Midnight Mania! Miocic Shuts Down Retirement Talks, ‘I’m Happy’

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

No one would blame Stipe Miocic if he choose to walk away after his bout this Saturday night (Aug. 15, 2020) bout with Daniel Cormier at UFC 252. The 37-year-old champion is a 10-year professional with a Hall of Famer worthy resume already, and regardless of whether he wins or losses in a couple days, ending his career would see him stopping while close to the peak of his career.

Few in combat sports accomplish that feat. Plus, the chance of having to get punched by Francis Ngannou again is far smaller from the sidelines!

With Cormier officially calling it quits after this bout — with the standard MMA asterisk that retirements rarely last forever — the same question has been asked of Miocic. At today’s UFC 252 pre-fight press conference, Miocic explained his situation, “I think about retirement after every fight,” Miocic said (transcription via MMAFighting). “Since my first fight at UFC 136, I think about retirement.”

“I love what I do,” Miocic continued. “The minute I’m not having fun and it acts like a job, I’m out. Right now, I’m good. I’m happy. I had a great camp, to the best of my abilities, especially being quarantined with this pandemic going on but honestly I feel great.

“We’ll see how long I can go. I don’t know about 40, god bless D.C. but I don’t know about that. A little bit longer.”

The silver lining to this championship trilogy match up for the Ohio-native is that he’s in pretty good position regardless of the outcome. Obviously, the best result is stopping Cormier and retaining the belt without issue, but if Miocic were to come up short, “DC” is retiring.

If the belt is vacant, few men are more deserving of another shot at gold then the recently dethrone champion.

Insomnia

Frankie Shredgar.

I am fatigued just thinking about this match up heading into the second round. Here’s hoping for 1) another Von Flue choke or 2) a major knockout.

Daniel Cormier plays around too much!

Michael Chandler’s analysis of his recent knockout win over Benson Henderson is pretty interesting, and it goes to show how much some fighters are simply reacting rather than consciously aware. It’s a balance!

Some important health advice for fighters and fans alike: sleep is the best way to recover from strenuous workouts, injuries, and anything else … though perhaps a midnight column is a poor place for such a PSA.

A pretty cool bit of art from the recent Darren Till vs. Robert Whittaker bout:

Merab Dvalishvili lets opponents up just to take them down again. That’s not efficient by any means, but for the rare fighters like Dvalishvili who have the gas tank for it, it is extremely demoralizing.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

If stuck in an anaconda choke, circling away from the opponent is a must.

Do not miss the Anderson Silva upward elbow that definitely landed before the fight-finisher!

Even prior to the knockout, Williams did not look confident in his movement or hand position. Maybe he’s a great grappler, but … seems like a squash match from this short clip.

Random Land

Airplane madness!

Midnight Music: An all-time great beat with two all-time great MCs!

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