Midnight Mania! Happy New Year, Maniacs

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight Welcome to Midnight Mania, and Happy New Year!

Insomnia
It is somehow fitting for 2018 to close with amazing events that were headlined with two of the most m…

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania, and Happy New Year!

Insomnia

It is somehow fitting for 2018 to close with amazing events that were headlined with two of the most morally questionable people in combat sports getting dominant wins

Like Amanda Nunes, flyweight great Kyoji Horiguchi pulled off a remarkable superfight win against Bellator champion Darrion Caldwell.

Like Cris Cyborg, Caldwell took the loss incredibly well, like a true champion.

Just like UFC 232, RIZIN 14 had a series of weird, remarkable finishes

(inserts random video-game-esque knockout from another promotion)

I was sad to see Justin Scoggins lose to this highly unusual submission

Japanese MMA is just the best.

Coming back to weird triangle-ish submissions:

View this post on Instagram

Cryangle #Repost @taylorade96 with @get_repost ???

A post shared by BJJ SCOUT (@bjjscout) on

Daniel Cormier doesn’t think Jon Jones should come to the wrestling meet.

Ben Askren doesn’t, either, only he said it without DC’s grace

In case you wondered what 215-lb. Alexander Volkanovski looked like, here are photos of him during his League days:

Another look at Nunes flatlining Cris Cyborg:

Like I said, Cyborg took in incredibly well, a true role model in defeat.

This is wild

I have to say, Amanda Nunes is growing on me. She’s just a likable person.

Tyron Woodley’s win over Robbie Lawler felt very similar to Nunes’ win over Cyborg, the faster fighter landing first-round rockets on a champion with a notable advantage in the later rounds.

Speaking of Woodley, Covington won this poll running away, but apparently the UFC has Usman up next:

Forrest Griffin is giving up 14% of his manliness for this kitten, apparently.

View this post on Instagram

Cute Cats make you 14% less manly

A post shared by Forrest (@forrestgriffin) on

I got some ideas on this

View this post on Instagram

Who’s next, still hungry.

A post shared by Jon Bones Jones (@jonnybones) on

Let’s not forget the situation surrounding Jones’ licensing didn’t magically go away with his win. This could have repercussions in 2019.

If you are travelling home over the holidays, don’t forget this valuable advice:

I really want to pet a cheetah in my lifetime. They are the best Big Cat there is.

Chad Mendes has reportedly called it a career. Better to retire early than late. Mendes had three cracks at UFC gold, including 2014’s fight of the year against Jose Aldo, and came close twice. He apparently has a thriving trail guide business, which is always a good indication a fighter will really be able to walk away, and hopefully he was able to stash that half a million from the McGregor fight into a nice nest egg.

All hail his successor as featherweight prince, Alexander the Great:

This makes no sense. How is Lineker on the prelims?

This seems unlikely to ever happen.

Speaking of things that made me laugh with how little sense they made, here’s Dillon Danis:

Mike Beltran just became way more likeable. Poor Gustafsson.

Gabi Garcia is a scary human.

Dominick Cruz calling fights where his current or former teammates are in the main event seems like a weird practice.

Brian Ortega with Halle Berry at the fights

View this post on Instagram

Good fights tonight. @halleberry

A post shared by Brian Ortega (@briantcity) on

Megan Anderson put her toe in Cat Zingano’s eye

Random Land

Don’t watch this if you like iguanas.

This is how that always goes:

Sleep well in 2019, Maniacs! A better tomorrow is always possible. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality