Midnight Mania! Overeem Earns 36k Per Head Strike Absorbed!

Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

While there are many ways to measure success in the cage — titles, rankings, accolades etc. — perhaps the most pragmatic is price per head blow absorbed. Combat sports are really just convoluted processes for exchanging health for fortune and fame, so it’s a sensible bottom line.

To that end, OnlineGambling.Ca put together a pretty comprehensive report on the highest paid fighter on per that metric. Their full report goes really in-depth and is worth checking out, though it’s important to note factors like pay-per-view (PPV) points and undisclosed bonuses are impossible to include. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights!

OnlineGambling.Ca

First things first: Heavyweights make bank! It’s hard to argue against them deserving the extra cash. Not all blows to the head are created equal, and while Alistair Overeem may average 36k per head blow absorbed, one of those shots was that terrifying Francis Ngannou uppercut. That’s certainly worth at least a few dozen Bantamweight blows!

Speaking of Overeem, it makes sense that his ratio is so strong. Overeem gets paid handsomely thanks to his Strikeforce contract, and the big Dutchman tends to win or lose quickly. Either way, there’s no extended beating where he absorbs hundreds of blows. Conor McGregor in second place is no surprise either. Even with the pair of Diaz fights racking up strikes against him and some big shots absorbed from Nurmagomedov, McGregor gets paid so much more than the rest of her peers that it’s pretty surprising he’s not in first place.

The article also gets into the payouts in Women’s MMA. Unfortunately, Ronda Rousey was not eligible for their list, as she’s no longer an active top 15 fighter. It would’ve been interesting to know her numbers, as even with the pair of losses that ended her professional career, “Rowdy” almost certainly out-earned her competition by a wide margin.

OnlineGambling.Ca

Insomnia

I never knew any of this either.

Dagestani basketball sounds slightly different…

UFC Featherweight Nad Narimani’s son is a blast to have around the gym, as the 4 year old usually leads the pack in the warm up jog.

In case you were wondering in his absence, Sage Northcutt is still really jacked.

The question mark kick is a difficult one to master, but it’s a really tricky tool for those who do!

Curtis Blaydes has some of the best mat returns in the sport.

Okay, this PVZ post really fulfills my quota on “weird.”

Dominick Cruz with the slick counter wrestling:

Slips, rips, and KO Clips

The left hook is no longer the king of counter punches if a right hand sneaks inside first!

This is a deceptively tricky little sequence. Watanabe lets the 1-2 carry him far past his opponent and lands in Southpaw. When Takagaki turns to face him, he runs directly into a Southpaw right hook. Brutal!

This tournament in Thailand is creating some great highlights — expect to see more of them!

Random Land

Like something straight from a fantasy novel…

Midnight Music: I wrote most of tonight’s Midnight Mania from the floor of my strength and conditioning gym, so my favorite song that popped up on today’s playlist is below (RIP Lou Reed and Phife).

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