Midnight Mania! GOAT No More

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MMA is very much the sport of “What have you done for me lately?” Any time a fighter loses, they suck, and as soon as a decade-long champion is dethroned, it doesn’t take long for their replacement to be declared the best of all time.

That established trend is precisely why Daniel Cormier’s recent comments about the Middleweight greatest of all time race were a breath of fresh air. Denouncing the alternative as recency bias, Cormier reminded a fan that Anderson Silva was hugely impressive for a long, long time, and that Israel Adesanya still has some work to do to catch up.

Chael Sonnen, who twice unsuccessfully challenged Silva for the Middleweight crown, disagrees. To Sonnen, the debate is unnecessary, because the pair actually fought at UFC 243 in February 2019, and Adesanya was declared victorious.

“There is zero truth to it,” Sonnen said, referring to Cormier’s aforementioned comments (via sportskeeda). “Look, If we are at least down to [Israel] Adesanya and Anderson [Silva], we’ve done a good and fair job as a community because those are the two [middleweight GOAT contenders] if we’ve at least got it down to them… It’s a valiant effort by Anderson, it was closer than any of us thought it would be, it was a great fight but that still answers the question.

“It has nothing to do, or at least not solely to do with resumes,” he added. “If Anderson beat 15 guys, Adesanya does not have to beat 15 guys to take over the spot of greatest of all time. In fact, we don’t actually have to wonder if this is not Khabib versus Georges St-Pierre. If Khabib and Georges come out and fight so we could finally figure out who the greatest of all time is and not have this discussion.”

Sonnen’s argument makes sense from a certain point of view, but it also ignores where each man was at in his respective career. Silva is 14 years older than the current champion, and he had won just one of his previous six fights before their match up. Adesanya, alternatively, was undefeated and on the rise, one more win away from his first title.

Adesanya will be attempting to defend his title once more vs. Robert Whittaker this weekend at UFC 271, whereas Silva is retired from MMA and pursuing boxing. Despite their meeting in the cage, the two represent different eras.

Still, the GOAT debate is largely subjective, so I’ll leave this one to the comment section: How much do you consider Adesanya’s victory over Silva when thinking about the best Middleweight of all time?

Insomnia

Stipe Miocic has a talent for commercials.

An attempt was made …

Joe Rogan isn’t too bothered by all the recent controversies.

Yana Kunitskaya is still getting after it on mitts despite being in her third trimester.

Jim Miller is dropping a cook book, which is both cool and unexpected.

Francis Ngannou doesn’t need working knees if he has nunchucks!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

This quick slam to rear naked choke transition earned Josh Fremd a UFC contract!

Back around 2012 when he was Bellator champ, I remember being quite impressed with Eduardo Dantas’ skills. He’s only 33, so perhaps there’s still time for the Brazilian to do something big?

Don’t push GOATs.

Random Land

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An inside look at the mind of an insane person.

Midnight Music: Garage rock, 2014

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