Before we dive into Saturday, I need to finish off Friday’s fun. Catch up on my previous post if you have not already.
Friday
After the weigh-ins were finished, I made my way out of the arena with the crowd and headed onto the underground to Bank station, meeting Mick Maynard along the way. A short 10-minute walk right me to the next venue for a meet and greet with Leon Edwards. I told you! I was immersing myself in the full UFC experience. It was meant to start at 6 pm and as I arrived around ten past six, I didn’t think there’d be too long to wait. However, by the time we got into the place, it was a little past 7 o’clock. C’mon Leon!
Waiting in the queue was fine. There were a few young lads on either side, and it was all very cordial, with the occasional joke about how they were going to force us to take a Howler Head t-shirt!
Once inside the venue, they made us wait again so that the upstairs area wasn’t too crowded. Finally, it was our chance to go up and there were samples of the aforementioned Howler Head, which I declined, not being a drinker. My turn came and one of the lovely people took my phone and snapped a few pictures while I had a brief chat with Leon. I say brief because he could not understand my accent. This is funny because he has a very strong Brummie accent, lol. When two great accents collide, you get this…
After leaving there I popped into the nearby M&S for some snacks and headed back to the hotel. It was time to chill as I had been on the go since 5 am.
Event Day
Waking up on Saturday morning brought a sense of excitement I haven’t had for ages! Today was the day. I got ready and headed out into Shoreditch high street for a wander and some breakfast. I made the mistake of not putting a blister plaster on my little right toe which had a previous blister and ended up with sore feet. After breakfast, I decided to go back to the hotel for another quick shower, a change of outfit, and to head to the venue. Yep. Two showers in one morning were called for. The weather was beautiful and hot, and my Scottish body was not used to it.
A quick train ride took me to the O2 around 1.45 pm. I had arranged to meet with Amber and Troy at about 2.45 so had a stroll around the shopping area. I was just seeking sanctuary (and air-conditioned air) from the baking sun. The venue wasn’t that busy yet but outside people were starting to mill around.
After a mosey around the shops and a toilet break, I made my way outside to our meeting place, the big red UFC sign. A steady queue of people was getting their pictures taken along with a bunch of guys filming vlogs. I had seen that group of lads the previous day at the weigh-ins. As I took refuge from the sun under a large canopy, I saw Amber walk to the sign and so made my way across. I was a bit nervous meeting her at first, but she is lovely and as we’d been chatting on messages for a while, it didn’t feel awkward at all. We took pictures in front of the sign, and it was only a short minute before Tory and then Nim and his wife came along too. ‘Group shot in front of the sign’ time. Then we made our way to get food.
After a lovely chat and a tasty meal with Amber and Troy, it was time for us to go into the venue. I was thrilled!
Entering through security I headed up the escalator to my section, 111, grabbing a drink before I went to my seat. £8.40 for a Pepsi and water! Ok, O2. But ‘yer on yer holidays’ as my mum says so I paid my dues and made my way to my seat. The first fight on the early prelims had begun - Claudio Silva V Nicolas Dalby - and I heard a roar go up as I walked through the door. After watching UFC for years on TV, I was finally here. What a spectacle. What an amazing view. I will not buy seats up in the gods. I would rather pay that little bit extra for a fabulous view, and that’s what I got.
I sat down in row M, sorted my drinks, and settled back for a fun night of fights. Inside I was dancing! The arena was busy for the first fight of the night, I remember thinking. It was a victory for Dalby, he seemed popular with the audience.
Office for the night.
A short while later Amber and Troy came to join me so we could watch a few fights together until people started taking their proper seats. A couple of fights took place and whilst they weren’t barn burners by any stretch of the imagination, I was just thankful they weren’t 55-second first-round knockouts! I had not paid all this money to barely see any real action. The fourth fight of the night was Muhammad Mokaev, a young guy with tremendous potential, fighting out of Manchester, England by way of Dagestan, Russia (if you did not say this in your best Bruce Buffer voice, you are banned!) :) Anyway, he won his fight. This is his second fight in the UFC, and he’s got huge potential. A couple more fights went by without too much incident.
