Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Dominick Cruz’s shoulder must be feeling a lot better, because the ever-ornery former Bantamweight king is taking shots online at double-champ Henry Cejudo and his coach, Eric Albarracin.
In general, Cruz does not need to be needled to throw a verbal blow, but this specific incident was instigated by “Triple C.” In yet another bizarre moment, Cejudo talked some trash earlier in the week by reading his belts a bedtime story (?), changing their diapers (?!?!?), and then telling Cruz to “bend the knee.”
Though it is likely to be a full three years since Cruz’s last bout — his December 2016 title loss to Cody Garbrandt — before “Dominator” is able to return, Cruz remains a top-ranked Bantamweight. Of all the absurd match ups Cejudo has called for, this one makes more sense than most… which is not saying all that much. Cruz is a reasonable opponent, but only after he successfully returns to the Octagon with a win can his title shot be justified.
As a final aside: fighters below at least Lightweight should probably avoid using height and size as insults.
Insomnia
There is no way to comfortably condition the shin. Personally, I try to find solace in the fact that every time I go home from sparring/Muay Thai practice with a sore shin or swollen top-of-foot, the bones supposedly grew just a bit denser.
Reminder: Andrade is a pretty special talent.
Opponents and records continue to fall at the hands of @jessicammapro #UFCShenzhen pic.twitter.com/gt6Hr4fK1y
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 29, 2019
Weili Zhang is pretty awesome as well, but I get the feeling a lot of people are overlooking Andrade as a result. She’s the champ for a reason!
I don’t know how old this Anderson Silva fight is (Instagram’s translate feature failed me), but it’s definitely a serious throwback!
The real money fight between an unstoppable force and immovable object:
This position is even more impressive than last time!
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos will make it worth waking up for Saturday morning’s co-main event.
ONE. SHOT.
He knocked that dude the fuck out and went on to get his sandwich his way lmao pic.twitter.com/k9z6AAmRcg
— Connoisseur of Combat (@ConOfCombat) August 29, 2019
It doesn’t have to be a hard punch if the opponent runs directly into it.
A brutal, single-minded focus on one target can pay off big.
Random Land
Fulfilling my “weird” quota:
Medieval Cats pic.twitter.com/EvyJpSGXCO
— 41 Strange (@41Strange) August 28, 2019
To celebrate sparring day, it’s a Team Alpha Male tradition to post a video/picture of animals scrapping. This week, it’s bald eagles!
Midnight Music: To my knowledge, I’ve never heard a single One Direction song. But, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine just wrote up a pretty interesting profile on the band’s former member, Harry Styles, prompting me to re-listen to his pretty good solo debut. It is extremely inspired by 70s rock, so this may just be the song for readers who miss the good ol’ days.
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.