Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
In unfortunate news, Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Orlando Sanchez has been reported dead at 40 years of age by Flograppling. He passed away on December 15th.
Sanchez is a well-established jiu-jitsu competitor. In 2015, he won the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) +99kg division, which is the peak of no-gi jiu-jitsu. In addition, he was a Brazilian National Champion, and across his career picked up wins over legendary names like Dean Lister, Leandro Lo, and Vinny Magalhaes. “The Cuban Tree Stomp” was well-known for his powerful style of grappling.
BJJ Heroes lists his record in elite competition as 13-9.
For MMA fans, Sanchez is best known for a brief feud with tomorrow night’s UFC Vegas 66 headliner Sean Strickland. While the duo were training together, Sanchez applied a shoulder lock that Strickland deemed dirty. Strickland pushed him away and threw a couple strikes, but Sanchez was adamant he was merely teaching Strickland a technical lesson, not trying to hurt him. The duo were reportedly training together not long afterward, so perhaps it wasn’t so serious an issue after all.
Rest in peace.
Insomnia
Champion or not, there’s a lot of love for Magomed Ankalaev in Dagestan.
Merab Dvalishvili is living it up in Jamaica.
Merab Dvalishvili en Jamaïque
@MerabDvalishvil pic.twitter.com/XMuj7cvwm2
— La Sueur (@LaSueur_off) December 16, 2022
With @funkmasterMMA in Jamaica pic.twitter.com/tyaitC88ry
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) December 15, 2022
I don’t even know what to say about this… pic.twitter.com/Zv8PnYUXHl
— Shakiel Mahjouri (@Shak_Fu) December 16, 2022
Fight logic is different.
The greatest use of logic in UFC history: pic.twitter.com/KBUzAFfypD
— Out Of Context MMA (@oocmma) December 16, 2022
Celebrating arguably the three best chins in the UFC at the moment. Who else ranks highly?
Drew Dober was knocked down for the first time in his UFC career this year on 18th appearance in the promotion.
There’s currently 3 fighters in the UFC with 20+ appearances that have never been knocked down or stopped by strikes. I find that seriously impressive. pic.twitter.com/5VM6Gy7Zph
— Andy Hickey MMA (@AndyHickeyMMA) December 16, 2022
Billy Quarantillo releases an unsurprising medical diagnosis.
Just got back from the dr office… it’s worse than we expected pic.twitter.com/N7Vf0008zR
— Billy Quarantillo (@BillyQMMA) December 16, 2022
Reminder: being an MMA fighter usually isn’t cheap.
30k In management and coaches fees getting paid out today. We all hate losing chunks of money but I always remind people, I would never be here without the support of these people. Never get so big that you stop wanting to pay the people who fought for you.
— Chris Curtis The Action Man (@Actionman513) December 16, 2022
Be sure to check out Midnight Mania next Monday for the highlights from this matchmaking masterpiece.
The fight in KSW history!
XTB #KSW77 | KSWTV | Viaplay pic.twitter.com/kOJPHWImbc
— KSW (@KSW_MMA) December 16, 2022
This is the best MMA meme I’ve seen in quite some time. Crystal vs. Crystal!
one rock to rule them all pic.twitter.com/RKZVIv4PNc
— Hektic_One (@hektic_one) December 16, 2022
Featherweight banger alert!
BREAKING
A featherweight scrap between Andre Fili and Lucas Almeida takes place on February 25th at #UFCVegas70 in the UFC APEX. pic.twitter.com/z41fMA3taE
— Marcel Dorff (@BigMarcel24) December 16, 2022
Slips, rips, and KO clips
It’s always a bit surprising to me that we don’t see more knee to the body stoppages in MMA. That strike can be so debilitating when it lands correctly!
Mike Davidson stops Alisson Meira with a knee to the body in the clinch. #ShootoBrasil114 pic.twitter.com/6nFT7Ks2TI
— eaj (@simeoneball) December 16, 2022
Put away face down …
Solidne rozpocz?cie karty g?ównej! Konrad Furmanek nokautuje w pierwszej rundzie Dawida Borz?ckiego #FEN43
TRANSMISJA GALI:
Polsat Sport Fight, Super Polsat pic.twitter.com/2i6W6ii0IW— FEN MMA (@fenmma) December 16, 2022
I never thought I would see a YouTuber beating up Alex Emelianenko, but here we are.
Alex Emelianenko in huge trouble against close to 30kgs lighter YouTuber Svyatoslav Kovalenko pic.twitter.com/5xLOX97Sef
— Matysek (@Matysek88) December 16, 2022
Random Land
Still MMA, but I feel like this counts.
Midnight Music: Los Angeles’ rapper Ab-Soul’s latest LP dropped today!
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.