Midnight Mania! Mayweather advises McGregor, Garbrandt and Dillashaw get chippy

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight, we’ve got Conor McGregor opening up for his GQ Style cover shoot, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 25 coaches Cody Garbrandt and T.J. Dillashaw ripping each other during media day, Tim Kennedy staying ready every second, head kicks on the basketball court, Horiguchi free agent rumors, Tommy Toehold’s origin story, and much, much more.

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Insomnia

In case you missed it, Conor McGregor is leading the life of the rich and famous, landing a cover for GQ Style Magazine. Part of celebrity appeal is keeping oneself in the spotlight, and no one in mixed martial arts (MMA) does this better without needing to fight than the Irishman.

McGregor also had some things to say about protests, which Ronda Rousey would disagree with. He related it to the idea of a union, expressing disinterest in collective action for either political or economic ends.

“I feel like you’re in charge of your own situation. When you start blaming others for your situation, like I see all these people screaming at these politicians, and I was like, ‘It’s the wrong mind-set!’ I saw this union thing they tried to do––they reminded me of the people that march about the politicians. It’s you gotta do it. You’re in control of yourself…. People like to blame others. I think a person should just look at their own situation, look around them, find out what they wish to do, and seek and go and do that. And that’s it… Like all these fighters: ‘This union is gonna save us!’ What do you mean, it’s gonna save you, exactly? …I just think it’s a crazy thing to spend energy on… standing on a fucking picket…I don’t know.”

This makes sense from McGregor’s standpoint. The rich and successful don’t need collective action. They stand nothing to gain by it, and it’s usually not how they themselves became successful. Collective bargaining is not designed to make one person wildly successful, it’s designed to promote the interests of the many. Not everyone can be Conor McGregor. He stands alone atop the pinnacle of celebrity in MMA, powerful enough to tell everyone to f— off and pay him, a big enough draw that even Floyd Mayweather is interested in a boxing match with him.

Most of his colleagues will never achieve this level of success, and for them, collective action is the only other way to achieve some semblance of parity with their WME-IMG overlords. Acting together may be a foreign concept for MMA fighters, but it’s how mainstream sports like football have a 50 percent revenue split, while estimates of UFC revenue splits for the fighters range from 8 to 17 percent. McGregor’s comments are akin to blaming a pride of lions for using teamwork to bring down a water buffalo. Ranked UFC fighters are selling their motorcycles, homeless, and too poor to even afford to take a fight. Some have literally walked away from the game (temporarily) because they weren’t making enough money as professional athletes for it to be worth it.

McGregor does look great in the suits, though.

Meanwhile, Lorenzo Fertitta is jacked these days.

McGregor does have some interesting ideas on combat:

This EA Sports video game simulation is 110 percent accurate.

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Bobs and Weaves

Cody Garbrandt and Dominick Cruz are fixed to coach opposite each other on TUF 25 (see the revealed roster for the new season here), and there is “No Love” lost between the former teammates.

Garbrandt said that he is sure Dillashaw will attempt to paint him as emotional and irrational, but he just sees it as being real, confronting problems head on as opposed to how “Viper” handles things.

“TJ is the fakest person I’ve ever met, from the beginning. From the beginning of me moving out to Team Alpha Male, not just through everything that’s happened.”

He is very confident with his preparation for the bout with Dillashaw.

“I have his best friends coaching me.”

On Dominick Cruz:

“Dominick didn’t take the rematch… I was very surprised with Dominick, and all the shit talking he did… I was just waiting to give him the rematch, give him the respect as being the most dominant bantamweight fighter in the world. If I go in there and talk a lot of shit and a kid comes in and beats me up like that, I’m gonna at least try again, because I have a fighter heart. I don’t feel like Dominick does. I broke Dominick in that fight, and I really truly don’t think Dominick will be the same.”

Garbrandt’s full Q and A:

Dillashaw, for his part, says he was never really friends with Garbrandt, but said he is disappointed in the lack of respect his former teammates have shown him since his departure. He said he doesn’t think the knockout to Cody that Garbrandt alleges, happened, but even if it did, that’s just the cost of being in a tough gym. He reiterates he is the one who put it on Garbrandt the majority of the time in practice. He also alleges that Urijah Faber is the one manipulating the drama between TAM, who he makes money off of, and Dillashaw.

Dillashaw’s full Q and A:

I can’t wait to see them throw down.

Retired UFC fighter Tim Kennedy is pretty good at this whole shooting guns thing.

Yet another UFC ranked fighter who may depart for greener pastures, Kyoji Horiguchi, is one of Flyweight’s brightest young talents.

Meanwhile, Middleweight has been boosted with the addition of David Branch, WSOF’s double-division champion.

Tommy Toehold, the hilarious MMA cartoon, shares his origin story:

It only gets better from there.

Now you know.

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Slips, Rips and KO Clips

This is a fantastic highlight of UFC women’s Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes:

If you get into a fight, wear loose shorts so you can kick people in the head.

Here’s one way to stop a fight fast. This dude was serious with it, too. The way he holds the katana, that guy does not mess around with it.

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Podcasts and Video

Tommy Toehold’s podcast, Bushido Talk.

And now for something completely different: The Fall of Johnny Hendricks. It’s mostly interview highlights, showing a man struggling to deal with the precipitous decline from the peak of the sport to where he now finds himself.

Heavy Hands:

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Quick Hits

• It’s finally happening! Georges St-Pierre and UFC have reportedly agreed to terms. Hopefully, it matches him up with someone who makes sense, a fun fight like Anderson Silva or a serious fight like the winner of Woodley-Wonderboy. (Please, please, PLEASE, not Nick Diaz again. It wasn’t fun the first time, it won’t be fun now. And not Michael Bisping. Middleweight has enough contenders just waiting for the man to make a legitimate title defense)
• Holly Holm and Derek Brunson look to be appealing their UFC 208 losses.
• Numbers from the UFC 208 “Prelims” are in.

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Stay woke, Maniacs!