Midnight Mania! Cris Cyborg vs Tonya Evinger set for UFC 214 with Megan Anderson out

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

What is it about the featherweight belt? First, the men’s division sees the weird situation with McGregor getting stripped, Aldo getting his interim belt upgraded to the “real” belt, and Max Holloway winning the new interim belt. Max only just managed to return the division to normalcy after defeating Jose Aldo in spectacular fashion.

The women’s featherweight division, though, takes the cake for weirdness. It was created as a vehicle to showcase Cyborg, despite the paucity of fighting women of high ability above 135 pounds. But Cyborg said she wasn’t prepared to cut weight on medium notice, and turned the fight down. Then she popped positive, before getting a retroactive Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). Meanwhile, the UFC decided to book two bantamweights, Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie, for the belt at UFC 208. Germaine de Randamie won in a very forgettable fight, then began avoiding a fight with Cyborg as hard as she possibly could, first claiming a hand injury that conveniently wouldn’t affect a rematch with Holm, then just claiming she wouldn’t fight Cyborg because she had popped for PEDs. Eventually she was openly talking about returning to bantamweight, but acted surprised when the UFC finally stripped her of the belt and booked Cyborg against young Invicta champion Megan Anderson for a new belt.

Now, UFC 214 has a new co-main event. With Anderson out due to “pressing personal reasons”, the UFC has finally tapped the tough-as-nails bantamweight champion, Tonya Evinger, to face Cyborg.

BREAKING: @CrisCyborg now meets @InvictaFights BW champ @TonyaEvinger at #UFC213. pic.twitter.com/Fxc6hr7D5g

— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) June 28, 2017

Megan Anderson’s social media explanation:

pic.twitter.com/repO9G2XS2

— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) June 28, 2017

In case you haven’t seen her social media, Tonya Evinger gets wild with the ladies

A post shared by Tonya Evinger (@tonya_evinger) on May 28, 2017 at 10:01pm PDT

And has an adorable dog

He’s super cute..

A post shared by Tonya Evinger (@tonya_evinger) on Apr 30, 2017 at 11:27am PDT

Insomnia

GSP crossing into basketball now

Doubt we’ll see GSP resturn. Looks like he’s pulling a McGregor and leaving MMA for another sport. GSP vs. Westbrook. Book it! pic.twitter.com/oCrZKs2fbf

— Michael Hutchinson (@TheMikeyHutch) June 27, 2017

Felice Herrig won’t address the poop in the Octagon, but she does discuss this almost-choke.

That should have been a tap!#UFC strawweight @feliceherrig talks about Justine Kish’s escape from her rear naked choke at #UFCOKC. pic.twitter.com/aKz5KJR8YR

— FOX Sports: PROcast (@PROcast) June 28, 2017

Paige VanZant back in training

This weekend in combat sports, courtesy of the epicenter of MMA Twitter, Grabaka Hitman.

Live Combat Sport Schedule: 6/27 – 7/2https://t.co/53FluT4q2y

Fight cards and streams updated all week. pic.twitter.com/eobJDvPdB4

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 27, 2017

I saw some of you Maniacs in the comments debating the origin of Chandler’s leg injury yesterday. This might help:

The kicks did way more damage than I thought on first watch. That first low kick was nearly perfect. pic.twitter.com/N58f3aXYvD

— Bestrafer7 (@Bestrafer7) June 28, 2017

Talking about things you don’t see very often. pic.twitter.com/A6cFpAW0iX

— Kris Dekker (@KrisDekkerMMA) June 27, 2017

Slips. Rips. Knockout Clips

I hope you like old Pride highlights.

Pride Bushido 7 #PrideNeverDie pic.twitter.com/cNfSlEEq90

— Bestrafer7 (@Bestrafer7) February 13, 2017

I don’t see this listed pic.twitter.com/BD2f4j0lBJ

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 27, 2017

Or this! pic.twitter.com/8TjuAWlACe

— Zane Simon (@TheZaneSimon) June 27, 2017

Come on guys… pic.twitter.com/P11mQpi8QN

— Joshua Yandle (@JoshYandle) June 27, 2017

HAI GUYZ pic.twitter.com/LyR4C4i5AM

— D.E.O. x (@ImJustDEO) June 27, 2017

Some boxing from tonight

The right hands are flying tonight on @FS1! Check out the beauty that Avery Sparrow landed on Isaelin Florian. pic.twitter.com/fUIy54wzNx

— PBC (@premierboxing) June 28, 2017

Sparrow goes down for second time in the fight. That makes 4 knockdowns in 4 rounds. What a brawl! pic.twitter.com/0ANEz0rKzc

— PBC (@premierboxing) June 28, 2017

Smell my foot pic.twitter.com/BWAnTKrWEo

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 27, 2017

This submission is truly unusual. I remember an instructor showing it once upon a time, but I’ve never seen it actually work.

