Midnight Mania! ONE FC enjoying complete lack of government oversight in Singapore

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Last Friday (May 17, 2019), legendary kickboxer Giorgio Petrosyan was controversially upset by Petchmorakot in a very close fight at the “Enter the Dragon” event in Kallang, Singapore. The Thai athlete made the most of brief clinch attempts to score some hard knees, which were likely the deciding factor in shifting the scorecards to his favor.

At least, it was the deciding factor until earlier today, when ONE Championship made the decision to overrule the judges. As the tweet below mentions, initially the plan was for the two to rematch, but now it appears Petchmorakot’s management is rejecting that option.

As a professional fighter, I really want to love ONE FC — hell, I shouted them out for a fight opportunity twice in my travel blog a couple months ago. They’re doing a major part in keeping hope alive for 125 lbs. fighters. Even as a fan, I understand the desire to fix incompetent judges and referee calls. Such incompetence is rarely officially addressed, as the government committees that oversee mixed martial arts (MMA) in the states are loathe to criticize their own.

All that said, there wasn’t anything blatantly wrong with the Petchmorakot-Petrosyan decision. It was a close fight, and ONE involved itself unnecessarily. By getting involved, questions have to be asked about ONE’s motivations — how much of this decision to overturn the call was in interest of seeing Petrosyan (the more popular man) advance further in their tournament?

This is a bad time for ONE to overplay its hand. In April, ONE implemented a bizarre and controlling set of regulations regarding who can manage its fighters. Perhaps the most appealing part of competing for ONE FC is its supposed fix for weight cutting, but Urijah Faber just claimed that its athletes are finding ways around the system. To cap it all off, no one actually knows if the promotion is making any money or pulling the numbers it claims.

I still really want to love ONE FC, and competing in Singapore would be a dream, but it would be silly to pretend there are not red flags.

Insomnia

No one can deny Josh Emmett’s knockout power after his last couple wins, but I’ve had the fortune of watching that man absolutely shred mitts for years now. Few can close more distance with that right hand-roll than Emmett.

A reminder that despite my questions for ONE FC and its lack of oversight, our commissions in the US do whatever the hell they want too.

Juan Adams is a pretty major step up in competition for Hardy and deserved to have his hand raised last time out. I have a tough time seeing Hardy surviving this one.

I stand firmly by the belief that “El Cucuy” is the best Lightweight in the world. Title fight or no, let’s all get excited for his battle with Donald Cerrone.

Speaking of “Cowboy,” Cerrone’s pace and activity against the best in the world is not going to be seen again for a long, long time. One day, I hope Cerrone really goes into detail on the physical toll of so many fight camps in such a short time and how he managed it.

Slips, Rips, and KO clips

This is where I oversimplify the below mastery with an admittedly true statement like “elbows are underutilized in MMA.”

Jab high, body-body! A combination which I still remember as a Joseph Benavidez signature.

Sumo is simply the coolest, ask anyone other than Skip Bayless!

Random Land

Speed kills… sometimes.

I’m 3/3 on whinging about Game of Thrones, but this time I’d also like highlight the fact that Avatar: The Last Airbender was top-notch television. Middleweight interim champion Israel Adesanya has multiple tattoos from the show, so I’m not even that far off topic right now!

Music from the making of tonight’s Midnight Mania! London’s FKA Twigs is one of the most brilliant musicians working today. Her latest music video is pure artistic vision: written, co-produced, performed, and choreographed by Twigs, who is BACK after some health struggles in recent years.

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.