Midnight Mania! Whittaker: Trash Talk Was A Factor In ‘Stylebender’ Loss

Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Few men are more open about the mental side of competition than Robert Whittaker. The Aussie has spoken about battling depression and mental fatigue while champion, admitting previously that his title loss was something of a relief.

Looking back at his time as champion again, Whittaker reflected on a unique portion of the Israel Adesanya challenge: trash talk. “Stylebender” pretty consistently manages to chirp at his opponents beforehand (and sometimes after too), either because of genuine or manufactured bad blood.

It affected “The Reaper.”

“I think it was one more thing that piled on top,” Whittaker told MMA Tonight (transcription via TheBodyLockMMA). “One more thing we threw on top of a pile of an already huge clutter mess of what was going on in my head. And certainly, I can’t discount the fact that side of it, as well as the hype and the buildup and the attention me and him were receiving in Australia. … The size of the event, the size of the venue — it was a massive thing. It just blew everything up to bigger proportions.

“I’m certain it did play a factor. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. But I think it was the cherry on top, not so much the driving factor.”

If the two indeed do face-off a second time, perhaps Whittaker will be better prepared for the verbal warfare aspect.

Insomnia

Bobby Green has a chance to make history tomorrow night.

There was a WBC vs. UFC Family Feud episode, and since I am neither a geriatric nor a sick child home from school, I did not watch it. I did, however, laugh at this thread of highlights (click through).

Happy early Halloween! I would not have included this meme had “Stylebender” himself not liked it.

Good news for fight fans who hate Light Heavyweights with healthy legs: Khalil Rountree Jr. isn’t retiring just yet!

“The Gauntlet” is something of a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It looks worse than it feels, but there’s always one d*ck who manages to do a full windup and dig in.

There’s some debate whether 2 Chainz says “Going down like Askren” or “Aspen” at about the two minute mark. Decide for yourself:

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Uriah Hall may not have turned into the title contender his TUF season promised (yet?), but damn, it’s still impressive to this day.

Knocked him out of stance with a low kick and then capitalized big!

Squeezing the head off a man is a great way to lay claim to a championship belt!

Random Land

Muay Thai killer Liam Harrison introduced me to @SlapForCash, and I don’t know that life will ever be the same.

Midnight Music: Gorillaz released a new album a week ago, and it’s pretty wild. Every song has a feature, which range from Beck and Elton John to ScHoolboy Q and JPEGMAFIA. Somehow, it still manages to sound reasonably cohesive!

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