Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
In case anyone was still holding out hope all these years later, further confirmation that the Reebok deal is bad for fighters has arrived.
Sean O’Malley went on Brendan Schaub’s “Food Truck Diaries” to discuss his recent rise, thoughts on training, and overall approach to his newfound stardom. One such topic the two dug into was merchandise, as O’Malley revealed that Reebok has only paid him a small percentage for the massive amount of “Suga Show” shirts and gear sold.
“I got royalties from Reebok,” O’Malley explained. “If I read it right, which I think I did, and I even sent it to my dad like, ‘Did I read this right?’ He said yes, so unless we both can’t read. They made over a million dollars on all my merch, and I got like $3,000.
“It’s ridiculous. I thought I got 15%, but they’re like ‘Well, you get 15% of this, but of this, and then these guys get it, and then you get 50% of that.’ I’m like holy sh*t. Then, they make all these sweet shirts on Reebok … and I’m like don’t buy that!”
Even without the exact numbers that O’Malley is referring to — as well as whether the million dollar figure is referring to gross or net revenue — it’s pretty clear that O’Malley is not getting a fair percentage of his name value. Fortunately, O’Malley also revealed that he has plans to put out shirts himself in the future, hinting at signing with major representation “not for fights” to help him grow the “Suga” brand.
Insomnia
Rory MacDonald reflects on the experience of facing Robbie Lawler and his unique mindset.
“Robbie [Lawler] was always a very intimidating guy… When someone has that intensity about them, that will and that fire, it makes you question if maybe he’s got more will and fire inside of him than you do.”@rory_macdonald describes facing Lawler (via @bokamotoESPN) pic.twitter.com/D6GnLApX0f
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 23, 2020
Andre Fili vs. Bryce Mitchell sounds like a very fun Fall Featherweight fight.
Yup. See u in October https://t.co/tf2KKE0Zr3
— Bryce Mitchell (@ThugnastyMMA) June 21, 2020
Mike Perry is living up to expectations in the absolute worst way.
No way He meant it pic.twitter.com/GrQcc1X3me
— MMA Gone Wild (@mmagonewild) June 23, 2020
More bad press for RIZIN, but hopefully Tofiq Musayev finds a new home soon.
Musayev says he hasn’t been paid 6 months after winning the RIZIN LWGP. In this article his coach notes that while signing with the UFC would be a huge event for Azerbaijan, ONE offers a more lucrative contract. https://t.co/FK2NRns97y
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 23, 2020
This is why I don’t believe Daniel Cormier when he says he plans to wrestle Stipe Miocic for five rounds. Wrestling is exhausting even for excellent wrestlers, which only grows more true with age.
Justin Gaethje on why he doesn’t like to wrestle in MMA pic.twitter.com/BgANdbuBsu
— Proper Vegetables (@thegam3r357) June 22, 2020
Josh Emmett wanted a fight up the rankings because UFC gave him a fight with low upside, high downside by their own admission!
So remember when Dana says again “rankings don’t mean sh*t, we (the UFC) aren’t even involved in making them” pic.twitter.com/KfrbtQZ2RT
— MaRCeL DoRFF (@BigMarcel24) June 23, 2020
Slips, rips, and KO clips
A young Pacman starches his opponent with nasty left hands and picks up a title in the process:
19 years ago today, a 22 year old Manny Pacquiao made the whole boxing world stand up and take notice by stopping Lehlo Ledwaba to become the IBF super bantamweight champion
Manny was making his HBO debut after jumping at the chance on just 2 weeks noticepic.twitter.com/TE3QS96vHn
— Steve Boxman (@SteveBoxman) June 23, 2020
Sean O’Malley’s kickboxing is very legit!
High-impact sweeps are always fun:
Random Land
Consistency and the power of water:
“Dripping water hollows out the stone not through force, but through persistence.”
15-25-50 years of erosion through persistence pic.twitter.com/AaNEFbjGGj
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) June 21, 2020
Midnight Music: Tonight, I learned about the “Father of South African Jazz,” Huge Masekela, who wrote protest songs in the ‘60s and even scored a No.1 hit in the US!
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.