Midnight Mania! Ice Cube willing to cede double-booked T-Mobile Arena for Mayweather vs McGregor … for a price

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight, we’ve got Ice Cube once again mixed up in combat sports business, Stipe Miocic responding to Anthony Joshua, Georges St. Pierre wishing Matt Hughes the best, highlights of great fights, podcasts, and much more!

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Double Booked!

So … it seems that there is an unexpected obstacle in the way of Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor: Ice Cube already booked T-Mobile Arena on Aug. 26, 2017, for his BIG3 basketball tournament. Fortunately, it seems the rapper and actor is willing to do this the easy way. He told the hosts of the “Undisputed” show that he is more than happy to move aside … as long as he is properly compensated.

“If they do what they’re supposed to do and make us happy, yeah we’ll move.”

According to TMZ, if the parties involved pay him, the backup plan is to move the basketball tournament to MGM Grand Garden Arena. Ice Cube suggested negotiations are going well.

“We’re talking about it. I think we’re going to get there.”

This would seem to be a windfall for Ice Cube, who will clearly expect a piece of the gigantic, half-a-million dollar pie that the fight will generate.

As far as the outcome of the boxing match itself? Ice Cube is pretty sure he knows how that’s going to go down.

“Yeah, I know what’s going to happen. I think Mayweather gonna put them thangs on him.”

So say we all.

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Insomnia

McGregor does look as Irish as possible in this picture… and check out that mural. Some painter has a really wild imagination.

Georges St-Pierre wishes his old rival the best as Matt Hughes’ condition slowly improves after colliding with a train.

A little Hula Hoop action

Takes like these are how you know this fight has gone far outside either the boxing or mixed martial arts (MMA) bubble.

I guess Anthony Joshua’s insult reached the ears of Stipe Miocic, who probably tweeted this while carrying six people on each shoulder out of a burning building.

Shaun King wrote a relatively uninformed take on Conor McGregor’s racist insults, which I promise you won’t be the last one you’ll read or hear about. This is how all of them should be treated.

A reminder that the ghost of the once-great B.J. Penn is fighting Dennis Siver this weekend …

He is with his old strength and conditioning coach, which could help

Germaine de Randamie wasn’t told she was being stripped until it happened, which is pretty typical for UFC. This is one time I don’t really care, though, because she had zero interest in defending it.

Yeah, this is pretty good nicknaming.

Dillashaw’s girl is pregnant! Congrats to them.

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Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

In memory of Tim Hague

From the weekend:

This was the definition of a slobberknocker:

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Good Reads

• McGregor will not be bound by his Reebok agreement for this boxing match, which makes things interesting and probably boosts his payday a lot.
• Cody Garbrandt’s uncle and boxing coach breaks down the unique challenges of Mayweather-McGregor, which is interesting mostly because Garbrandt is one of the few MMA fighters who could do very well in professional boxing, having gone 31-1 as an amateur in the sport.
• Alex Caceres rolled us some pearls of wisdom about un-domesticating himself from society’s expectations and it was one of the more interesting pieces of insight I’ve read on fighting in a while.

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Podcasts and Video

“The MMA Hour,” 5 hours 25 minutes and 24 seconds long …

UFC Fight Night 111 post-fight show by Flyin’ Brian J:

Flyin’ Brian J previews UFC Fight Night 112:

Luke Thomas breaks down Holly Holm’s question mark kick knockout of Bethe Correia:

Tommy Toehold!

The Severe MMA podcast:

King Mo breaks it down

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Random Land

This is the coolest church I’ve ever seen, pretty sure of it.

Stay woke, Maniacs!