Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Cristine “Cyborg” Justino isn’t surprised fellow Brazilian champion Amanda Nunes wants to fight her. To her, it’s a logical consequence of underpromotion from the UFC, resulting in relatively few people knowing or caring about the dervish of destruction that is the women’s bantamweight champion.
“Amanda fought Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate with big pay-per-view numbers,” Cyborg explained when speaking to FloCombat. “The reality though is that the UFC promoted her opponents more than her, and after having to fight on her own brand she struggled to sell 100,000 pay-per-views against (Valentina) Shevchenko.
”Amanda knows my name sells pay-per-views, and without it her brand isn’t strong enough to sell enough pay-per-views to reach her bonus incentives in her contract.”
Those are strong words, but Cyborg has nothing against her countrywoman; in fact, she is planning on fighting her, sooner or later:
“I have three fights remaining on my UFC contract, and one of them will be Amanda Nunes,” Cyborg said. “I am going to let my manager negotiate when and where that fight happens. If the UFC feels she is the next Conor McGregor, then I think the fight needs to happen on one of the blockbuster 2018 fight cards.
”The UFC paid Ronda Rousey $3 million dollars to fight Amanda Nunes, and Miesha got to fight Amanda as a main event with Brock Lesnar fighting on her pay-per-view.
”I would like that same type of exposure if I’m fighting her ahead of the girls at 145 pounds,” Cyborg concluded. “People forget Amanda Nunes was TKO’d by Alexis Davis at 145. She wasn’t a champ in Invicta or Strikeforce.”
This is one of the few superfights that makes complete sense: there are few contenders at 145 waiting for Cyborg, and Nunes has a dearth of contenders who have built momentum at 135. Nunes is the rare fighter with the power to potentially hurt the durable Cyborg. Hopefully they can get it sorted.
Insomnia
This fight drastically favors Darren Till, unless Gunnar can get it to the mat in open space.
So @ufc have offered @GunniNelson v @darrentill2 main event #UFCLondon we’ve agreed so hoping to hear confirmation soon how do you guys like the match up? I’m reminded of the Thatch fight, big strong striker but I think Till is tougher challenge. One way to find out… pic.twitter.com/b7U81FpzBf
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) January 24, 2018
Eddie Alvarez all but promises he would stand with Nate Diaz:
I’m a lot stupider than you think my man !!!
— Eddie Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) January 24, 2018
Chad Mendes is eager to make his MMA return, and I can’t wait to have him back.
Anyone who has trained jiu-jitsu for a good amount of time knows this feeling:
MMA tropes are the best tropes:
Rory Macdonald is NOT medically suspended, contrary to reports. At least, that’s what he says.
they’re are reports of me being suspended for a lengthy amount of time due to fractures in one of my hands and my leg. this is completely false. i never injured my hand at all and my left leg is not fractured, i did an xray the night of fight and showed it is only a hematoma
— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) January 24, 2018
no wraps
— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) January 25, 2018
Stipe still has room on his shelf for more trophies!
Jose Aldo kicking pads:
Great news for MMA veterans turned actors! (Dave Bautista has at least one MMA fight, while Rousey and Rutten were UFC champions)
Ronda Rousey, Bas Rutten and Dave Bautista will be inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame class of 2018 as part of the Arnold Classic in Columbus, OH on March 3.
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) January 23, 2018
Cody Garbrandt got a new puppy! He must have realized that’s the best and easiest way to get into Midnight Mania. Yes, I followed the dog’s account.
Khabib’s fanbase is truly insane. Nearly 10,000 people came out to support him in Kyrgystan!
Yoel Romero pointing out that he’s getting tested leading up to his next interim title fight:
When Andrei Arlovski is nervous, maybe you should be, too:
Slips, Rips, and KO Clips
What a spinning backfist! Mr. Honky pulled this from the archives
Found this looking for Austin Arnett fights – Tyler McGuire knocked Jose Mendoza out COLD w/ a Spinning Back Fist in 12 seconds of R1 at COTC – Conquest of the Cage 24 (2016) #UFConFox27 #UFCCharlotte pic.twitter.com/Sn8NqNUiwT
— Honky Extraordinaire (@Mr_Honky) January 24, 2018
SUMO SUMO SUMO
Air Tochinoshin, that late hop saves his yusho hopes as Takarafuji hits the ground pic.twitter.com/fCLRYyUQ7f
— MEGATON (@BasedDongeezus) January 24, 2018
Fun stuff from Shohozan and Ikioi https://t.co/wFbh3C7eI7 pic.twitter.com/aX22DPZxCP
— MEGATON (@BasedDongeezus) January 24, 2018
Day11 shin-komusubi Takakeisho 3-7 vs M2 Yoshikaze 4-6. A pretty even match tho T has more straight ahead power and youth on his side. #Sumolingo #janbasho pic.twitter.com/OwllcqXdy8
— SumoSoul (@TheSumoSoul) January 24, 2018
Podcasts and Audio
Heavy Hands
If you really want to go to sleep quickly tonight, just listen to me drone on about smartphone addiction, and the solution I’m working on, in this conversation with Nick Baldwin in Beyond Combat:
Good Reads
- Karim Zidan wrote about an anti-fascist fight club in Greece, which is going to be something you want to read
- Ngannou’s coach defends against criticism that he didn’t train properly leading up to UFC 220, and I agree with him. Ngannou was defending takedowns even into the fifth round- he could get better, but the real issue was, as Conor McGregor calls it, energy management.
Random Land
As a fan of Game of Thrones, I approve of this music box:
Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality