UFC Betting Sites – The Best MMA Online Bookies

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

It’s only been a few days since Devin Haney’s shocking upset loss to Ryan Garcia (watch here), which saw “King” drop Haney multiple times en route to a decision victory. In the immediate aftermath, Haney’s team issued a brief statement that he “fought like a champion” and did not suffer a rumored broken jaw.

Given a few days to process, however, Haney has taken to social media to request a rematch. According to Haney, Garcia’s substantial weight miss was a factor in his loss, and he still wants a fair fight.

“First off I wanna say … Alhamdulillah Allah is the perfect planner and I trust his plan no matter what,” Haney wrote. “I came up short but this boxing, and if anyone knows me they know that I am a true competitor, and always wanted to test my skills against the best fighters in the world.

“Ryan, despite the circumstances was victorious that night and that’s fine. I do feel like weight played a role in it but only Allah knows. I would love to run it back and give the fans a FAIR fight within an agreed weight.”

Famously, Haney and Garcia fought as amateurs six times, evenly splitting their contests. Given their history, massive payouts, and a legitimate gripe regarding the weight miss, Haney theoretically has a solid chance at scoring another professional bout versus Garcia. However, Garcia is interested in moving up in weight class, which could be an issue, and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya outright shut down his request in the comments.

“Good luck with Eddie but there will not be a rematch,” De La Hoya wrote. “Good luck in your career and good luck with Eddie a European promoter trying to make it in the US.”

Insomnia

This crusty 2013 clip has me fully convinced Sean O’Malley is the man to beat Garcia. Zero doubt! Book it!

Inject Jiri Prochazka vs. Dricus Du Plessis into my veins. Just two dudes determined to prove they hit the hardest and have the sturdiest chin!

Featherweight action fighters Nathaniel Wood and Daniel Pineda will take some lumps out of each other in July.

We need to give “Rampage” and Paulo Costa an ethnicity quiz on various popular fighters, this is comedy.

You never know where Mike Perry trash talk will end up.

Some online jawing from Petr Yan and Marlon Vera:

A slick little setup from Slava Borshchev:

Slips, rips, and KO clips

A name to look out for on the next Contenders Series season?

This spinning backfist landed with quite a thunk.

Ragdoll physics on this brutal knockout:

Random Land

Midnight Music:

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

It’s difficult to paint the end of Mike Perry’s UFC career as anything other than a disappointment.

Early on, “Platinum” showed real potential. He debuted raw, just 24 years old with seven wins to his name, though all came via knockout. Pitted against the massive and UFC proven Hyun Gyu Lim on short-notice, Perry captured headlines by acting like a goofball at weigh-ins, and fight fans eagerly anticipated the opportunity to watch violent comeuppance.

Instead, Perry battered “Ace” for a quick stoppage win. In fact, he started his UFC career winning four of his first five, building an instant highlight reel of viciousness. Then, the wheels began to fall off, and Perry would never string together consecutive wins inside the Octagon again.

Even during the slump, Perry’s talent was apparent. Crappy fighters do not beat Paul Felder and Alex Oliveira, go to war with Vicente Luque, or win at the UFC level with their girlfriend in their corner. His obvious physical gifts and fighting instincts made his UFC failures more disheartening, and there was a lot of concern that Perry was going down a bad path in life generally.

Three years after his UFC loss, Mike Perry is making millions. He’s avoided any negative scandal outside the ring, very much looking the part of a committed father and family man. He’s got nearly 800k Instagram followers and hosts a successful podcast. Oh, and he’s undefeated in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) with two former UFC champions on his resume.

There’s still a chance he makes more millions fighting Jake Paul in the near future.

Since leaving the UFC, everything has fallen into place for Perry. He’s showing up to fights on weight and in shape, a stark contrast to the end of his UFC run. Even at his lowest, there has never been any quit in Perry in actual competition. He’s able to absorb hellacious punishment and dish it right back — a perfect skill for bare knuckle fighting, where even glancing shots open gnarly gashes. Being comfortable covered in one’s own blood is nearly a prerequisite for success, and even that’s no guarantee.

Take, for example, Perry’s most recent win over former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez. “The Underground King” is a dog. He’s been in more back-and-forth wars than most professionals have victories, and Alvarez walked away from most of them with his hand raised. Alvarez is an all-time Lightweight great because of his gameness, which is primarily responsible for a ton of titles and classic victories.

