Midnight Mania! Dirty Fighter Barry Or Quitter MJ?

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

One of the stranger storylines last weekend revolved around the return of Mike Jackson, best known as the second man to defeat CM Punk inside the Octagon … at least until a marijuana drug test failure overturned that victory. Regardless, that bout was widely slammed for being a miserable viewing experience (highlights if you dare), and few expected Jackson to ever return to the Octagon given his 0-1 (1) professional record.

Nearly four years later, Jackson made his third Octagon appearance vs. Dean Barry, an unheralded Irish fighter making his UFC debut. Barry was largely in control of the uneventful fight, but a number of fouls — notably a spinning kick to the cup and a bad eye poke — ended the contest.

The result? Mike Jackson’s first official UFC win in the form of a disqualification. Barry was unhappy with Jackson’s reaction to the eye poke, and he posted a since-deleted video on Twitter addressing the controversy.

“To be honest with you, I thought he took the easy way out there,” Barry said in a video (via MMAFighting). “Didn’t want to stay, didn’t want to continue fighting. Even when I kicked him low, he was talking on the ground to me for ages. Like, if you get hit in the nuts, you can’t be talking like that. Same with the eye poke. Straight after the ref called the fight off, he was fine. Both eyes open perfectly. He said he can’t open his eyes.

“Look, I’ll take the rematch in a heartbeat if they give it to me, or just let me go back down to my weight division and fight. I thought I showed enough out there. Sorry about that. … It’s not a loss for me, I was destroying him and I got a DQ for an eye poke. What can you do?”

Understandably, Jackson was a bit miffed with Barry’s comments. Replying on Twitter, Jackson declared Barry a “dirty fighter” and told him off. Since Barry has deleted his Twitter account, however, it’s unclear if the message has made its way to Ireland!

What say you Maniacs, is Barry a dirty fighter or is Mike Jackson a quitter? Both? What will happen when/if Jackson fights again in four years?

Six Weeks Of Self-Promotion

At the moment, I’m still waiting to hear back on a new opponent. I’ve accepted one, but nothing is confirmed at the moment. The plan remains to compete on May 28, but well, nothing is certain with MMA …

As with all my pro fights, I raise funds to cover camp costs/actually make a profit via the fight banner. $5 or more gets your name/screen name/nickname on the fight banner, and it enters you into a raffle to win the banner itself. Payment options include venmo: AndyLRichardson (1572), PayPal, or the latest GoFundMe page. Complete details are HERE!

I hugely appreciate the MMAMania community support (financial or otherwise) for both my writing and fighting careers. Thank you!

Insomnia

Gee, I wonder why Francis Ngannou wants to fight Tyson Fury.

I don’t know that this is a great match up for him, but Douglas Silva de Andrade has yet to participate in a boring fight.

Congratulations to Yana Kunitskaya and Thiago Santos!

A lot of people were wondering whether Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Zhang Weili 2 would be three or five rounds …

While I will admit that Belal Muhammad’s recent wins have not been particularly fun to watch, the amount of Internet butthurt he has generated by winning has been spectacular.

Pro tip: don’t ask professional fighters — even 135-pound wrestlers — to kick you in the leg.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Silva let this right hand fly with the quickness!

Stunned him with the right and then WENT OFF!

Impressive commitment from Shapauov, who continued to attempt the takedown rather than fight hands even as he fell unconscious.

Random Land

I am oddly reminded of mini golf.

Midnight Music: Jazz, 1960

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