Midnight Mania! Ronda Rousey begins to emerge from ‘Fortress of Solitude’ just days ahead of UFC 207

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight, we’ve got Sumo wrestlers in kickboxing fights, Ronda Rousey cardboard cutouts, Nick and Nate Diaz getting their own rolling papers, creative animations, and more.

Rousey may be on media mute, but she has been active on social media ahead of her showdown against women’s Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, this Friday night (Dec. 30, 2016):

Oh, and she made a brief appearance on the second (and latest) episode of UFC 207 “Embedded:”

She was spotted earlier signing posters in this official UFC tweet:

Yeah, this was awkward!

Those were the hard-hitting MME news days, eh? Perhaps we’re not really missing much at all.

Many have compared Rousey’s seemingly reluctant return to “Dark Knight Rises.” Friday night, we get to find out the answer to this question: Do You Bleed?

(I mostly included that because it is sweet animation.)

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Nick and Nate Diaz will live forever now … at least until folks torch these bad boys:

Puff, puff, pass.

Here’s the second part of that “Writer turned Fighter” story by Anton Tabuena, Bloody Elbow’s managing editor who joined a Muay Thai tournament on a couple weeks notice. This round, he gets to face a fresh opponent.

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Breakdowns and Analysis

• Our very own Andrew Richardson, aspiring professional fighter out of Team Alpha Male, breaks down Ronda Rousey’s game here.
• Jack Slack takes on Rousey vs. Nunes in “A Strange Kind of Mirror.”
• The esteemed Dr. Patrick Wyman tackles the puzzle that is Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt.
• How did the long layoff benefit Dominick Cruz?

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Podcasts and Audio-Visual Thingamajigs

Here’s the video of MMAmania.com’s Andrew Richardson breaking down Rousey’s determined armbar technique:

Jed Meshew previews “Rousey vs. Nunes” in an interview with “The Naked Gambler:”

Check out the “Co-Main Event” podcast for the humor-filled take you have come to know and love … or are about to.

UFC’s own breakdown of the main event with “The Outlaw:”

And the co-main event:

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Bobs and Weaves

Spread that holiday cheer, Santa McGregor.

Watching the next clip enraged me. That ref was grossly negligent to the KO’ed fighter’s safety. How do you let a knocked out man take several punches too many, then simply watch as he slips through the ropes and crashes to the floor? Not cool.

Some UFC 207-related stats to stuff in your mental pocket:

Speaking of knockout potential …

Cruz has been hitting harder in his last three fights as well, and “No Love” is not known for his defense:

There was a rumor going around earlier today that Rousey wouldn’t bother to show up for her ceremonial weigh-ins.

Naturally, MMA Twitter had a lot of fun with this idea:

As it turns out, this was, indeed, just a rumor; but, a fun one nonetheless.

Sumo wrestlers in striking sports? What could be more fun?

I mean, this looks like an unspeakably fun combination:

Oh, well … this was also highly entertaining

Some Christmas fencing for you:

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Quick Hits

• Remember when Dominick Cruz fought once in four years, then came back from beyond the MMA grave to edge out TJ Dillashaw? Well, as it turns out, he had to find peace with reality first. And that enlightenment has fueled his trash talk dominance of the division ever since.
• Josh Barnett popped again … for the fourth time!!!! RIZIN, HERE COMETH THE WARMASTER?!?!?!?!?!?!

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Randomland

I laughed so hard at this poor little girl.

2016 took another victim today, Carrie Fisher, best known for her role as Princess Leia in “Star Wars.” This year has some of us feeling like this vending machine:

Or this kid:

For some reason this sloth cheered me up a lot:

As did this adorable battle:

Stay woke, Maniacs.

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