Perry still broke him. He absorbed Alvarez’s best shots in the first then returned the favor in the second, and Alvarez’s corner intervened to protect him from further punishment. Perry walked away “King of Violence” in definitive fashion, and if anyone wants to talk size differences, Perry was a whole lot smaller than Luke Rockhold and torched him even more quickly.

Hot shot ranked Welterweight Michael Page? Perry beat him too. In three bare knuckle fights, Perry rewrote his resume and position in combat sports, earning that multi-million dollar contract. He’s definitely capitalizing on a sport that prioritizes his best attributes — toughness, physicality, power — but Perry is also taking his career seriously, which was always the most significant missing piece in the UFC.

This weekend, his story continues at BKFC ‘Knucklemania 4,’ where he’ll face former UFC title challenger and current BKFC champion Thiago Alves. Perry has the opportunity to hang official BKFC gold next to his ceremonial title, tying championship legacy to his face-of-the-promotion status.

The timing is a little funny too. Perry vs. Alves goes down the same night as UFC Vegas 91, which is a particularly abysmal Apex offering. Not long after rumors UFC turned down the opportunity to make Perry an offer and bring him back to the Octagon, they put on a mediocre card that could really do with some “Platinum” star power.

Perry shouldn’t be too bothered, though. If you’re only going to watch one fight on Saturday night, Perry vs. Alves is the marquee match up, two recognizable names who are guaranteed to deliver action.

Not bad for a UFC washout.

Professional Fighters League (PFL) is continuing its global expansion with the launch of PFL MENA, which focuses on talent in the Middle East and North Africa after the promotion partnered up with SRJ Sports Investments late last year.

Now, the promotion has announced the inaugural fight card lineup, which is slated to kick off on May 10, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as part of a four-event season featuring 32 fighters competing in the Featherweight, Bantamweight, Lightweight and Welterweight divisions, with a grand prize of $100,000 up for grabs in the championship event.

“PFL is all about creating opportunities, and we’re proud to offer fighters in the MENA region a chance to compete. With its talented athletes, MENA is a perfect fit for PFL’s season format, giving fighters a big stage to showcase their skills,” said Pete Murray, CEO of PFL, about on the significance of creating a second European league for its international portfolio.

“By bringing top-tier events to the region, we’re not only serving passionate MMA fans but also pushing the sport forward. Our goal is to grow MMA and expand PFL’s reach globally, and working with SRJ Sports to build PFL MENA has been incredibly rewarding,” he concluded.

The first event will feature the Featherweight and Bantamweight contenders vying for a spot in the playoffs, with a couple of showcase bouts sprinkled in. See the full PFL MENA 1 lineup below:

Main Event

145 lbs.: Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs. Taha Bendaoud

Main Card:

135 lbs.: Ali Taleb vs. Nawras Abzakh
135 lbs.: Xavier Alaoui vs. Rachid El Hazoume
145 lbs.: Islam Reda vs. Adam Meskini
135 lbs.: Tariq Ismail vs. Jalal Al Daaja
135 lbs.: Elias Boudegzdame vs. Hassan Mandour
105 lbs.: Hattan Alsaif vs. Nada Faheem
145 lbs.: Maraoune Bellagouit vs. Motaz Askar
145 lbs.: Ahmed Tarek vs. Abdelrahman Alhyasat
145 lbs.: Mido Mohamed vs. Yazeed Hasanain
125 lbs.: Malik Basahel vs. Harsh Pandya

---

For all the latest PFL news and notes click here.

“I said yes, and then they still didn’t give it to me. I’m not happy at all.”

Ketlen Vieira doesn’t like the direction her division is heading in.

The UFC bantamweight landscape received a massive injection of life earlier this year when former PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison was signed to the promotion. Harrison debuted at UFC 300 and looked as impressive as ever, submitting former UFC champion Holly Holm with a second-round rear-naked choke (watch highlights) in what was also her divisional debut earlier this month (April 13, 2024).

Vieira, 32, has yet to compete this year, holding down the No. 2 spot in the official rankings after last earning a unanimous decision against Pannie Kianzad in July 2023. Ready to return after her January matchup against Macy Chiasson fell through, Vieira (14-3) claims Harrison turned her down for a clash at UFC 303 this upcoming International Fight Week in Las Vegas.

