Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
It’s been an up-and-down year for Khamzat Chimaev already. The upstart was riding hot into 2021 after his quick trio of dominant victories that began his UFC career, but lingering issues with COVID-19 forced Chimaev out of a main event slot vs. Leon Edwards. Then, Chimaev briefly considered retirement before being pushed back to competition by Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadryov.
Fortunately for “Borz,” things are looking up per manager Ali Abdelaziz, who revealed Chimaev’s timeline and ideal opponent to ESPN. “He’s probably going to start training in the middle of April, and is looking to fight in the beginning of July,” Abdelaziz said. “He’s still getting medical treatment on a daily basis, but he is doing much better. Neil Magny is the guy we have in mind as an opponent, but let’s see what happens.”
Magny and Chimaev have prior beef, so the Welterweight match up would make a lot of sense. It’s not as high-profile as a main event vs. “Rocky,” but perhaps given Chimaev’s relative inexperience and health struggles, that’s a good thing. Regardless of who the opponent ends up, Abdelaziz also revealed that Chimaev intends to train with wild animals as part of his fight camp.
“I think a lot of us don’t truly know what these young fighters go through,” Abdelaziz said. “It’s impossible to live inside their heads and inside their bodies, and sometimes they say things out of frustration or they are just mad they can’t do what they love to do. Khamzat has been doing this all his life, so he’s almost felt crippled not being able to train, but he’s healthy now and he’s going to start training.
“I was talking to him this week and he even said he’s going to be swimming with alligators and sharks, and doing movement with these creatures, as part of a special training program.”
Unless by alligators Chimaev is referring to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, that seems like an odd strategy. On the bright side, swimming is an excellent way to build up an athlete’s lungs — with or without deadly apex predators in the water!
Insomnia
Another UFC 260 fight bites the dust …
Marvin Vettori is pissed off (seems like a common thing) over the latest UFC rankings update:
Ok so I beat n4 to be n6
Till stayed off to be n5
Brunson beat n10 to be n4
Ranking also makes a lot of senseThis has to be one of those early April fools
— Marvin Vettori (@MarvinVettori) March 23, 2021
Is Jon Anik genuinely considering looking into taking an amateur fight? That would be pretty damn cool!
This is now Francis Ngannou has been working to improve his wrestling, and no one can tell me otherwise.
#UFC260 pic.twitter.com/1lL2Z40iMV
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) March 24, 2021
A little bedroom teeping:
Flyweight striker vs. grappler action booked for a couple months from now:
Timothy Elliott will fight Sumudaerji at UFC event on June 26th. (per @MMAjunkie) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN pic.twitter.com/3DyTEk46TP
— MaRCeL DoRFF (@BigMarcel24) March 24, 2021
Marion Reneau has announced her next bout will be her last, but let’s take a moment to appreciate fighting top-tier contenders well into her 40s.
Stipe Miocic vs. auto caption is the real money fight.
The YouTube auto-captions just gave up. #UFC260 pic.twitter.com/HDf1vSIbSb
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) March 24, 2021
Slips, rips, and KO clips
The spinning back fist is cool, but that left hook to interrupt the kick is expertly timed.
Hideaki Yamazaki #k1wgp pic.twitter.com/qAa35g8rsD
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 21, 2021
SUMO clips are back!
Day8 Hokut?fuji (L) vs Shimanoumi. HTF is on a roll with 4 straight wins. SNU is a solid oshi rikishi, but with 6 straight losses at this level is mostly providing win padding for others. #harubasho2021 pic.twitter.com/2Yra0dvuRF
— Sumo Soul ??? (@TheSumoSoul) March 21, 2021
Day7 5-1 Komusubi Takayasu (bum view) vs Takarafuji (finally won ystrdy – vs. Eish?). Once it went into long stalemate I’d’ve bet a lot of yen this was going to go the other way. As they’ve spent a long time near top, they’ve met almost 30 times, with TY winning 2/3rds of bouts. pic.twitter.com/wxh67vPE6g
— Sumo Soul ??? (@TheSumoSoul) March 21, 2021
Short on time? Check out some of the quickest finishes in One Championship history.
Random Land
It would appear that a collapsing volcano equals a whole lot of lava.
Midnight Music: Doin It!!!! by The Equatics has grown into something of a funky cult classic. A high school band from Virginia, the group won Pepsi’s “New Sounds of 1972” contest and released their only LP before fading into history. Check it out!
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.