Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
The retirement of Amanda Nunes changed the women’s MMA field drastically. Suddenly, all of her defeated foes had new life! The veterans of the Bantamweight division saw new opportunity, while the remnants of the Featherweight division braced for the likely dissolution.
An unexpected possibility in the return of Ronda Rousey as well! Though Holly Holm is still around — she headlines this weekend opposite Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC Vegas 77 — “Lioness” heavy hands sent Rousey into retirement in the first round. Without the Brazilian reigning over two divisions, there was potential for gold in two divisions for the extremely popular former champion.
Rumors quickly built, spurred on further by fighter media comments throughout the week. Sadly, it’s time to dump a bucket of cold water on this unlikely story. MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani reports that “Rowdy” is not at all considering any return to the Octagon.
Ronda Rousey is not considering a UFC comeback, I’m told.
No truth to the rumors started yesterday.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 13, 2023
It’s far from a shock. Rousey has been active in the professional wrestling here, taking out the likes of Marshawn Lynch. Furthermore, the 36-year-old Olympian was already dealing with major injuries prior to her 2016 retirement.
Now that this hypothetical is over, we can get back to focusing on the real news, like the latest prop bets on the Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg super fight that’s definitely going to happen any day now.
Insomnia
Zhalgas Zhumagulov had one of the unluckiest UFC careers in recent memory.
? Fighter removed: Zhalgas Zhumagulov
— UFC Roster Watch (@UFCRosterWatch) July 13, 2023
I think, more than anything else, Israel Adesanya is guilty of doing the whole Michael Jordan thing, creating narratives and reasons to amp himself up. Seems exhausting, but it’s working for him!
uh ohhhh Izzy pic.twitter.com/0H6dIrG2QD
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) July 13, 2023
Yup, this clip belongs in the column.
The most egregious oil check I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/bSNnhXm8US
— LinkedIn Covington (@nerdsnfilthyani) July 13, 2023
Alex Volkanovski made it look easy, but fighting Yair Rodriguez really is such a scary proposition. Good luck guessing what he’s going to do next!
Jumping question mark kick is crazy pic.twitter.com/ULy8vRky6Q
— RoyalzMMA (@RoyalzMMA) July 13, 2023
Is TUF getting Mac back in shape?
Conor’s noticeable weight loss through in TUF from EP1 to EP7 pic.twitter.com/Wmlpl2vAXw
— WAR POIRIER/GAETHJE (@DanaIsBIack) July 13, 2023
Twitter is an insane place generally, and the MMA sphere there is no better.
Very normal discussions are happening on MMA twitter pic.twitter.com/DACbfxyZbc
— The Combat Hub (@combathubreal) July 13, 2023
I don’t want to stereotype, but Russian TUF seems to be going exactly how I would have predicted.
Meanwhile, on Russian TUF pic.twitter.com/6qNOZb7Ts9
— Matysek (@Matysek88) July 12, 2023
I have an additional explanation: Dan Hooker is made of iron.
Lmao Craig explaining Dan Hooker’s explanation of eating a headkick in round 2 pic.twitter.com/iWWWItqM0A
— Josie Aldo (@MMAWretch) July 12, 2023
Slips, rips, and KO clips
A fun collection of shins wrapping around heads:
Thanks, I hate it.
Gfycat is apparently dying, so I’ll celebrate the only gif service I found easy to use in its glory days by sharing that most popular gif i ever made, over 115k shared and watches pic.twitter.com/xkJAufztzj
— T. P. Grant (@TP_Grant) July 13, 2023
Go to any amateur MMA card, and there’s a fair chance you see at least one fastball-like right hand connect like this. 75% of fights will begin with one!
Random Land
At a minimum, this is a tie.
Midnight Music: Hip-hop, 1993
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.