“She might be the shiny new toy, but just like any toy, she needs to be played with and tested,” Vieira told MMA Mania. “Even [Julianna] Pena. She hasn’t fought for two years. She isn’t deserving of the title shot.

“I was offered the [Harrison] fight for June 29th. I said yes, and then they still didn’t give it to me. I’m not happy at all.”

MMA Mania has reached out to Harrison for a response to Vieira and will provide an update if received. The targeted UFC 303 event date has already been on the radar of the former Olympian, mentioning a potential interim title bout if current undisputed champion Raquel Pennington is unavailable — a silly idea, believes “Rocky.”

“It seems that Kayla is just not taking the fight,” Vieira said. “If the UFC offered the fight, the UFC wants the fight. It’s just Kayla not taking it. In the UFC, there’s only great athletes and if she thinks she’s going to say no to this fight and take an easier fight, there’s no easy fights. We’re all very good athletes. She has to stop running and take the fight and sign the contract.”

Ultimately, Vieira still likes the timetable to return around UFC 303. Should she challenge for UFC gold sooner rather than later, a fight with Pennington would be a sequel to their January 2023 meeting. Pennington won the bout via a split decision.

“My name’s not Germaine [de Randamie] or Julianna Pena so I don’t pick fights,” Vieira said. “At the same time, I know that I need to go up. I’m going to take any fight that’s going to get me to the belt because I know I deserve that. I want that belt. Kayla was someone that is starting [in UFC] but would be a big fight that would bring me the attention and get me to that belt. I’m looking to [fight] ranked fighters, increase my ranking, and I have been cleared for that date. I said yes to that fight so, I’m ready to fight around that date, but I want a fight that’s going to take me to the belt, which is what I deserve.”

Alex Pereira’s record for the strongest punch in the world didn’t last too long.

UFC 300 fight week was an all-around great one for the Light Heavyweight champion. Before “Poatan” had his historic headliner clash with former titleholder, Jamahal Hill, he was busy breaking records for his thunderous striking ability.

Pereira, 36, visited UFC’s Performance Institute (P.I.) before the fight, where he tried his hand at the world-famous punching machine that saw former UFC Heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, set the bar at a high 129,000 score. Pereira scored 191,796 on his attempt, shattering “The Predator’s” best. However, as seen in the embedded video above, former World’s Strongest Man champion, Eddie Hall, topped them both with a 208,901 score. The only difference is Hall needed multiple attempts to ascend his score, unlike the Brazilian knockout artist.

Hall, 36, has been seen around the mixed martial arts (MMA) scene recently after building a friendship with UFC interim Heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall. Coincidentally, Aspinall and Pereira teased the idea of a future match up earlier this year. While it seems unlikely to happen, Pereira has continued to play with the idea of another move up in weight post-UFC 300.

Jamahal Hill is pleading his case.

UFC 300 has come and gone, and unfortunately for “Sweet Dreams,” he could not reclaim the Light Heavyweight title he briefly held in 2023. Despite his best efforts, Hill suffered a first round knockout loss (watch highlights) against the current champion, Alex Pereira, in the evening’s main event.

The finishing sequence was a wild way to conclude the historic event inside the T-Mobile Arena two weekends ago (April 13, 2024). Pereira was dealt a body kick from Hill that went low and connected with the cup, halting the action momentarily by referee, Herb Dean. When I say “momentarily,” I mean that as quickly as you can imagine. Pereira essentially waved off any breaks in the pace and connected with a clean left hook directly after that floored his foe. Hill, 32, admits the sequence threw him off when it happened.

“It’s protect yourself at all times,” Hill told The Schmo. “Right after they tell you that, it’s obey my commands at all times, too. In the moment whenever it happened, I stopped. He said, ‘Stop,’ before he interjected. I stopped, and you can see Alex continues to close the distance on me.

“I understand it’s a cool moment, ‘Oh, he got hit in the nuts and pushed off,’” he continued. “It wasn’t a groin strike, and him closing the angle on me while I’m trying to check and make sure he’s good, it was a gritty competitor move. I should have peeked, caught on to protecting myself. If Herb Dean could have done anything, I would have liked to have had a more clean and better reset.”

Hill is already set to try and rebound off his second career loss (12-2, 1 no contest). The former champion will face Khalil Rountree Jr. in UFC 303’s co-main event on June 29, 2024.