Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight …
Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight, we’ve got .Nate Diaz apparently buying himself a nice boat, the first knockouts of weekend mixed martial arts (MMA), Cyborg calling out everyone avoiding her, glitter and brass instruments in Russian MMA, and much more
Insomnia
Nate Diaz promised us from the beginning that he would “probably buy a whole bunch of nice shit” with his Conor McGregor money.
Now he’s making good on that promise. After two fights with the Irishman, the second one negotiated with all due tenacity, Diaz has probably cleared somewhere between ten and twenty million. It looks like a chunk of that went towards this new boat… unless, of course, Diaz is just messing with us on Snapchat.
Nate Diaz bought himself a nice boat pic.twitter.com/8JcSvaK95O
— Zombie Prophet (@ZPGIFs) April 1, 2017
Bobs and Weaves
Bellator 175 was tonight, with some great action. For the live results and play-by-play, click here.
Sergei is back! pic.twitter.com/TX52EUnm5f
— Keala Koholua (@kealak808) April 1, 2017
Cris Cyborg just vacated her Invicta belt, leaving her in a no-man’s land as she waits for the Iron Lady, Germaine De Randamie, to heal up enough to fight her. In addition to shadow-boxing in a hijab, today she let her frustration loose on social media, first calling out the remaining Invicta champion, Megan Anderson, who herself called out Holly Holm on social media. That didn’t fly with Cris Cyborg.
I vacated @InvictaFights belt bc @MeganA_mma said she wasn’t ready. @HollyHolm loses her last fight n is going to fight b4 me? @seanshelby pic.twitter.com/nbK9f5IicK
— #UFC214 #LetsGoChamp (@criscyborg) April 1, 2017
That wasn’t all, though. She quickly called out De Randamie (who promises she isn’t running from Cyborg) too.
July it will be 10 months since my last fight and no one has heard a word from @IronLadyMMA about #ufc214 I’m the world champ @seanshelby
— #UFC214 #LetsGoChamp (@criscyborg) April 1, 2017
Those ten months were not without incident, of course. Cyborg had an awful weight cut, told the UFC she couldn’t fight in time for UFC 208 (which is when De Randamie and Holm fought for the inaugural belt) and then popped positive for a drug test, before getting a retroactive Therapeutic Use Exemption.
She is ten years undefeated, though. That much is accurate.
I am world champ and will not fight for an interim belt. If @IronLadyMMA is not ready for #ufc214 I want 2 fight someone else #10yearsnolose
— #UFC214 #LetsGoChamp (@criscyborg) April 1, 2017
Speaking of female MMA stars, Gina Carano has some a timely observation and a reminder that April Fool’s is right around the corner. Trust no one:
— Gina Carano (@ginacarano) April 1, 2017
I’m not sure what Hector Lombard is doing but he assures us it will result in “more wins,” which is what everyone wants, I guess.
Hector Lombard is doing something called “Mental Training” which equals “More wins” pic.twitter.com/rHrxK0Gy56
— Zombie Prophet (@ZPGIFs) March 31, 2017
They really know how to celebrate at EFN.
Needs more confetti IMO pic.twitter.com/QfVuCMsE4e
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 31, 2017
I mean, these are visuals you just don’t get elsewhere in MMA.
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 31, 2017
It’s not all tubas and glitter in Mother Russia though. I find this somewhat disturbing
What’s with Chechnya and little kid fights? pic.twitter.com/WssGsjaog3
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 31, 2017
Slips. Rips. Knockout Clips
It’s the weekend again, which means plenty of knockouts from around the world. Enjoy!
The hits keep on coming on #FNG62! Grachik Engibaryan gets the KO victory! #UFCFIGHTPASS pic.twitter.com/uqRo1T5aGg
— UFC Fight Pass (@UFCFightPass) March 31, 2017
Alexander Matmuratov #EFN62 pic.twitter.com/OkfUwBgZtT
— Streetfight Bancho (@streetfitebanch) March 31, 2017
Sneaky spinning back fist sets up the TKO for Zhalgas Zhumagulov. pic.twitter.com/x0OUXEEr18
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 31, 2017
Aliaskhab Khizriev #EFN62 pic.twitter.com/3cjlW4LfSp
— Streetfight Bancho (@streetfitebanch) March 31, 2017
Shovel hook KO by Ramil Mustapaev pic.twitter.com/aW7f6BJ9Hv
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 31, 2017
Beautiful submission by @FransMlambo this afternoon pic.twitter.com/ImKIl6cLsl
— SevereMMA Podcast (@SevereMMAPod) March 31, 2017
Brave – Ottman Azaitar (Turkey) KO’s Charlie Leary (UK) in 1R. What a fight it was ! pic.twitter.com/QDubG1uRkK
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) March 31, 2017
Saul Almeida vs Josh LaBerge #CES42 pic.twitter.com/5tWpBBpXuZ
— Zombie Prophet (@ZPGIFs) April 1, 2017
Quick Hits
- This piece about regional MMA in Ohio is fantastic
- This guy wouldn’t stop beating on his TKO’ed opponent, shoved the ref out of the way, and had to have eight guys jump in the cage to hold him back
- Joe Rogan explains why the UFC can’t just book Khabib vs. McGregor
- The Korean Zombie is going to fight Ricardo Lamas at UFC on Fox 25… I was really hoping for Cub Swanson, but Swanson got… Artem Lobov. Ah, well. You can’t always get what you want.
Here’s your beer pairing suggestion for UFC 211, courtesy of Flyin Brian J. (Follow MMAMania.com on Youtube here)
Stay woke, Maniacs!