Midnight Mania: ‘I Want To Do Something Good In His Memory’

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

2024 has been a difficult year for former UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.

His sophomore boxing performance went considerable worse than his professional debut, as Anthony Joshua wasted little time in handing “The Predator” his first knockout loss in combat sports. A painful defeat was nothing compared to personal tragedy, however, as Ngannou’s 15 month old son suddenly passed just weeks later in April 2024. Ngannou has already opened up about the tremendous sadness and struggle with moving forward after the death of his child, but now there’s an official date for his return: October 19 against PFL Heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira.

It’s a return that almost didn’t happen. In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Ngannou talked about having to make a decision about his professional career and the uncertainty of it all. Ultimately, however, Ngannou decided to fight on to honor his son’s memory and create something positive from the trauma.

“This is not a great moment for me,” Ngannou began (via Curtis Calhoun). “I need some activities. I need to stay active to be in a zone that I belong to. I also need to keep it going, to fight for my boy, for Kobe. The past few months hasn’t been the easiest. I think it has been by far my hardest [moment] in life. I lost my son. For some time, I felt like I didn’t even have to do this or questioning about if I should do it or fight again…

“But I want to do something good in his memory. Not to be the reason for me to quit but to be motivation and also to fight for him.”

When asked further about his potential retirement, Ngannou explained that his doubts and concerns were greater than fighting. His uncertainty was existential and more complicated than just fighting.

“It’s not that I have come close to retiring. It’s just that in this circumstance you think, you have different thoughts,” Ngannou said. “You see how fragile life is. You feel hurt, you feel powerless. You feel useless. You’re questioning about your existence, about the importance of all of this, or life in general.”

Insomnia

Some fun facts ahead of UFC Vegas 95 this weekend:

I don’t often say this about unranked Middleweights, but Brunno Ferreira is a must-watch action fighter.

Jon Jones being weird on social media? Couldn’t be!

Joaquin Buckley analyzes the rise of Alex Pereira in … unique … fashion.

Canelo isn’t impressed with or bothered by Conor McGregor yapping.

A super slick single leg takedown counter!

Walking 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) is one way to jumpstart Jiri Prochazka’s new weight cut to 185 pounds.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

As it turns out, yelling in pain is not optimal defense to any leg lock!

A sneaky gi choke:

Caught standing tall by a wide left hand swing:

Random Land

Not everybody is built for the world’s greatest games.

Midnight Music: Art rock, 1980

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