Midnight Mania! Mousasi All About Dolla Dolla Bills Y’all!

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Gegard Mousasi is a mystifying figure in MMA. A very active professional since 2003, Mousasi has fought and mostly won and mostly stopped his foes across the globe. In that time, Mousasi won titles in Bellator, Strikeforce, Dream, and left the UFC in 2017 on a five-fight win streak that saw him closing in on title contention.

Throughout his long career, never once has Mousasi appeared particularly flustered inside the ring. He’s also rarely one to show a major sense of urgency, and he’s occasionally prone to flat performances. He fought much bigger men for much of his career. In an interview with MMAFighting, Mousasi might have revealed the reason why his consistently successful career features some odd happenings.

Transcription via MMAFighting:

“I’m fighting to get paid. I’m not doing this because I love the sport so much. I’m not a crazy person. The motivation if I beat these guys, if I keep winning, my paycheck will go up eventually after my contract is done. That’s the motivation for me. It’s my job. The better you do, the more you make. It’s the same for a doctor or lawyer. If you’re a better lawyer, you’re going to make more money. That’s what I’m trying to do. I want to be the best fighter that I can be to beat these guys and then I get a better contract. That’s the whole thing that keeps me going. Fighting is not my life.”

Naturally, Mousasi’s pragmatic approach to the fight game will surely shock and horrify some fight fans, who still buy into some nonsense about the Bushido code and expect fighters to face all comers to defend their own honor. Ignoring those folks, however, it is an interesting insight into the mind of Mousasi. Aside from explaining his occasionally pedestrian nights at the office — go watch Mousasi sleepwalk through his bout with Keith Jardine, for example — it’s another piece of evidence that there is no one “correct” mindset that makes a great fighter.

A lot of athletes have been obsessed with the sport and greatness, yet failed to make it half as far as “Dreamcatcher,” who will look to defend his Middleweight title in London in just a few hours.

Insomnia

Bare Knuckle FC 6 is a shoe-in for classiest event of the year.

MMA Twitter legend caposa posted some awesome instructional clips of Fedor being the best ever.

Some crafty front choke transitions for my jiu-jitsu nerds.

Wiman’s last appearance was a bloody war from the clinch opposite Issac Vallie-Flagg. The two savaged each other with elbows for three straight rounds. After that fight, my mom texted me, “If you’re ever in a fight like that, I’ll kill myself.”

That’s an exact quote!

An adorable video from “The Diamond.”

The loss of his soda hurt Cormier’s feelings more than any trash talk ever could. Look at his face in that still frame!!!

This clip is worth watching mostly for the final 10 seconds, in which Ngannou takes a shot at the basket.

Slips, Rips, and KO clips

I will be doing my best to include more Lethwei clips from now. “The Art of Nine Limbs” is very similar to Muay Thai with the addition of headbutts, along with some oddness about legal timeouts.

I have a trip to Thailand booked for January, but maybe training Lethwei in Myanmar is the move next time?

The nastiest front kick KO I’ve ever seen.

Why is One Championship so much better at promoting their fighters with engaging Instagram highlights and general content than every other promotion? They post enough killer finishes each day that I could easily avoid ever having to looking elsewhere to fill this section.

Lights out.

Random Land

Let’s focus on cool food stuff tonight.

Music from the making of Midnight Mania: I’m still working through the early ‘60s, but I really dug A Date with the Everly Brothers. I would say that the duo really reminds me of early Beach Boys, but seeing as The Everly Brothers came first, it should be the other way around.

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