight Williams scored with another take down, locking on a guillotine choke with Rahman duly tapped out to. Not quite a blink and you’ll miss it affair, but good action nonetheless.

Then came the only fight of the show to go the two round distance, with Qasim Shafiq going up against Peter Lynch. Shafiq put in a tremendous performance here, seemingly able to take Lynch down at will, and almost getting the win with a kimura attempt that seemed to last for an age. It was pretty much the same for the entire fight, although Lynch took Shafiq’s back briefly, but didn’t really do anything. Shafiq took the unanimous judges decision for his display of dominance, and rightfully so.

Things returned to normal with the next fight, Neema Hashima against Bryan O’Connor. Hashima showed some good skill here, with some crisp-looking transitions, before locking in a triangle choke for the submission win. Nice stuff from Hashima here.

The next fight was a back and forth affair between Shadu Ali and Lee Jones. Both fighters showed some good skill with their striking and submission attempts, with Jones clearly winning the first round, and Ali really upping his game in the second, applying an arm bar early on in the round for the submission win, tapping off a nice comeback, and ending a very good fight.

Philip Hoban and Chris Jones (not sure if he’s any relation to Lee) almost went into the second round. Hoban was the dominating force here, working well on the ground, first getting the mount for some ground and pound, before transitioning to side control for a couple of submission attempts. Jones looked utterly helpless at times, and just thirteen seconds before the end of the round Hoban locked in a triangle choke, with Jones quickly tapping. A great performance from Hoban here. Jones didn’t really get a look in at all.

Tom Cunnington versus Pete Hill was the first blink and you’ll miss it affair of the night, and it had a rather strange beginning. As Hill entered the ring he took off his fight shorts, wanting to fight in his underwear. Of course, the referee was having none of that, and ordered him to put his shorts on again. This little exchange lasted longer than the fight. Hill got a quick take down and immediately went for an arm bar. Cunnington soon tapped. A nice performance from Hill here, but what was the deal with his underwear?

Andy Reid against Scott McClellan was just a few seconds longer than the previous fight. It was also a rather odd fight. Reid began with a kick before a right knocked McClellan down. The referee checked McClellan, and the fight continued. Then another quick right sent McClellan back down. McClellan promptly got up, and a third right promptly sent him down again, with the referee calling a halt to proceedings at the thirty-two second mark. I’m really not sure what to make of this one.

The fight number reached double figures with Tom Widnieski facing Steve Martin. (No, it’s not THAT Steve Martin). Widnieski was another of those fighters who dominated his opponent, able to transition at will. There was a brief stand up, but they soon went back down to the ground, with Widnieski going for a couple of kimura, and getting the submission at the second attempt in a really impressive outing.

Marcin Gorzala against Nathan Joseph was next. Another fight that went into the second round, the only thing of note to happen in the first was when the referee warned Joseph for kneeing Gorzala in the head while they were in the north/south position, and it was from that particular position that Gorzala got the win, unloading with a series of punches to Joseph’s mid-section, and when Joseph failed to respond to this attack, the referee stepped in and stopped the fight, giving the TKO win to Gorzala. This was an okay fight, but it was the first time I’d seen someone get a TKO victory from the north/south position.

The penultimate fight saw Danny Carr face Niko Gjorka. Round one began with a quick exchange of blows, before Gjorka attempted a guillotine choke that seemed to last for ages. Not even a slam from Carr could get him to break the hold. Eventually Carr did, and he came back strongly in the second round, getting the win with a rear naked choke. This was a very exciting fight, and the fight of the night for me.

The main event saw Dave Hirst against Richard Taylor. Hirst put in a good little performance here, getting the take down after a clinch in the corner, and quickly moving to side control so he could lock in a side choke for the submission win.

DVD extras come on the form of a highlight reel, set to the tune of Queen’s classic “We Are The Champions”, and still photos from the event.

In conclusion - in case you haven’t guessed already, I really enjoyed this DVD. While I wasn’t exactly familiar with any of the fighters on show here, I was really impressed with some of the dominating performances here. It’s another case that if you scratch below the surface of the top MMA companies here in Britain, you may find something you like. So this DVD comes highly recommended.

With thanks Tom Tailford of A1 Productions for supplying a copy of this release. If you would like to purchase a copy of MAPP UK The Champions, visit either www.mappuk.com or www.fight-factory.co.uk for more details.