Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Ben Askren just “by your logic-ed” Conor McGregor.
See, Conor McGregor came up with the bizarre take that ONE Championship president Chatri Sityodtong was responsible for the UFC shuttering its flyweight division, presumably because ONE ‘traded’ Ben Askren for former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. Never mind that it was the UFC that made the decision to cut the 125-lb. division — McGregor insisted that ONE needed to take in all the released flyweights. It’s worth nothing that ONE is, in fact, interested in ‘cherry-picking’ some of the fighters cut by the UFC.
Ben Askren, the other party in the trade, pointed out the obvious problem with the Notorious’ logic here. Why would losing Demetrious Johnson mean the flyweight division was doomed? After all, the featherweight division moved on without McGregor himself; a title fight between Max Holloway and Brian Ortega is set to headline UFC 231 on December 8th.
I mean Featherweight survived without @TheNotoriousMMA in it, flyweight can’t survive without @MightyMouse ?? Are you telling us DJ>CM???
I mean Featherweight survived without @TheNotoriousMMA in it, flyweight can’t survive without @MightyMouse ?? Are you telling us DJ>CM???
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) November 8, 2018
It isn’t often you see McGregor get owned this badly. Askren should enjoy this.
Insomnia
Georges St. Pierre is training knife fighting now
Practicing some knife fighting with my friend @mansourbarnaoui after training! It’s a weird feeling, funny and scary at the same time… Very good for distance control skills! pic.twitter.com/NiEBub1M2O
— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre) November 9, 2018
The perfect UFC fight doesn’t exist, because either Paulo Costa or Yoel Romero keeps getting injured. They were supposed to fight at UFC 230, but Romero had to pull out of the bout via injury. The two were still supposed to fight near the end of the year, but now it turns out Costa is injured, and out until March. “Borrachinha” thinks that Romero ought to return the favor and wait for him until March.
Joanne Calderwood is facing a former KSW champion, Araine Lipski, at UFC 233.
Joanne Calderwood vs. former KSW champion Ariane Lipski has been added to UFC 233 on Jan. 26 in Anaheim, sources told ESPN. First reported by @Lowkingpl.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 8, 2018
Alexander Gustafsson is training with fellow top ten lightweights Jimi Manuwa and Ilir Latifi to prepare for Jon Jones.
The ever-cheerful Korean Zombie, Chan Sung Jung, is back this weekend against Yair Rodriguez
25th Year Anniversary! #UFCDenver @KoreanZombieMMA @panteraufc @PlatinumPerry @Cowboycerrone pic.twitter.com/ZijBUrYjgd
— brwlrz (@brwlrz) November 9, 2018
Yair is incredible- I walked into the stadium for the last part of this fight. I’ve never seen someone throw the kicks Yair was throwing.
— Streetfight Bancho (@streetfitebanch) November 8, 2018
The Korean Zombie is plenty creative himself
— Streetfight Bancho (@streetfitebanch) November 8, 2018
Floyd Mayweather evidently decided he didn’t want to fight this guy- and I’ll take any excuse to post a Tenshin Nasukawa highlight.
So… why did Floyd agree to fight Tenshin? Was it all a publicity stunt?
Why did Floyd Mayweather agree to fight Tenshin Nasukawa ?#FloydTenshin #Rizin #Animation pic.twitter.com/9VgIi59MMP
— Mojahed Fudailat (@MojahedFudailat) November 7, 2018
Ben Nguyen vs. Wilson Reis is going to be the farewell fight for the flyweight division?
Unless something changes, Ben Nguyen vs. Wilson Reis on December 2 in Australia will be the final flyweight fight before the division is dissolved (based on reports).
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) November 8, 2018
Leslie Smith points out that flyweight disappearing would be the kind of decision that the fighters would have a say in with a collective bargaining agreement.
UFC fighters if you don’t want to see your whole division get cut you should sign an authorization card at https://t.co/2ge9mLExJX because shit is going to keep happening at the UFC’s whim with no regard for the athletes until there is a union. Sign a card if you value your job
— Leslie Smith (@LeslieSmith_GF) November 8, 2018
Why did Floyd Mayweather agree to fight Tenshin Nasukawa ?#FloydTenshin #Rizin #Animation pic.twitter.com/9VgIi59MMP
— Mojahed Fudailat (@MojahedFudailat) November 7, 2018
Israel Adesanya’s social media game is as strong as his wrestling.
Oh you tired of seeing me everywhere…
You: Scrolling through your social media.
Me: On your timeline for the next feeeeww… ???#networking #iknowthisgame #mememajesty pic.twitter.com/uoIGrLm1la— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) November 9, 2018
When was the last time you saw someone hit a helicopter armbar in a fight??
Thiago Moisés helicopter armbar. Makes his UFC debut against Beneil Dariush at #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/TxG5tqxuFZ
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 9, 2018
Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality