The Roast of Kevin Hart and UFC 328: Chimaev vs. Strickland

My wife and I went to see The Roast of Kevin Hart live in the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA. Our seats were to the side closer to the top, and there was a spotlight that was hard to avoid. Also, there were some people in front of us vaping, which did not sit well with my wife. The event though was a mixed, with some guest stars like Tom Brady, Lizzo, and The Rock. The announced stars included Pete Davidson, Tony Hinchcliffe, Chelsea Handler, Sheryl Underwood, Draymond Green, Jeff Ross, and Regina Hall with Shane Gillis as the host. Some of these jokes were funny, but others just were not particularly funny. My wife and I watch a good amount of standup comedy these days, and one thing that we are cautious about is political jokes. The ones that do not land for us tend to be ones that are just mean-spirited insults or pure political commentary. Also, there was a good amount of dark humor here that was hit or miss. Some of the stars had tragedy strike their loved ones. One problem that I found is that, regardless of if one feels it is tasteful or not, the tragedy itself is the joke or punchline, which is just not funny to me. If they are to go that direction, then at least make comedy derived from the tragedy and not make the tragedy itself the comedy. It was neat though seeing stars like Kevin Hart live.

I also watched UFC 328: Chimaev vs. Strickland over the weekend. Admittedly, there was a good amount of hype for this UFC card. Strickland and Chimaev were getting pretty heated during the buildup to the fight. Then, the fight happens, and they start fist-bumping and just being friendlier than what many thought they would be. The outcome of the fight itself was an upset with Sean Strickland defeating Khamzat Chimaev to regain the UFC Middleweight Title. Chimaev did some unusual things like pull guard in the second round and not shoot for a takedown in some rounds after having a vintage performance in the first round. In the co-main event, Joshua Van defeated Tatsuro Taira to retain the UFC Flyweight Title in a very fun fight. Taira got beat up badly by Van but kept pushing forward. However, he ate one-too-many shots and eventually lost by TKO. Many were doubting Van, but he really showed why he is champion with that fight. Other fights were good with a good amount of submission victories from the likes of Bobby Green, Jim Miller, Yaroslav Amosov and others. Overall, it was a very good night of fights.