Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Perhaps the most exciting part about MMA is its wildly unpredictable nature. There’s always a chance that the grappler lands a huge knockout blow or the massive underdog wins in just a couple minutes. Fights can vastly exceed expectations … and sometimes absolutely fail to live up to them.
Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou is one such infamous example, as the two Heavyweight powerhouses were expected to trade huge power shots. Unfortunately, Ngannou’s confidence was shaken after his first UFC loss, while Lewis was dealing with injuries.
The result? An all-time bad staring match.
It’s been well over two years since that bout, but Lewis and Ngannou still get scorn occasionally thrown in their direction. However, Lewis is happy to report that since the dreadful Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero title fight back at UFC 248, Lewis’ place in history as one half of the worst fight ever has been stolen.
Derrick Lewis says he liked the Adesanya-Romero fight because now people will can longer say his fight against Francis Ngannou is the most boring fight of all time. From today’s @espnmma IG live. pic.twitter.com/WhU0CVyHRT
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) March 19, 2020
Lewis told Ariel Helwani, “I’m happy that it ended the way it did. You know, because, everybody was giving me and Francis hell for a long time, talking about our fight being the boringest fight ever. So, I’m glad they got to have beat us!”
Despite the general awfulness of the first fight, Lewis expressed interest in rematching Ngannou, promising the second fight would be much better. Until then, let’s solve this debate once and for all …
Insomnia
Sean O’Malley with the latest and greatest Tony Ferguson impression:
Mairbek Taisumov is the only particularly surprising name on the list, but his career has been plagued by visa issues.
13 fighters taken off the https://t.co/YHr2ZDqw9f roster:
Mairbek Taisumov
Tonya Evinger
Dong Hyun Ma
Chance Rencountre
Matthew Lopez
Cyril Asker
Khalid Murtazaliev
Talita Bernardo
Jodie Esquibel
Kyle Prepolec
Marcos Mariano
Isabela de Padua
Zhenhong Lu— Tom Feely (@omgitsfeely) March 19, 2020
Being a coach in combat sports isn’t all fun and games!
Mirko Cro-Cop breaking down his signature weapon!
Darren Till goes 1-1 verbally sparring with a couple devoted “fans.”
A COVID consequence I had not considered: Khalil Rountree Jr’s bout with Sam Alvey — and thus his retirement — has also been delayed.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Saenchai has posted a bunch of his knockouts in our time of need, and I am grateful.
The best no-gi grappler alive, Gordon Ryan, breaks down his guard passing and back take setups:
This exchange breaks down into chaos pretty quickly, but the opening side kick to cross against an opposite stance opponent is a great technique!
Random Land
This is some serious craftsmanship.
Midnight Music: Today is the 30th anniversary of what is, in my opinion, the best Depeche Mode album, Violator. An all-time great synth-pop record!
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.