Midnight Mania! Blaydes: Ngannou Is In a ‘Dark, Dark Place’

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

UFC heavyweight contender Curtis “Razor” Blaydes is scheduled to put his six-fight win streak on the line to rematch Francis Ngannou at UFC: Beijing. The former UFC title challenger Ngannou has lost some momentum after also dropping a lackluster decision to Derrick Lewis in his last bout. According to Blaydes, this has to be bad news for his mental state. Via MMAJunkie.com:

“He’s probably in a hole right now,” Blaydes said. “0-2 after being the hotshot? That’s got to be a dark, dark place. I want him to be his best. I don’t want any excuses out of his camp or the fans or the company. I want him at his best. I’ll beat him 10 out of 10 times.”

One could argue that he has already lost 1 out of 10… but Blaydes wasn’t stopped by Ngannou. He was stopped by the doctor, and he’s quick to remind us all of that.

“It is a loss,” Blaydes said. “On my record it’s a loss, but any loss that you don’t lose any sleep over is that one. It wasn’t the referee’s decision, it wasn’t the judge’s decision, it was the doctor.”

Still, that doesn’t mean the official L on his record doesn’t bother him. He wants it back.

“I wouldn’t say it kept me up at night, but I knew it would happen eventually,” Blaydes told reporters during a recent media scrum. “It was inevitable. I knew he’d be around, I’d be around. The UFC likes natural stories like this. We already have a natural storyline. It’s not fake. We had a fight, he won, but I didn’t get to finish it. So I do have a bit of redemption I want to get.”

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Insomnia

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UFC bantamweight Tonya Evinger and her girl had themselves a truly amazing vacation, by the looks of things.

Yoel Romero might be asking if Anderson Silva is scared- “Are you afraid of [spider emoji]” but is Anderson Silva his best next opponent? He could rematch Jacare, or he could fight Israel Adesanya. Either way, he is the most dangerous man in the middleweight division, even including Robert Whittaker.

Georges St. Pierre hanging out with tennis star Genie Bouchard!

Monkey style!

Chad Mendes looks like he’s in a video game here. His fight with Alex Volkanovski, the Australian Chad Mendes, is going to be awesome.

Pretty cool fan art of light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes

Ouch- Adesanya said he has to dumb down his striking to mimic Edson Barboza, Dan Hooker’s next opponent.

This is such an incredible picture of camaraderie.

The KO was so insane, yet so sad for the Korean Zombie, who had been 1 second away from victory.

We were all thinking it

Football brawl!

Did anyone else read “The Moves Make the Man” as a kid? This is the MMA version.

I was waiting for this face to get memed.

I just didn’t expect Mike Perry to meme his own arm breaking.

I’m mad Adesanya referred to “2%” Mike Perry as a black man.

A+ tweet from Angela Hill.

Cowboy really wouldn’t be the worst option for a returning McGregor.

This is fantastic. Art Jimmerson, the boxer who opted to fight with one glove at UFC 1, is making fun of himself.

This cracked me up. If you are editing videos, why stop with a little fast-forwarding?

Is Cain Velasquez really returning in 2019?

This is surprising.

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Slips, Rips, and Kneebar Clips

This knockout is still surreal to me.

Russian Sambo for the soul

Alexander Usyk is an all-time great when it comes to beating men in their own country

Marcin Held can hook a heel

Giorgio Petrosyan is one of the all-time greats

Amazing. Yi Long knocked out Choi Hong-Man via spinning kick to the nuts.

That lead uppercut is a treat.

Like a bull against a matador

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Random Land

The pictures coming out of California are apocalyptic. I understand why Californians are so concerned about climate change. Abnormally dry climate patterns mean… this.

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