Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) world titles, fruitful opportunities and Lyoto Machida’s drink of choice are all golden. In an effort to maximize continuity, I’ve decided to pair UFC 224 with a beer that fits in the same theme.
Convention would suggest that starting an article with the TL:DR would not be ideal. Pairing craft beer with mixed martial arts (MMA) isn’t a normal thing to do, either, so I say fudge conventional wisdom. UFC 224 features a title fight and another bout with title shot implications on the line. Therefore, a golden ale pairs well with this event. If you’re interested in further explanation why I’m pairing Chaco Canyon Gold by Empyrean Brewing with the next UFC pay-per-view (PPV) offering read on or just click the video above.
UFC 224’s PPV main event features Amanda ‘The Lioness’ Nunes putting her women’s Bantamweight title on the line against Raquel ‘Rocky’ Pennington. Unlike the build up to many UFC title fights in recent history, these two women have been sweet to each other, which you’ll notice in this Instagram post by Tecia Torres. In that vein, Empyrean uses honey in Chaco Canyon to give the unconventional golden ale a noticeable candied flavor.
The winner of the co-main event between ‘Jacare’ Ronaldo Souza and Kelvin ‘On A Mission For Gold’ Gastelum will likely be set up with a title shot against the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero, which takes place at UFC 225 on June 9, 2018. It should go without saying that a potential title shot would be a golden opportunity for either Souza or Gastelum.
Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida — who fights Vitor ‘The Phenom’ Belfort in the PPV opener — is a legend, a dashingly handsome man, an innovator, and someone who famously drinks his own urine. Ordinarily when doing a beer pairing for a Machida fight I would suggest you acquire a 30 pack of your favorite big box beer, because American light lagers resemble urine in both flavor and color. I can’t bring myself to push beer owned by a giant corporation and instead have decided to only suggest a beer that matches the color of Machida’s not-so secret sauce.
This might be the first time I’ve been able to correlate one beer with three separate fights at one event. Although I probably deserve a gold medal for my efforts, I’ll accept the promise that you’ll drink responsibly instead.
Cheers!