Midnight Mania: Mac Strips ‘Infected’ Belal Over Karmic Toe

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

It was really easy to make jokes about Conor McGregor’s withdrawal from UFC 303 after the Irish superstar revealed a broken pinky toe as the cause. That injury ultimately prevented McGregor from returning at all in 2024, a continued source of frustration. Current UFC Welterweight kingpin, Belal Muhammad, has been less than sympathetic, taking shots at McGregor and his wonky toe on several occasions.

Now, the shoe is on (or off?) the other foot. Muhammad has a gnarly bone infection in his toe (photos here) and was forced to withdraw from his planned UFC 310 main event versus Shavkat Rakhmonov. It’s an unfortunate start to his title reign, and Conor McGregor couldn’t help but laugh at the irony. In response, Muhammad labeled the former double champion a junkie.

The war of words continued in a since deleted tweet from McGregor, who claims Muhammad will be stripped because of the injury and his unappealing fighting style.

“Scutter talk just like your fight,” McGregor wrote. “You lambasted UFC world champions multiple times on having to reschedule their bouts thru injury and now it has come down on youl like a bomb from the skiy, it is glorious to see! No fight. No money. But staph infection hahahaha LOL! BUM! Stripped! Instantly. Zero knockdowns/any excitement or traffic or views or tickets sales in bout, and now also non reliable to show? Strip. Cut. Infected fighter. You have infections”

At the time of writing, UFC has yet to announce an official plan for Shavkat, who may remain on the UFC 310 card and face any number of willing contenders. Alternatively, his title shot versus Muhammad could simply be rebooked sometime in 2025.

As for McGregor, there’s still no official update on his return to the Octagon.

Insomnia

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Jack Slack shines a light on uncommon sweeps of the surprisingly tricky Linton Vassell:

If Canelo says CHIWIWI, Raul Rosas Jr is officially a superstar.

Trading sweeps!

I love watching a skilled fighter play deep half. Tarec Saffiedine wants to punch dos Anjos’ open face, but he cannot without losing his balance!

Bryce Mitchell is likely a really good training partner to prepare for Movsar Evloev. High-level wrestling and transitional grappling rounds!

What percentage of UFC Heavyweights simply hate salads?

Never miss a Carlos Diego Ferreira fight.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Anecdote of the week: The first and only time I ever pulled out of a fight due to injury was because of a spinning kick. I tried to side step, and my partner’s heel hit me directly in the hip bone. I couldn’t really walk for about two weeks, and his heel turned purple. It’s that powerful of a strike!

All of this is to say: I bet this fighter’s face hurts.

Ilia Topuria has the best 2-3-2 in MMA, bar none.

Really hard to watch.

Random Land

New combat sport just dropped!

Midnight Music: The latest Freddie Gibbs album, You Only Die 1nce, released today. For my money, the most consistently hard-spitting rapper of the last decade!

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