Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight
Welcome to Midnight Mania! Have we got a show for you.
Israel Adesanya is set to face former welterweight Kelvin Gastelum in an interim middleweight title fight this Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 236. If he wins, he will face another former welterweight, Robert Whittaker. Facing hard-hitting former welterweights is nothing new for Israel, however. Back before his UFC days, when he was only 3-0 in mixed martial arts competition, he was flown in to imitate Jon Jones in sparring against now-retired light heavyweight contender Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson.
story time:
before UFC 187, @bokamotoESPN and I flew to Blackzilians for a story on Rumble Johnson. at the time, he was prepping to fight Jon Jones
Henri Hooft flew out this kid (3-0 MMA) from New Zealand to mimick Jon in sparring sessions
that kid was @stylebender pic.twitter.com/IDu3R9lCYV
— Phil Murphy (@Phil_Sports) April 11, 2019
It is clear they weren’t sparring at full power, but it is also evident how much power Anthony Johnson can generate. Adesanya is wholly unphased sparring with the bigger man, calmly rolling his shoulder, measuring the distance, and lining up his punches and kicks. It makes one wonder how Johnson would have done against Jones… and how Adesanya might do against Jones in a future matchup.
Will Adesanya’s striking wizardry and massive reach advantage prevail over Gastelum’s grit, power and one-two? We will find out, Saturday night. Until then, read professional fighter and resident analyst Andrew Richardson’s technical breakdown!
Insomnia
An old classic
Disney’s business moves now have implications for UFC fans, especially those with families:
Disney will “likely bundle” Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, says streaming and direct to consumer chief Kevin Mayer at Disney investor day.
— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) April 11, 2019
The UFC leaving the PPV providers let boxing promoters shake them down for more money.
Bob Arum to LATimes: ““The cable & Satellite people are now scared after the UFC has taken its PPV’s [starting with Saturday’s card] to ESPN Plus …So we threatened to do the same, reminding them their way of doing business and just collecting a % is no longer sustainable.”
— Robert Joyner (@robnashville) April 11, 2019
2018 was a pretty good year for the UFC
New Moody’s Report on UFC Holding is out. UFC’s revenues is down from the last 2 years but still were “well over $600 million” in 2018. EBITDA margins were apparently 7.8x of debt, which would be close to $250 mil.
— John S. Nash (@heynottheface) April 11, 2019
Charge. Definitely a charge.
Block or charge? ? ????? pic.twitter.com/uxCewY9Q3b
— Rex Chapman (@RexChapman) April 11, 2019
Cody Garbrandt offers to take a lie detector test saying he’s never taken performance enhancing drugs while competing in the UFC. Professor Marston would be proud, but that wouldn’t prove anything.
I’ll take a lie detector test right now stating that I’ve never performed in the @ufc under any Performance Enhancing Drug! Drug Free World Champ! https://t.co/g0ZYDRln4h
— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) April 11, 2019
Daniel Cormier claiming Brock Lesnar deserves a title fight? I’m willing to tune in and watch DC get his swan song money fight, but let’s not kid ourselves.
The ol’ Bobby Hill tactic
Michael Chiesa was among those not buying TJ Dillashaw’s strength and conditioning coach’s Shakespearean diatribe.
“A sentiment we can all relate to”
Sorry bud I’m not a cheater. I don’t relate. Take your philosophical BS elsewhere. You sound like the leader of a cult & you’re the one that made the EPO that TJ popped for. You condoned all of this. Put the thesaurus down & just own up to it. https://t.co/TH4HQlQtmX
— Michael Chiesa (@MikeMav22) April 11, 2019
The idea that the S&C coach didn’t know anything, doesn’t exactly hold water.
I asked my Conditioning coach if he would notice if I started taking EPO, he replied 100% without a doubt. https://t.co/H9yDnxVvw4
— Dan Hangman Hooker (@danthehangman) April 11, 2019
I wanted to write a whole translation article, but Artem Lobov summed it all up in one sentence.
Translation: We all knew he was cheating and all are cool with it!! https://t.co/xA2HBuq548
— Artem Lobov (@RusHammerMMA) April 10, 2019
USADA was very interested in Ali Abdelaziz’ very intelligent comments about knowing athletes on EPO.
We’re all ears Ali. Hit us up at the USADA Play Clean Tip Center at 1-877-Play Clean (1-877-752-9253) or here https://t.co/Rf3VDaUPAt
— USADA | UFC Anti-Doping Program (@USADA_UFC) April 11, 2019
What I had forgotten about this immortal moment was TJ’s sneer as he shrugged off Cody’s incensed accusations.
Well Cody clearly wasn’t lying #UFC pic.twitter.com/1nSTYlebKg
— Robert Andre Nozil (@RobertNozil) April 9, 2019
Unbelievably good round of boxing
This is one of my favorite rounds of all time. Holmes vs Norton Round 15. If your not even a boxing fan you need to watch. Pure heart & guts!! Please retweet so everyone gets to see it. @KOKINGS4 @LarryHolmes75 @TheFightGuru @theRealEnzoMac @noholdsboxing @TopHeavyweights pic.twitter.com/7Q8KMIA2dc
— “The 91 Second Massacre” (@Tyson91seconds) August 18, 2018
Gary Busey??
That wig and glasses act ain’t fooling us, Dana!
Watching capitalism being debated on CNBC and WTF…apparently @danawhite moonlights as an economist. Ya fooling nobody, ya goof. pic.twitter.com/v5yIMq0YuR
— Brian Oswald (@briancoswald) April 11, 2019
Sean O’Malley hitting pads is always a pleasure to watch
This would be embarrassing
ur mcm pic.twitter.com/r2StP0TVW5
— Hakz (@hakz2up) April 8, 2019
This is ridiculously impressive, but did she just stab her carpet??
Random Land
Touching
For some reason I can’t quite place, this seems like a bad idea.
Scientists in southern China report that they’ve injected macaque monkeys with extra copies of a human gene suspected of playing a role in shaping human intelligence. And that it made the monkeys smarter. https://t.co/muv7UVqMyW
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) April 11, 2019
Very modern art
A golf ball skips across the water on the 16th hole at the Masters. José María Olazábal did what the golf patrons cheered him into doing… try and skip the ball across the water and onto the green during a practice round at the in Augusta, GA. @TheMasters #masters2019 pic.twitter.com/ZUWTDyG71L
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) April 9, 2019
Sleep well, Maniacs! A better tomorrow is always possible. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality