Midnight Mania! White and Woodley reach a tenuous truce, Woodley and Wonderboy not so much

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Welcome to Midnight Mania! Today we’ve got Tyron and Dana reaching an uneasy truce, Tyron and Stephen not reaching any truce, Ferguson and Khabib facing off, a fighter who talks like Arnold Schwarzenegger, puns, knockouts, Ngannou insulting Derric Lewis, and much more

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Insomnia

Woodley and White have had some things to say about each other lately. Woodley has gone on record saying he’s the worst treated champion in UFC history- quite the claim, considering champions like Randy Couture– and White responded by calling Woodley a drama queen. Woodley laughed at that, considered White’s history of making dramatic statements himself. It looks like they are still on speaking terms, but you can feel the tension.

Thompson and Woodley had quite the interview. Thompson stayed really chill, while Woodley was a little edgier. Woodley went after GSP’s praise of Wonderboy as the best striker he had ever seen.

“It’s kinda funny he would say that, given that you got outstruck by me in the fight that we had in 205.” Woodley remarked.

“It’s alright, man. You hit me twice.” Thompson responded.

Woodley didn’t agree, saying he knocked Wonderboy down four times, and said perhaps Thompson should have gone to college. Woodley continued going in on Thompson, saying that he was fooling himself, and that Thompson was the one who had been running his mouth.

“Why you gotta be so mean?” Thompson joked.

It will be a fascinating rematch. According to Fightmetric, Woodley outlanded Thompson overall, 61-43, while Thompson outlanded him at distance, 42-23. Fightmetric only counted one knockdown, but depending on how you judge a knockdown, it was somewhere between the two and four that each fighter alleged, respectively. Woodley will be looking to finish the fight this time, while Thompson has bulked up to counter Woodley’s raw strength.

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Bobs and Weaves

Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov had a tense staredown, one that startled Dana White.

What was really going on:

Khabib throwing shade on Tony’s shades.

Forrest Griffin is my spirit animal.

Khabib made this young girl’s day.

That scene makes the meme going around today seem relevant to Khabib.

I can’t resist an awful pun.

Tyrone Woodley and Stephen Thompson may have had a dramatic welterweight title bout, but those welterweight title fights have been absolutely inspired ever since GSP left the division. This was possibly the best round of them all:

Francis Ngannou insulting Derrick Lewis fight after Lewis called him out. The rising heavyweights seem to be on a collision course.

Tony dishes on being overlooked, finally facing Nurmy on the third attempt, and says he can’t wait to derail the hype train. He also speaks on inspiration and the reasons he fights.

A fighter who speaks like Arnold so that Americans can understand him? Sounds counterintuitive, but I guess whatever works.

This is an intense handshake.

Instant knockout.

What sport is this? Because that ref ain’t boxing.

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Quick Hits

• Tony Ferguson put Tyron Woodley on notice.
• Khabib meets Mike Tyson in the latest Embedded.
• Conor McGregor’s coach thinks Nurmagomedov is a better GSP

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Random Land

If you haven’t seen this yet it’s pretty awesome.

Stay woke, Maniacs!