Midnight Mania! Chael Sonnen and Rampage Jackson face off… cordially

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Quinton Jackson says he’s not “Rampage”… not just yet.

That will come closer to fight day. This early face-off with Chael Sonnen was, therefore, very cordial.

The pair are scheduled to kick off the Bellator MMA World Grand Prix, their heavyweight tourney, at Bellator 192 on January 20th. The event will be headlined by a welterweight title clash between Rory Macdonald and Douglas Lima.

When asked about how he and Rampage matched up, along with all the other matchups of the tournament, Sonnen claimed they had “heat” that goes way back:

Rampage and I have heat that goes way back. Last time we were together, we had to be separated in a hotel lobby in Arizona. I always thought that match could happen, but I thought it was impossible because he was going back to the UFC. Contractually, I’m not privy to how that worked out, but I’m happy it did. What other reason is there to fight than two guys want to?

However, tonight, when asked if they “saw something” in each other’s eyes, both men concurred it was too early for all that.

R: It’s too far out.

S: I’m waitin’ for him to turn, man. I’m waitin for him. It’s comin’.

R: you won’t see Rampage until the cage close.

C: Until the chains? Necklace Rampage, apparently a nice guy. Chain Rampage is who I gotta watch out for.

R: I’m Quinton! I’m not even Rampage, I’m Quinton.

The question is, will you still buy what they will be selling? UFC 220, with Francis Ngannou vs. Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier vs. Volkan Oezdemir, is set for the same night. It looks as though MMA fans will have a wealth of options January 20th.

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Insomnia

Maybe its the kid or his party life keeping him up at night, but Conor McGregor looks tired here.

This is about a useful as any other martial arts drill that starts out drills with stepping punches.

Why would they think attacking this guy was a good idea??

Not the first time Floyd Mayweather has spent time hanging out with Russian tyrant and human rights violator Ramzan Kadyrov.

Stipe Miocic got on Joe Rogan’s podcast today and riffed about defending his UFC championship belt, whether he would give up firefighting or cagefighting first, and whether Ngannou intimidates him.

Okay, I’ll give it away: he wouldn’t give up firefighting.

This is incredibly cool: K-1 champion Takeru drills with two-time bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw

Really cool MMA art by Chris Rini

I do appreciate MMA art, even unintentional MMA art:

The town of Babylon officially appreciates Dennis Bermudez

Robbie Lawler is a hitter

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Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

Will we see Final Round Robbie Lawler this weekend? Or Rafael Dos Anjos the destroyer.

Could we get something like this?

Probably not this… I had never seen this before!

This knockout is so clean

Mike Perry got KOed in a boxing match

He’s also been scoring knockouts since the beginning

Mike Perry on the mic is… unmistakable, to say the least.

Misha Cirkunov is an incredibly strong submission grappler

He can strike too

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Podcasts and Video

Andrew and Andrew break down Rafael dos Anjos’ pressure footwork. Follow MMA Mania on Youtube for more!

Flyin Brian J breaks down the bout:

Here’s that interview with Rogan and Stipe

Rafael Dos Anjos on fighting Robbie Lawler:

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Random Land

I hope this is real

I like this picture

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