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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.

After a rare week off during which the combat sports world recuperated from UFC 300, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to its Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, this weekend (Sat., April 27, 2024) for UFC Vegas 91. In the main event, No. 5-ranked Flyweight, Matheus Nicolau, takes on former Flyweight title challenger and No. 8-seeded, Alex Perez.

UFC Vegas 91 is a very weak card regarding name value and stakes; however, it has some fun and exciting fights. So, before it airs on ESPN/ESPN+, let’s checkout some random storylines, tidbits and statistics ahead of showtime.

APEX Stats

UFC Vegas 91 will be the 98th UFC event to take place at the now-infamous UFC Apex facility. However, it will be the 91st “Fight Night,” as seven pay-per-view (PPV) events took place in the building during the pandemic several years ago.

‘Cursed’ Perez To The Rescue

UFC Vegas 91 was initially supposed to be headlined by Nicolau versus Manel Kape; however, bad luck hit Kape again, withdrawing from the fight and marking the ninth such incident in his Octagon tenure. Perez stepped in to save the card, which is ironic because he has had several canceled fights, too.

Rare Headliners

If you’ve been watching UFC for the past few years, you’ve probably noticed the 125-pound division doesn’t get much love in terms of main event opportunities. Nicolau vs. Perez is the third non-title Flyweight main event since 2017. The other two were Kai Kara-France vs. Amir Albazi and Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval.

Main Event Noob

After nine fights in the organization, Nicolau will headline his first-ever UFC card. The 31-year-old Brazilian has a 7-2 record inside the Octagon.

Perez competes in his second UFC main event, with his first being UFC 255 against Deiveson Figueiredo.

Gotta Get A Win

Both fighters in the main event are coming off losses. Nicolau was last in action against the aforementioned Royval, where he got knocked out in the first round with a nasty knee (watch highlights). Perez competed just eight weeks ago at UFC Vegas 87 against Muhammad Mokaev, dropping a unanimous decision.

Fightings Twins

After an eight-month layoff, Ryan Spann returns to action this weekend in the co-main event. In his last outing, he lost a super close split decision to Anthony Smith at UFC Singapore, to go down 0-2 in the rivalry.

Well, “Superman” has the chance to defeat Smith’s evil twin brother at UFC Vegas 91. Just kidding, it’s just Bogdan Guskov, who is coming off an impressive first round knockout win (watch highlights).

Second Shot

In Guskov’s third fight in UFC, he will have a second chance to get inside the Light Heavyweight Top 15. The fighter from Uzbekistan had an opportunity to crack the Top 10 in his UFC debut against Volkan Oezdemir, but fell short as he was finished in the first round. Guskov rebounded in his second UFC fight and now gets an opportunity against No. 11-seeded Spann.

Ranked Brazil Vs. Brazil

UFC 301 goes down next week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And instead of having two Top 15-ranked female Flyweights, Ariane Lipski and Karine Silva, fight there for whatever reason, they are fighting at UFC Vegas 91 in the “Featured Bout.” Lipski is ranked No. 12, while Silva sits in the No. 13 position.

Lipski is riding a three-fight win streak and is coming off a submission win over Casey O’Neil (watch highlights). Silva is riding an eight-fight win streak and is undefeated (2-0) in UFC.

New Year, New Fighter

Oh, and Lipski will no longer use that last name or her “Queen of Violence” nickname.

The 30-year-old Brazilian will now go by Ariane Da Silva, taking her husband’s surname. She has also dropped “violence” from her nickname and will now be known as “The Queen.”

So, she is now Ariane “The Queen” Da Silva. Get it right!

Souza Returns

Speaking of Silva, one of her previous opponents, Ketlen Souza, returns to action after a 10-month layoff because of a nasty knee injury. Indeed, back at UFC Vegas 74, Silva caught Souza in a kneebar and shredded her fellow Brazilian’s knee (watch highlights).

Souza is a former Invicta FC Flyweight champion with a record of 13-4.

Welcome To UFC!

Three fighters are making their UFC debut this weekend at UFC Vegas 91:

• Jhonata Diniz (6-0) is fighting Austen Lane. Diniz is coming off a contract-winning performance on season seven of Contender Series against Eduardo Neves. Diniz is the latest accomplished kickboxer to transition to mixed martial arts (MMA). The Brazilian holds a 100 percent finish rate.
• James Llontop (14-2) takes on fellow newcomer Chris Padilla (13-6). Llontop also comes from season seven of Contender Series, where he defeated Malik Lewis via unanimous decision. Llontop holds a 57 percent finish rate and is fighting out of Peru. Padilla has an 85 percent finish rate and is riding a three-fight finish streak, including a win over former UFC fighter Justin Jaynes. Padilla was also featured on MMAmania.com’s “Prospect of the Month.”

Finishers

Seven fighters competing on UFC Vegas 91 hold a 100 percent finish rates:

• Guskov: 15 finishes
• Silva: 17 finishes
• Lane: 12 finishes
• Diniz: 6 finishes
• David Onama: 11 finishes
• Uros Medic: 12 finishes
• Nia Liang: 19 finishes

Welcome Back, ‘Thud’

It was kind of strange when Austin Hubbard was released from UFC back in 2022. While his record inside the Octagon wasn’t the best (3-5), he fought tough competition, and he was just too good to be on the regional scene.

Hubbard reached The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 32, but lost to Kurt Holobaugh via triangle choke. Despite this loss, he remained signed.

He faces Michal Figlak.

UFC Vegas 91 Fight Leader

The fighter with the most career fights competing at UFC Vegas 91 is Tim Means (50).

UFC Vegas 91 Fight Rookie

The fighter with the least amount of career fights competing at UFC Vegas 91 is Diniz (6).

UFC Vegas 91 Knockout King

The fighter with the most amount of career knockouts competing at UFC Vegas 91 is Means (20).

UFC Vegas 91 Submission Savant

The fighter with the most amount of career submissions competing at UFC Vegas 91 is Rani Yahya (21).

Winners And Losers

Seventeen fighters are coming off wins, nine are coming off losses.

Multi-Divisions

Here are the divisions that will be on display this Saturday:

• Two Heavyweight fights
• One Light Heavyweight fight
• One Welterweight fight
• Three Lightweight fights
• Two Featherweight fights
• One Bantamweight fight
• One Flyweight fight
• One women’s Strawweight fight
• One women’s Flyweight fight

Beta Dog

According to DraftKings, UFC Vegas 91’s “biggest” underdog is Na Liang at +400.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 91 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 7 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 91: “Nicolau vs. Perez” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

“I have never been less intimidated,” Brooke wrote on Twitter.

Former UFC strawweight sensation and part-time bareknuckle boxer Paige VanZant will make her “sweet science” debut against social media pugilist and current women’s middleweight champion Elle Brooke as part of the upcoming Misfits Boxing 15 event on DAZN, scheduled for Sat., May 25, 2024 at NRG Arena in Houston, Texas.

You probably knew that already thanks to this leak.

“Make no mistake, this is a colossal clash in the world of crossover boxing,” said Kalle Sauerland, Co-President of Misfits Boxing. “Hands down, Elle Brooke taking on the legendary Paige VanZant is the biggest female fight we’ve ever had in this space and the number of people watching in the arena, and worldwide on DAZN, will be huge. Brooke is the No. 2 pound-for-pound female fighter in Misfits Boxing but facing VanZant, a proven and global star from UFC, is by far the biggest challenge of her boxing career.”

Tickets for Misfits Boxing 15 are currently on sale through Ticketmaster.