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Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Jorge Masvidal and Jake Paul have a strange relationship. At one point, the two were friends or even something of training partners. Masvidal still does not look favorably upon Ben Askren, so when Paul was building up to take on “Funky,” Masvidal offered him some technique tips and instruction.
“Gamebred” was extremely pleased with the outcome of that bout.
However, the situation changed when Paul agreed to fight Tyron Woodley. Masvidal and Woodley are longtime friends, share management, and have both represented American Top Team. In short, Masvidal was more loyal to “T-Wood,” predicting the former Welterweight champ to ‘knock the f*ck out’ of Paul prior to their bout.
Of course, that prediction didn’t come to fruition, and now they’re potential foes! Elaborating on his new beef with Masvidal, Paul revealed that the two are frequently talking trash via Instagram’s direct messaging system.
“The most recent one is Masvidal and I, literally in the DMs just going back and forth with each other. He can’t type by the way. Like he legit can’t type, it’s the weirdest thing.” Paul said on a recent episode of the FULL SEND podcast (transcription via Middle Easy). “I said ‘Bro, you need to get a grammar book because all this writing is f—king your s—t up.’ I think he was drunk when he was (messaging me).”
Paul then proceeded to read one such message (h/t BloodyElbow), which read “I fight because I love it, man. Money ain’t shit. I got tons of it. ‘I fight so I can brake (sic) ‘fools’ faces and enjoy the ride. You know you could ever see and chage (sic).”
Does this beef elevate past Instagram? It’s a marketable enough fight but certainly a dangerous one for Paul, plus it would require UFC President Dana White’s permission. Still, crazier things have happened!
The Return Of Shameless Self-Promotion
It’s fight week, and there’s not much left to do now but make weight and compete! A major thanks to everyone for the continued support. While the banner is closed off, the various fight camp support options are still open for anyone interested (venmo: AndyLRichardson (1572), PayPal, GoFundMe page). Otherwise, tune in on UFC Fight Pass this Thursday night!
For all those who contributed and beyond: presenting the fight banner design!
Insomnia
Nate Diaz remains unexpectedly interesting in fighting Vicente Luque, the strangest match I would definitely watch.
So let’s fight pic.twitter.com/lN0raom82L
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) September 13, 2021
An important reminder that scum can rise up the ranks in martial arts too:
Brendan Allen announced his next bout vs. Brad Tavares in style.
Under the tutelage of American Kickboxing Academy, Hasbulla will prove unstoppable.
Congrats to Paul Felder for crushing the Ironman game!
Mike Perry sparring with Lyoto Machida is certainly an unexpected duo:
This security guard took care of business!
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Some very painful uppercuts courtesy of the great Larry Holmes!
#OnThisDay in 1983, “The Easton Assassin” @LarryHolmes75 defended the WBC heavyweight title with a 5th round TKO of Scott Frank in Atlantic City, New Jersey #boxing #history pic.twitter.com/XmLlyPBLle
— Boxing History (@BoxingHistory) September 10, 2021
If you keep your head down low by the waist for too long after a takedown, the guillotine counter opens up.
Beautiful grappling performance by Ruslan Abiltarov on ACA 128. pic.twitter.com/R52MNc7fDV
— ACA MMA (@ACA_League) September 11, 2021
Scarf hold chokes are one of those moves that are only supposed to work for Aleksei Oleinik!
Rafal Haratyk pulls off the crazy comeback scarf hold choke against Azamat Bekoev. It was all set up from a knee minutes earlier. The Russian never recovered and Haratyk just overwhelmed him. #ACA128 pic.twitter.com/Gkduld2MgN
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) September 11, 2021
Random Land
Fun with fungi!
Midnight Music: Freddie Gibbs dropped a freestyle over the beat from a Drake’s new album, so at least one good thing came from that release.
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.