Midnight Mania! Belt-Bound Burns? ‘Highly Likely’

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The Welterweight title picture is something of a clogged mess right now, but really in the best way possible. There are three men who have a strong argument for a shot at gold: Gilbert Burns, Leon Edwards, and Jorge Masvidal. With Masvidal stuck in negotiation hell and Edwards seemingly stranded in London, Burns is the clear favorite.

Being ranked as the No. 1 contender certainly doesn’t hurt.

While on the “Steve-O’s Wild Ride” podcast, Dana White spoke with the Jackass veteran himself and explained how Burns’ anyone, anytime mentality helped push the odds into his favor.

“You got Colby Covington, you got Jorge Masvidal, you got Leon Edwards and now obviously you’ve got Gilbert Burns,” White said (transcription via MMAFighting). “The reality is, we’re going to reach out tomorrow and say: ‘Who wants the next fight? Who wants this fight? Who is ready to go? Who wants to fight Usman?’ If it’s Masvidal, Edwards or Burns.

“Burns told me that night, ‘Let’s turn this (expletive) right round, I’ll fight Usman now. I’m ready.’ I love that kind of (expletive). When you’re that guy, it’s highly likely you’re getting that (expletive) fight.”

Another wrinkle of intrigue to remember is that Burns and Usman are team mates who share a head coach and work out together quite a bit. While both have remained respectful and are willing to fight for a belt, one can imagine UFC is already salivating at the idea of another bad-blood-former-training-partners marketing promo!

Insomnia

Check out the latest episode of our Thailand adventures, this time featuring an officiated bar fight! Full details HERE!

Kyoji Horiguchi is back to work for the first time after his knee surgery, which is great news if you like elite fighters!

How’s this for a throwback?

I agree with Aljamain Sterling and have written as much. His bout with Cory Sandhagen should be five rounds for the Bantamweight strap; their recent resumes are currently the best at 135 lbs.

Does UFC have a backup Middleweight lined up, or is Gerald Meerschaert confident that Ian Heinisch will make it into the cage after all?

Georges St. Pierre has still got it!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Dan Henderson could barely walk like normal human at this point in his career, but that didn’t stop him from scoring one of the most incredible knockouts of all time.

It’s my opinion as an analyst that Sean O’Malley is the real deal. That’s not to say he’s a contender right now (maybe!), but he will be in the mix at some point.

Staying in the ring is a small goal, but an important one.

Random Land

Best of luck comprehending this Tweet on the first (or second) read:

Midnight Music: Killer Mike has been a prominent political voice in the hip hop community for at least the last decade, so here’s one half of Run The Jewels with his 2012 tirade against the system:

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