Midnight Mania! VanZant and Waterson have a dance-off, Mike Perry makes platypus noise, and more

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every night …

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Where the grass is green and the knockouts are pretty. Today, we’ve also got pretty girls in a weigh-in dance-off, as well as Mike Perry sounding like … something … and Kevin Ross — Gina Carano’s boyfriend — getting a sick knockout, as well as Russians getting all weird and theatrical with their cagefighting. And oh, yeah, some news and stuff!

This noise was quite something from “Platinum” Mike Perry:

“Virtually identical,” as rumored-to-be-departing Mike Goldberg loves to say.

I think it’s a little like this:

Jessica Hudnall has been on a tear with the Twitter feed lately. This is the latest in her holiday series of Dan Henderson knockouts:

Another Mike Perry mash up that just makes sense:

Go vote for Stipe!

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Other Weigh-In Shenanigans:

Watch Paige VanZant strip to make weight:

Then at the ceremonial weigh-ins: A spontaneous dance-off! I think Michelle Waterson held her own with the Dancing with the Stars runner-up.

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Rips, Slips and Crazy Clips

I can’t help but think that I would be so irritated getting hugged after getting tapped in a fight. Just … leave me alone.

Ugo Monstro? Okay Marvel villain-named dude. I will leave you alone.

Is his last name really Danger?

At last, normal-ish names.

Remember Tom Duquesnoy, the kid who was smashing pumpkins (and other fruit)? Well, he got another win today.

Keep an eye on this kid, he’s something really special.

Kevin Ross, a hero of American Muay Thai and the lucky boyfriend of Gina Carano, got a sick knockout in Bellator Kickboxing tonight:

Indirectly, Ross is responsible for inspiring my research interest. He posted a book, “The Rise of Superman,” about extreme athletes who get into a state of peak consciousness, “flow,” and are able to pull off ridiculous feats. A little like he does here:

Can’t stop crazy.

Back to the weirdness of Russian MMA. I really don’t know whats going on here, but I am so down for all of this:

And this:

Confetti?? I mean come on. I would want that if I won a cagefight:

Oh, and here’s “Baby Fedor” in action for the win:

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

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Bobs and Weaves

Champions hosted a cursing granny previewing UFC 207 and it’s everything you wouldn’t expect a granny to be … and everything you would. Just watch.

A simulation of what would happen if Paige fought Ronda:

Speaking of jacked dudes, although a much happier one:

It’s always fascinating to see how fighters deal with loss. It involves incredible psychological and physical trauma, and almost every fighter ever has had to find a way to pick themselves back up and bounce back from defeat. Here’s Zach Makovsky, a cerebral fighter and an intelligent man, dealing with his recent loss.

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Quick Hits

• Dave Meltzer wrote about the conflict among sport, entertainment and business in the context of the Holm-De Randamie announcement for the newly-minted UFC women’s Featherweight belt. It’s a good read from a veteran insider of both pro wrestling and MMA.
• Nate Diaz and Floyd Mayweather have something in common: They both like bashing McGregor

• Bellator highlights, results and Graphic Interchange Format clips here

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Non-MMA Minutiae

This kid is learning in Sunday school. He is learning well.

Stay woke, Maniacs.

Shoot me an email at [email protected]. So far I’ve gotten four emails. Two were spam, one was that welcome email from Google.