Then next up was Nathaniel Wood. I was thinking in the last few months I hadn’t seen him for a while, then on checking the fight card, I noticed he was on it. Bonus. By this time, the arena had much more bodies in it and a good atmosphere was brewing. Wood’s opponent, Charles Rosa, came out and was pacing up and down the octagon with a snarl on his face. Then a huge beat dropped, and Wood made his way to the octagon. His walkout song was brilliant, by the way. I Shazamed it when I got home, and it’s been my soundtrack on car journeys ever since.
Nathaniel and Charles put on a great fight and the crowd was into it. Wood won another decision on the night.
There were two more fights on the prelims and around about this time I discovered I was in the wrong seat! I should have been at the other end of the row. I knew I had an end side, just the wrong side. The fellas were nice about the mistake and as Amber and Troy made their way to their own seats, I took mine. By luck, my view was still tremendous, and I sat beside a group of four Scottish guys who were friendly.
Main Event of the Evening!
Once the prelims were over, it was time for the main event. I would say there was about a five to ten-minute break while they did the TV intros. I could see Felder, Bisping, and the wonderful John Gooden in front and slightly to my left excitedly talking to the cameras, with bright lights on their faces. A video was played on the giant screens above the arena, but I was determined to watch the action in the octagon. Once the video intro package was done, the music came on and it was tiiiiime!! Time for the first fight on the main card - Paul Craig V Volkan Ozdemir (light heavyweights). For those that don’t know, Paul Craig is from Scotland, and I think he’s a fan favourite. I’d actually seen him at the Fort shopping area about a month previous. I wouldn’t mess with him! There were certainly a lot more Scottish flags being waved in the now full arena. It’s always a journey watching a Paul Craig fight. He can be beaten for the first 12 minutes and then come back by contorting his body into a weird shape and breaking someone’s arm. I’m sure there’s a technical phrase for it! He was doing ok in the first round, but it was clear that Ozdemir posed a bigger threat than previous opponents. He gave us a good showing though and lost by decision. I was still proud.
Next up was Liverpool’s Molly McCann. Arguably one of the reasons many people bought tickets based on the March ‘22 event here. Her opponent was from USA so you can imagine the crowd. But when Molly’s walkout music began, everyone stood. People were loving it. Me, I would have preferred a more pumping walkout song. I couldn’t really hear it. But when she got inside that cage, the crowd was roaring. Of course, she won and everyone went wild. She had a good post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. Commenting that it was amazing that a place was filled and cheering on a female athlete. You go, girl!! Then she finished with a rendition of duh duh duh duh f*ck the tories! ha! Brilliant.
Next up was Nikita Krylov V Alexander Gustafsson (light heavyweights). AG is a legend, and he hadn’t fought for a couple of years. Krylov is a very decent up-and-coming fighter. It wasn’t to be Alexander’s night as Krylov knocked him out in the first round with just over a minute on the clock. I felt sad for him but glad that I’d seen someone who has perhaps one of the best fights ever in the UFC.
The pacing of the card was quick. No sooner had Gus left the cage than the music played indicating the next fighter would walk out. This was the people’s main event, and probably the main reason people bought tickets.
Paddy Pimblett V Jordan Leavitt (lightweights). WOW! Leavitt came out and because there had been a bit of banter between the two of them the crowd reaction was like that of a MacRobert Arts Centre Christmas pantomime villain. For Paddy, well he got the blackout treatment. The arena went dark and mobile phones were held up like twinkling stars in an inky night-time summer sky. His now famous walkout music started, and the anticipation was palpable. I glanced up at the screen to catch sight of him. Before long he was out, dancing along and waving his hands in the air. You can see why he’s a star, even if some things he says are a bit questionable. But I can’t knock him.
