Post-Moneyberg debrief, thoughts on UFC 319, etc!

What the fuck is up Dennys!

Now that the dust has settled on the Moneyberg video (pending any future lawsuits, anyway), it's time for the usual debrief and look ahead.

So my biggest worry with this video was that after talking all that good shit about Derek's botted view numbers, my video would somehow flop and not be able to scrape 20K views. I am pleased to report Moneyberg will be unable to dunk on me, as at time of writing, it's at almost 90K views which is pretty good all things considered! Honestly Moneyberg is a real niche figure and doesn't have the appeal of say, Seagal or Frank Dux, etc. So it really was a gamble doing this one as there was a better than average chance it could've just sailed under Youtubes radar. But, we can't draw from the well of Dux/Dante/Segal forever, so I saw this one as a bit of a challenge to try and do an expose on someone who, on the surface of it, hasn't done anything that would make for great viewing material. Like, yeah, hes bought a black belt, but this shit is hard to break down to someone who hasn't trained, its not like seeing Ashida Kim levitate or Seagal doing his dance routines, there's nothing inherently funny about seeing him fucking up an omoplata 8 ways from sunday unless youve done one yourself and can see what hes doing wrong, so I was genuinely afraid this thing was going to be 20 minutes long and boring. I guess I should've just assumed that digging into the past of a guy like this was going to unearth comedic gold.

I'm pretty happy with the end result anyway, though there were a few things I wished had turned out differently. The interview with Claudia would have been great to use in its full form, (you didn't hear this from me, but she actually said she was distancing herself from Derek as she "didn't align with his values", but you didn't read that here and if you did, i was just making it up), but even without being able to use it, I had intended to at least play the clip of me talking to her about Moneyberg/my love for the hallway staredown with Joanna. But when i played the clip back, the recording software hadn't recorded anything from my microphone so it was just 2 minutes of silence on video. So unfortunately that whole segment was kind of a bust. I probably could have gotten away with playing her clip, but, I wasn't sure if it was legal, and honestly would've felt like kind of a dick posting it in public if it started beef between her and Derek, and she did seem relatively genuine about her course too, so i though it better to sit on it.

Also, the special guest I had mentioned a few weeks ago, was as some of you had guessed, Super Eyepatch Wolf. Unfortunately despite agreeing to it, we just couldn't get a day to sit down and do it that worked, so that ended up never happening.

I also wrote, re-wrote, scrapped, and started over again the ending segment so many times. I have about 3 or 4 draft endings i didn't use. I honestly struggled with the end of this one harder than any other video. Some endings seemed too whiny, some too self indulgent, I had whole ideas planned to bring my camera to training to get rolling footage of myself, all kinds of ideas that for whatever reason just didn't seem to fit right. I'm happy enough with the ending as it is though, i think it came out well, but yeah i think most of the last week of work on this video just went into those last few minutes.

But anyway! What's next! So this week I'm actually heading off on vacation for a few days. Last year myself and Mrs B went to Portugal, whereupon I proceeded to come down with covid-like symptoms and spent 3 out of 5 days on holiday sick as a dog. So this year we decided on a do over, and booked a stay at the same hotel because what are the odds of another disaster befalling our holiday??

FORESHADOWING IS A NARRATIVE DEVICE

I hope to god everyone in Portugal is safe and well first and foremost. But yeah in theory, we'll be going there next week. Kinda depends on whether or not it's on fire.

At any rate, I will have some time off next week, whether here or in Portugal, and had planned to use the time to have a bit of a think about whats next. The idea of finishing off the lineal saga this year is nice, but my only worry is if i start something like that, will I have time to dive into the end of year video immediately afterward? I'll have a think. But there's a few ideas on the back burner. Nothing definitive yet!

UFC 319

I'd like to actually start reviewing PPV's (or whatever they'll be called on Paramount+... events, or happenings, or somesuch) here for you guys as a kind of bonus content. As always I've left it way too late at night to start writing this so it wont be super in depth or anything but here goes.

UFC 319 STAR RATING: 🩸🩸🩸

I'm using blood droplets because the windows emoji keyboard doesn't appear to just have a regular star emoji which is weird. Anyway, 3 blood droplets out of 5 for 319.

Asakura vs Elliot

As an obvious mark for JMMA, its been crushing to see Kai Asakura get demolished in the UFC. He was so good in Rizin, but the talent level is obviously just that much higher in the UFC as much as it chaps my ass to admit it. They really threw him into the deep end with Pantoja, but I genuinely thought he'd beat Ellliot. I was wrong. The fight itself was fun, and Asakuras striking was excellent throughout, but once Elliot got that first takedown, yeah, the writing was on the wall. Please Asakura, go back to Rizin and just be bantamweight champion of my heart once again.

Page vs Cannonier

MVP is an anomaly. He's like that mashup of Vanessa Carlton and Rage against the machine, it really has no business working at all, but somehow it does. However, while Rage against Vanessa Carlton fucking slaps, MVP somehow manages to make a totally unique and unorthodox style kinda... boring to watch?? Its like most of his fights consist of him just effortlessly dodging punches, and occasionally remembering to land a counter while his opponents keep looking around to see if they're on some prank youtube channel and their inability to hit anything is all an elaborate joke. MVP had a couple of nice moments in this one though, but every one of his fights feels like its just edging you towards the eventual takedown and him getting subbed. Cannonier probably could've finished the fight in round 3 if he'd had some more time to work. Either way, weird fight and every time MVP wins it feels like one of those games of street fighter 4 where id win with 1% health left and be like "yeah easy work".

Prates vs Neal

I knew Prates had more in him than we saw in his fight with Ian Garry. The man was on a 4 fight KO streak, 5 if you include his contender series win, and fucking TEN if you include his pre-UFC career. But Garry has a way of making fights dull and he managed that with Prates. But Prates had been on a tear before that, so that spinning shit elbow KO was a fantastic way to get back in the win column, and his callout of Leon Edwards was really smart. Hopefully it happens.

Murphy vs Pico

Man, bellator and Rizin stars just casually getting murdered in the UFC lately. Those 3 blood droplets out of 5 are there solely because we got to see 2 men suffer whirling murder with back to back spinning shit elbows. If we could harness the power of Prates and Picos spinning shit we could power the entire Sphere setup for the next Noche UFC using renewable spinning shit energy. Incredible KO by Murphy, but that's his first KO since 2021, and I feel like hes another Leon Edwards.

DDP vs Khamzat

Really, was anyone expecting any different? I was rooting for DDP but it was a forlorn kind of rooting, the kind you have when you watch a horror movie you've seen a dozen times yet a tiny part of you wonders "maybe this time they'll survive..". You know they wont, you know they cant, but that glimmer of hope remains.

All of this just makes Usman look better as time goes on. On two weeks notice Usman arguably won that fight, or at least should've forced a draw. DDP spent 25 minutes getting crucified faster than a Nazarene with tourettes. Though, Khamzats stats showed damn near 25 minutes of control time but 0 submission attempts. So this wasnt exactly the most thrilling fight to watch. I dont know if he was playing it a bit safer with the belt on the line, but yeah this was a weird instance of an utterly dominant performance that probably lost him fans.

Shit, its past my bedtime Next time ill start this earlier!!

Thank you again everyone for your support. I hope the moneyberg video was worth the wait, and ill catch you all probably in 2 weeks time as ill (potentially) still be on holidays next sunday!

Just bleed,

Nap