Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Any time there’s bad blood ahead of a mixed martial arts (MMA) bout, it must be questioned how much of the beef is genuine. Do these two men really hate each other? Is it merely an attempt to sell a few extra pay-per-view (PPV) buys? Reading between the lines and attempting to figure out the truth can prove difficult.
Whether you believe him or not, Jorge Masvidal elaborated on his feelings towards Kamaru Usman earlier during Media Day.
“Like I said in the Askren fight before and after, it’s never personal. It’s always business. There’s just people that I probably didn’t get along too well with … But with Usman, for a fact, has crossed lines that no other competitor that I’ve fought has talked about. He’s talked about things he’s going to do to my butthole, which I don’t understand why he’s talking about my butthole. He’s talking about my ethnicity, whether I’m this or not. He’s telling people that I’m saying I’m God.
“You can’t find the video or a Twitter or nothing ever saying that I said I’m God. So, this guy’s just doing a lot of things that are going to cause him to get hurt in a very violent way. If the referee trips on the way to stopping me, and I get to get a couple extra, extra punches, I wouldn’t mind.”
Apologies to Gilbert Burns — an excellent fighter and deserving challenger — but Masvidal has the edge in making a fight compelling! UFC 251 is now just a couple days away, so we’ll just have to wait to see which athletes leave with the three title belts up for grabs, and whether any beefs are settled in the process.
Insomnia
Paulo Costa being a Mike Perry supporter is surprisingly unsurprising.
forget that shit of fight in bar and hit old mans , it’s just another’ normal Wednesday here at my street in Brazil
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) July 9, 2020
forget that shit of fight in bar and hit old mans , it’s just another’ normal Wednesday here at my street in Brazil
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) July 9, 2020
One more Perry joke …
Conor McGregor punched an old dude in a bar and the dude ate it no problem. Mike Perry punched an old man in bar and deaded him. You tell me who the better fighter is. pic.twitter.com/oEa8m73RBx
— MacMally (@MacMallyMMA) July 9, 2020
Max Holloway’s number of punches thrown and level of activity are in a class of their own.
Angela Hill tried to make a few bucks on a joke t-shirt and wound up with a cease-and-desist from USADA.
Who snitched?! Got a call from @usantidoping’s lawyer. Don’t worry my name is clean, but unfortunately they asked me to take down my #UsadaDare shirt from my store or face legal repercussions. On the bright side, maybe someone got a reduced sentence after ratting me out ??? pic.twitter.com/grbShxrpDZ
— Angela Hill (@AngieOverkill) July 9, 2020
Some potentially great boxing films are coming up — I’ll watch anything Mahershala Ali is in!
Mahershala Ali is set to portray Jack Johnson in an HBO mini-series and Jamie Foxx has confirmed he will play Mike Tyson in a biopic.
Which other boxer’s life story would you like to see on the silver screen? and who would you get to play them? pic.twitter.com/9ksgfnTW6v— Boxing News (@BoxingNewsED) July 9, 2020
Just a 4x national wrestling champion dipping his toes in the kickboxing waters …
Josh Emmett has yet to undergo his fast-approaching knee surgery, but he’s still in the gym getting light workouts in.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
I didn’t even see this elbow on my first viewing …
Brutal elbow knockout by Kaiwantae against Ali Said in yesterdays show at Thanakorn Stadium.
@muaythaichai pic.twitter.com/kvezcmLBYO
— Beyond Kickboxing (@Beyond_Kick) July 9, 2020
A young “Thunder” absolutely starches his aggressive opponent with a right hand:
OTD in 1991: 19-year-old Arturo Gatti scored a vicious 19 second KO in his second second pro fight.
— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) July 9, 2020
Muay Thai, boxing, and Karate — all three martial arts brought the violence in tonight’s edition of Midnight Mania.
?? Rolling Thunder KO = Karate!
They Don’t Come Much Cleaner Than That.. pic.twitter.com/iEkD195OsN
— Mikey Thomas (@MikeyThomasMMA) July 9, 2020
Random Land
A risky drive!
Midnight Music: Discovered a recent album of Tom Waits covers accurately titled Women Sing Waits, and yeah, that’s definitely up my alley.
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.