As soon as he was in that cage it was like a switch was turned on and he was focused. The Baddy was in fight mode. The first round saw him in a tiny bit of trouble once or twice, but he made it out. Round two he seemed a bit more on it, and with 2:46 on the clock, he got a submission win. The crowd went wild. Wilder even than those in the section directly across from me who seemed to have started a fight on their own. Who even does that?! Anyway, Paddy won and in his post-fight interview, he gave one of the most heart-wrenching speeches ever, about men’s mental health and talking about his friend who’d committed suicide and he’d found out on Friday morning whilst cutting weight. As this is predominantly a male-dominated sport, it was a very good message to put out to this crowd. British men don’t like talking about how they really feel for fear of saving face. This was a very important message for this particular audience.
People would rather — I know I would rather — my mate cry on my shoulder rather than go to his funeral next week. - Paddy Pimblett.
Over the sound system came that first few notes of You’ll Never Walk Alone and he made his way out of the octagon in tears. (I just got a lump in my throat thinking about it again). He was emotional, I was emotional, and those guys around me were emotional but everyone was singing along. This was when I knew my new Scottish friends were Celtic fans. They were belting it out. :) It was loud. Not quite 52,000 at Celtic Park on a European night loud, but it was decent.
I felt like the night could have ended perfectly there. But we still had two fights to go. This should have been Liverpool’s Darren Till V Jack Hermansson. Due a Till injury, we got Jack Hermansson V Chris Curtis. Curtis walked out to Sweet Caroline which brought the crowd back up again after the emotions of the last few minutes. I know some people don’t like the song. You’re all wrong. It has family parties, family weddings, karaoke tune, and crowd favourite written all over it. People like it for the memories. Unlike the fight, which saw a decision win by Jack Hermansson. I like this guy. He smiles all the time and is decent.
Finally, the time came for the main event. Tom Aspinall V Curtis Blaydes. It was running about 40 minutes late at the point. This would be Tom’s ‘toughest test yet’ but he’s given a good showing of himself so far in the UFC being on a 5 fight win streak (in the UFC). He walked out first, which I thought was a bit odd given it was his home crowd but I suppose Curtis is the higher-ranked fighter so… Being someone who loves a good walkout song I don’t really like Move on up by Curtis Mayfield. It’s ok but not catchy and not a sing-along-song. But it was kinda special seeing all six foot five of Tom Aspinall bounce on the soles of his feet in the cage while Curtis walked out. Bruce Buffer gave his now incredibly famous main event introduction and you bet I recorded every single second of that on my phone. Gotta keep it for the memory bank.
Announcements over, the ref Herb Dean called them both to the middle for last-minute hugs and encouragement. He waved them to start the fight and it was going fine, for fifteen seconds, before Tom kicked and then fell back onto the ground, gripping his leg. He’d clearly injured himself. The crowd gasped and groaned, and the lights came up. How utterly devasting for him and his corner. The doctors and medics worked on him and you couldn’t really tell what had actually happened but soon after the crowd started making their way to the exits. I stayed for a few minutes before deciding that I’d better try to get to the train before it got too busy. I was anxious about walking back to my hotel, alone, in London. I needn’t have been. It was mobbed at North Greenwich station but all very cordial. We all got on a train within ten minutes and I had an overground connection at Canada Water to Shoreditch High Street. My pals on the Ringer MMA podcast kept me company as I made my way home.
Arriving back at the hotel just before midnight, I was starving, high on the occasion, and extremely tired. Room service had finished so I made myself tea and ate the remainder of a bag of salt n vinegar crisps.
It was a wonderful event for me. Yes, I’ve seen the criticisms of the prelims not being up to much, but those people give it their all in that octagon and I was glad there weren’t first-round finishes galore. At least I got my money’s worth.
Were you there? What did you think? Who is next for Paddy? All extremely exciting.
I’ve saved some footage on my Instagram stories and feed. Have a look!
AngelaHgns Instagram - UFC London highlight
And if you got this far, thanks for reading.
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Such a great breakdown of your UFC experience Angela.👏👏😊💯🙌🙌✊😊So happy for you. 👏👏✊🙌😊🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽👍🏽💕😊
Loved the read!