El viernes pasado en Hex Fight Series 9, Suman Mokhtarian (6-0) tuvo un atacazo artístico y gano vía tepee! Hermosa sumisión #ArtAttack pic.twitter.com/f7yO4mcA5K

— Barrele la pierna (@Barrelelapierna) June 26, 2017

Good Reads

  • Ronda Rousey has gone from feminist icon to cooking for accused wife beater Travis Browne.
  • In case you missed it, the awful Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation is screwing up Cortney Casey’s career, and so far refuses to own up to their mistakes.
  • The hunt for the earliest use of the term “pound for pound” in combat sports history goes farther back than I realized
  • Scott Coker has no idea how the UFC forces independent contractors (its fighters) to wear a uniform. The uniforms alone are probably not enough to demonstrate that the UFC is exploiting it’s fighters by keeping them independent contractors without employee benefits, while treating them like employees, but there are a number of other ways this is done- USADA drug testing requiring 24/7 access to fighter’s locations, for one, and exclusive long-term contracts, for another.

Random Land

This isn’t strictly volleyball but its still pretty intense

James Harrison casually playing volleyball with a medicine ball. ‍♂️pic.twitter.com/EHqnZ9w6QB

— 360°FantasyFootball (@360FFB) June 23, 2017

Just learned that Cheetahs are really nervous animals, and some zoos give them “support dogs” to relax pic.twitter.com/NbqYZgmu7H

— Andy Stardust (@ImACultHero) June 26, 2017

Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter @Vorpality

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

What is it about the featherweight belt? First, the men’s division sees the weird situation with McGregor getting stripped, Aldo getting his interim belt upgraded to the “real” belt, and Max Holloway winning the new interim belt. Max only just managed to return the division to normalcy after defeating Jose Aldo in spectacular fashion.

The women’s featherweight division, though, takes the cake for weirdness. It was created as a vehicle to showcase Cyborg, despite the paucity of fighting women of high ability above 135 pounds. But Cyborg said she wasn’t prepared to cut weight on medium notice, and turned the fight down. Then she popped positive, before getting a retroactive Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). Meanwhile, the UFC decided to book two bantamweights, Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie, for the belt at UFC 208. Germaine de Randamie won in a very forgettable fight, then began avoiding a fight with Cyborg as hard as she possibly could, first claiming a hand injury that conveniently wouldn’t affect a rematch with Holm, then just claiming she wouldn’t fight Cyborg because she had popped for PEDs. Eventually she was openly talking about returning to bantamweight, but acted surprised when the UFC finally stripped her of the belt and booked Cyborg against young Invicta champion Megan Anderson for a new belt.

Now, UFC 214 has a new co-main event. With Anderson out due to “pressing personal reasons”, the UFC has finally tapped the tough-as-nails bantamweight champion, Tonya Evinger, to face Cyborg.

Megan Anderson’s social media explanation:

In case you haven’t seen her social media, Tonya Evinger gets wild with the ladies

A post shared by Tonya Evinger (@tonya_evinger) on

And has an adorable dog

He’s super cute..

A post shared by Tonya Evinger (@tonya_evinger) on

Insomnia

GSP crossing into basketball now

Felice Herrig won’t address the poop in the Octagon, but she does discuss this almost-choke.

Paige VanZant back in training

This weekend in combat sports, courtesy of the epicenter of MMA Twitter, Grabaka Hitman.

I saw some of you Maniacs in the comments debating the origin of Chandler’s leg injury yesterday. This might help:

Slips. Rips. Knockout Clips

I hope you like old Pride highlights.

Some boxing from tonight

This submission is truly unusual. I remember an instructor showing it once upon a time, but I’ve never seen it actually work.

Good Reads

  • Ronda Rousey has gone from feminist icon to cooking for accused wife beater Travis Browne.
  • In case you missed it, the awful Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation is screwing up Cortney Casey’s career, and so far refuses to own up to their mistakes.
  • The hunt for the earliest use of the term “pound for pound” in combat sports history goes farther back than I realized
  • Scott Coker has no idea how the UFC forces independent contractors (its fighters) to wear a uniform. The uniforms alone are probably not enough to demonstrate that the UFC is exploiting it’s fighters by keeping them independent contractors without employee benefits, while treating them like employees, but there are a number of other ways this is done- USADA drug testing requiring 24/7 access to fighter’s locations, for one, and exclusive long-term contracts, for another.

Random Land

This isn’t strictly volleyball but its still pretty intense

Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter @Vorpality