Midnight Mania! 2019’s Cleanest Combatant

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

There is not an exact method to United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) madness. When choosing which fighter to drug test and how often, the organization relies on what has been called the “smell test,” which is to say, they look for athletes that appear suspicion for whatever reason (sudden growth, massive muscles, certain physiques etc.) and then test the hell out of ‘em.

One such athlete is rising Middleweight contender Paulo Costa. “Borrachinha” is simply massive; he looks as much like a powerlifter as he does combat sports athlete. The man’s upper body is insanely built for such a cardio-intensive sport, yet he maintains a brutal pace that tends to overwhelm his opposition. Worse still, Costa recently tore his bicep, an injury made more common when abusing performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).

USADA smells something, but as of yet, we cannot fault the athlete. Having filled 14 cups with urine and 14 vials of blood, Costa is the most tested fighter of the year, and nothing has turned up.

Interestingly, Costa’s recent opponent, Yoel Romero, is just behind him with 13 tests in 2019. Both men are in the immediate title hunt at 185 lbs., which means they’ll likely receive even more attention from USADA and fans alike.

Insomnia

This would probably be my headline if I believed for a second it was true.

Mike Perry is nothing if not self-aware.

A dominant maneuver — there’s no way to avoid this if done properly.

I always like watching fighters who can strike well from the bottom, like Gegard Mousasi or Brian Ortega. This is not them:

A pair of acrobatic ways to defend the takedown, both of which are more practical than one might expect!

I believe it was just last night that I posted about Douglas Lima’s kicking prowess, but here’s another piece of evidence. If you need further convincing, go watch his fights with Rory MacDonald!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

The timing on the first knee is gorgeous.

Spin to win!

Saenchai is still picking up W’s at 39 years of age.

Random Land

As I understand it, crocodiles have the strongest bite force of any animal ever measured. Certainly enough to pop a crab!

Midnight Music: While in Thailand for the next six weeks, I will generally have less control over what I’m listening to, so I don’t know that I’ll be able to provide a selection every night. However, I just heard a bunch of Beatles classics covered in iffy English, and it was awesome — tonight is easy!

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