Midnight Mania! ‘I Would Love To Punch A Hole In That Motherf—ker’s Face’

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Justin Gaethje is less than 24 hours removed from his Lightweight title showdown vs. Charles Oliveira at UFC 274. Even though his opponent missed weight, Gaethje remains eligible to win the title if victorious. However, “Do Bronx” is not the only potential opponent Gaethje has been asked about in the media storm of the last few days.

While on the Nelk Boy’s Full Send Podcast, Gaethje was asked his thoughts about Colby Covington. The two have prior beef, with Gaethje previously admitting he “despises” Covington after some online trash talk from “Chaos.” Unsurprisingly, the two have yet to patch things up.

“I would love to punch a hole in that motherf—kers face,” Gaethje began (via Susan Cox). “So you have respect for how fake one can be? I don’t like him. He talked about Kamaru’s family a lot, he was around me one day, we went to a Trump rally and he was respectful, like you say. And right when we left he got on the internet and started talking s—t. So I don’t respect that. If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face. And it’s just fake, he’s trying to bring attention to himself. And I get it, like, I make money with my fighting, he makes money with his mouth. If he wanted to make money off his fighting he’d be a broke motherf—ker.”

Despite Gaethje disdain towards Covington, he does admit that Covington can fight. In fact, he recognizes that the Welterweight wrestler would be a difficult challenge for him inside the Octagon.

“I think he’s a great fighter. But he sucks to watch. But yeah, if I fought him in the cage he’d probably beat me, because of his size and his ability to move forward and to grapple. But in a street fight, there’s no f—king chance. Because in a street fight I’d grab a brick and hit him in the f—king head. Yeah, can’t do that in this sport. There’s rules here. You got rules in this sport and in the street there are no rules. I think the only rule is don’t hit somebody from the back, so I’m definitely on his side when it comes to what happened with Masvidal. I think that was a b—ch move. But I like Masvidal more.”

End Of Self Promotion

As feared, the fight is off.

I’d still like to thank the 60 or so MMAmaniacs who reached out and supported. I worked very hard in the last five weeks of camp and was feeling ready to go! Unfortunately, this is the game — everything takes far longer in MMA than you would expect. Again, I’m keeping the list of names, which will carry over to the banner when I’m rebooked in the fall, after my forthcoming nuptials. Still, tune in on May 28 on Fight Pass to watch my amigo and former MMAMania contributor Andrew “Bulldog” Coyne kick some ass.

As always, thanks for putting up with me, friends and readers.

Insomnia

There is some controversy brewing regarding scales and Charles Oliveira’s botched weigh-in.

I’m not trying to personally absolve Oliveira for missing weight, particularly given his history at Featherweight. That said, I am sympathetic, because making weight on my scale then missing on the official is my personal worst nightmare, an idea that gives me far more anxiety than the prospect of losing.

Molly McMann did not at all hold back in this low kick vs. Barstool Sport’s Robbie Fox.

Damn.

I am reminded of the legendary Mike Perry “YOU GO!” video.

Is Carla Esparza undervalued vs. Rose Namajunas this weekend? A few takedowns can make even great fighters look a lot more average …

Slips, rips, and KO clips

There is only one Yoel Romero.

Gilbert Burns has carried big power in his hands for a long time, but his career really blew up once he found confidence in them.

Aljamain Sterling highlights from back in the day — that’s a long lifespan for a backpack!

Random Land

A rather full train:

Midnight Music: A recently released live recording of the classic “Tumbling Dice:”

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