Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
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Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Just days away from Jon Jones’ title defense at UFC 247, former Jackson-Winkeljohn striking coach and training partner of Jones, Frank Lester, has taken to Instagram to flame his former friend:
“Fakest group of people I’ve ever been around. They will invite you on the team after 8 years of faithful service. They will use you for the highest level of sparring and drilling, they will pray with you like you family, but in actuality none of these dudes give a flying fuck about the other personally, they just hanging on Jon’s nutsack bc they want to get paid. And when I got ripped off all these so called friends turned their backs on me & all the hard work I had given to Team Jone and Jacksons MMA as a whole over the last 8 years. Just bc jon is a super control freak who has to get his was and if you’re not ready to be his yes man and suck on his ego inflated dick… then you’re out! Well let’s see what KARMA has in store for this weekend for these fucking chumps! “Let em hate’ so long as they fear’ I’m not the one who needed to involve the police or call Greg Jacksons punk ass bc jon Jones was too scared to come fight me like a man for the money he owed me. Oh, yeah, Jon Jones is a master in the cage but a BITCH IN THE STREET. So he had Greg call his lil GF who works for APD and submit an unlawful red flag law memorandum on me bc jon Jones pussy ass thought I might shoot him, which I never said anything of the sort or hinted that was even a possibility. He’s just got a bitch ass cowards with no street heart to handle his own bullshit in real life when it comes to real men being about real business and he had to make sure the law would over step their boundaries bc his ego is so big & he knows Greg will break laws bc he needs that BONES paycheck bc after that divorce and his terrible business skills which killed the original gym, it prolly ain’t coming again for too much longer! #TANKLIFE #ImTheRealestINTheGame LETS GO CHAMP!!! @domreyes24”
Back in September, Lester went on a similarly lengthy rant to accuse Jones of stealing money from him, which resulted in some angry words between the two in the comments. While Jones did not respond this time (yet), Diego Sanchez did appear in the comments to back up Lester. He wrote:
“REALTALK @cowboycerrone I publicly apologize for defending @jacksonwink_mma honestly it was only @chadinspiremma I was defending! @thefranklester I feel for you! You got fucked over so bad! The truth hurts! I’m posting this so in hopes other top teams like @americantopteam or others will help a man that got so screwed over by fake family! I opened the doors of mma for Greg and every other New Mexican making a living off of @ufc! Then they SHIT all over my legacy taking advantage of the thousands of dollars, time, energy and REAL love I poured into that gym and the young fighters who desperately needed a honest loving mentor who was willing to share experiential wisdom! THE TRUTH IS JW IS NOT JACKSON/WINK IT’S JONES/WINK”
This is something of a longstanding argument against the Jackson-Wink gym. They’ve received flack in the past for choosing promising prospects (such as Jones and Georges St. Pierre) over their own established roster (Rashad Evans and Sanchez himself, respectively). Nevertheless, they continue to be one of the sport’s top fight teams and draw many new prospects and veterans.
Insomnia
Now for my personal opinion: I think there are some legitimate criticisms regarding the Jackson-Wink gym and how they handle such situations (which are rarely simple), but Sanchez’s new situation … well … it seems like a step backwards regardless.
Chan Sung Jung isn’t worried about the punching power of Alexander Volkanovski.
Here’s hoping Penne can move on with her career, one way or another.
Jessica Penne has shut down her GoFundMe campaign. According to the post by her manager, their team and USADA are “close to reaching an outcome that will avoid the full costs of an arbitration” pic.twitter.com/Xqz613Yzp1
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) February 5, 2020
Dustin Poirier calls out another site for fishing for clicks — wouldn’t know anything about that myself!
Nope.. these guys at BJ https://t.co/W1JxZxAr8L will make a headline about anything for clicks https://t.co/BYz9hfAojY
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) February 5, 2020
This is my least favorite piece of cardio equipment on the planet. I’d chose a bike, treadmill, rower, versa climber, or a dozen other options before sulking over to the skier.
This pair of mediocre MMA photoshops really made me laugh.
Feb4.2006
Joe Riggs def. Nick Diaz by unanimous decision at UFC 57.
Later that night, the two brawled at a Las Vegas hospital. According to Nick, he walked into the hospital with Nate and saw Joe Riggs on a gurney getting IV. pic.twitter.com/Skxg3lfWFe
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) February 5, 2020
— Tito Kray (@KrayTito) February 3, 2020
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Highlights of the flashiest kickboxer on the planet right now!
Tenshin Nasukawa ??? ?? pic.twitter.com/42ulXwG0eZ
— Streetfight Bancho (@streetfitebanch) February 4, 2020
This is a straight up smackdown.
Let’s all take a moment to fondly remember the Machida Era. To this day, few are able to time counters and intercepting shots quite like “The Dragon.”
Random Land
Is this the intended result? I’d like to think so.
Midnight Music: One of my favorite tracks off Blood On The Tracks.
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.