Midnight Mania: Even Holloway Knows He Got Dropped At UFC 300

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Max Holloway is still riding high after his all-time great knockout win over Justin Gaethje (watch it) at UFC 300 a couple weeks ago. The “Blessed” Hawaiian scored a BMF title thanks to the victory, but he also lined himself up for another shot at Featherweight gold opposite current champion Ilia Topuria.

The fight itself will go down in history as a masterclass performance, as Holloway touched up Gaethje in every round prior to the buzzer-beater knockout. However, that’s not to say Gaethje didn’t also find his own success. “The Highlight” landed quite a few heavy low kicks that bruised up Holloway’s lead leg, and he certainly landed some clubbing hooks upstairs too.

One such right hand caught Holloway upside the the hide and briefly sent him to the floor. Holloway bounced back up and fought back immediately, but it appeared to be the first knockdown against him in an already legendary career! Officially, however, it wasn’t deemed a knockdown, as the UFC statisticians are UFCStats.com do not recognize the exchange as a knockdown.

Even Holloway knows that’s bulls—t, however, and he admitted as much on the “JRE MMA Show”

“It didn’t count as a drop, which is crazy,” Holloway said (via MMA Junkie). “ESPN is posting and saying like in however many fights I’m with the UFC, I still didn’t get dropped. That’s some bulls—t. Give Justin that one. Like, I’ll take it, you know what I mean? But I wouldn’t be a man sitting here and telling you that he didn’t.”

“Bro, I don’t even remember getting hit with that punch,” Holloway continued. “And then I sat, and I came back up. I was like, ‘What the – what did he just hit me with?’ You know what I mean? I was like, ‘Holy s—t!’ I was like, ‘That was a good punch.’

“Then when I rewatched it, he hit me like right on the top of my dome. I was like, ‘Holy smack, brother. This guy smacks.’ I was fine as soon as I got up, but it was one of those like, ‘Boom.’ The legs just give out. Like, I was still there, even when I was standing, I was looking at him. But I don’t know how that didn’t count as a drop. I don’t know what they count as a drop.”

It’s a bit reminiscent of when Colby Covington became the first man to take down Kamaru Usman in their second fight … only for UFC statisticians to say it wasn’t a takedown! MMA isn’t boxing or wrestling, so the standards for a knockdown and takedown can be different from the base sports, but where’s the line?

Apparently, not even a decorated champion like Holloway is certain.

Insomnia

Does Conor McGregor only post sparring clips of him beating up dudes who don’t seem at the level to spar him? Yes. Still, nobody else moves quite like “Notorious!”

In his 34 professional fights, Tim Elliott has faced a who’s who of Flyweight history. If he says he’s injured and can’t fight, we should believe him.

Can Dominick Reyes return to the win column and get his career back on track?

Nope, I didn’t know that! It makes the Mark Hunt rant copypasta even funnier.

Congratulations to Paddy Pimblett and his family!

I always have time for a good footsweep.

Classic bare knuckle shenanigans.

Alexander Volkov “borrowed” a shopping cart for the bit — love it.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Jorge Masvidal was picking up top-notch wins all the way back in 2007.

Speaking of athletes with great wins in across a 20-year career:

Will you be tuning into RIZIN next week?

Random Land

Apologies for neglecting RL last night. Anyway, check out CalicoCutPants.com!

Midnight Music: Tonight, I checked out and enjoyed the recent folk-y, countryish album from Waxahatchee titled Tigers Blood.

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