Midnight Mania! Rousey’s boyfriend leaves Tarverdyan for Black House

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight we have Travis Browne leaving Edmond Targaryen, the Dragon King, to join Black House, Chael Sonnen slamming Jenna Jameson and Tito telling bedtime stories at the Bellator 170 presser, Jon Jones sparring his older brother, and oh, Floyd Mayweather taking inaccurate shots at Conor McGregor’s net worth. This, along with the usual collection of knockouts, highlights, and randomness, should not, but probably will, keep you far too late tonight.

Travis Browne has not been doing particularly well lately. In fact, none of Edmond Tarverdyan’s fighters have, most notably his star pupil Ronda Rousey. Browne has had enough, and is taking his talents elsewhere, apparently headed to Black House, the historic home of legendary former champions Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida.

With a bout looming against heavy hitter Derrick Lewis, we will get a chance to see if Browne’s move away yields immediate results at UFC 208 in Brooklyn. It is unknown if his woman, Rousey, will follow suit, despite almost universal consensus that she should, and that Tarverdyan is among the worst coaches in high-level MMA.

---

Chael Sonnen, who recently shared the really sad story of the death of his daughter, cannot be accused of taking the high road here, slamming Tito’s ex, porn star Jenna Jameson.

I mean… it is factual. Jenna Jameson wasn’t even concerned.

Tito’s trash talk, on the other hand… man. It is hilarious. And also rather sad.

Floyd Mayweather continues taking jabs at Conor McGregor and Dana White. However, this one is laughably inaccurate. McGregor earned 3 million in disclosed income in his last two fights, a number that is quadrupled by his cut of the PPV. McGregor’s income for 2016 was close to $40 million– still well short of Mayweather’s net worth, due to the UFC giving him, and every other MMA fighter, a relatively miniscule cut of the PPV money, and even short of Mayweather’s 2016 income, which was $44 million without even fighting, according to Forbes.

Perhaps his future trash talk of the Irishman should focus on the patently obvious fact that McGregor is painfully awful at blowing out candles. Along with jumping.

That’s not all McGregor has been up to- apparently he was pulled over in his McClaren (which means we featured an accurate parody yesterday!). Hopefully this doesn’t mean McGregor is following in the ways of Jon Jones, who infamously hit a pregnant lady with his car, ran from the scene, ran back, grabbed his cash, and ran away again. With McGregor having a pregnant lady in his life already, hopefully he has more reason to drive responsibly.

This staredown between Khabib and Ferguson was intense:

Speaking of Jon Jones, here he spars lightheartedly with his brother Arthur.

Boxing has never been his best skill-set, but he has certainly made up for that over his legendary light heavyweight career.

The COO of Titan FC, Lex McMahon, gets fitted for a suit. Meanwhile, one of his fighters owes 60,000 dollars worth of medical expenses. The juxtaposition is stark. As someone who broke their jaw in an amateur MMA bout, used up the promotion’s insurance coverage and had to rely on my parent’s insurance to cover the costs- I was living at home, still in community college at the time- this sounds familiar. This is an unpredictable sport, and those who do it for money often find it an unforgiving line of work.

The injury:

Fortunately, it seems another promoter, UFC co-founder and Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren, stepped in to aid him over the holidays. It’s just a first step, but let’s hope the Brazilian is able to get his financial legs back under him as well as his literal legs.

---

Slips, Rips and KO Clips

These guys are not playing patty-cakes. Full results here

Nice rear-naked choke!

This looks like an unpleasant spot:

Okay Cody

Sage Northcutt does love crushing his fruit for the ladies.

Who says you can’t use the fancy techniques on the street?

---

Quick Hits

• Brett Rogers, who I remember watching fight Fedor in a main event on CBS, is now homeless and accused of sexual misconduct against several men in the park.
• Bisping is out till May after surgery
• If you are a fan of Cub Swanson, you might know he comes from a hard background. His older brother, Steve, whose story is even more harrowing, fought in the main event tonight on Combate Americas

Unfortunately, things didn’t go his way. But at least he’s doing what makes him happy.

---

Random Land

This story about an ancient Chinese sword that has survived unscathed over thousands of years is remarkable.

I don’t care if you think vaping is pretentious or not, don’t try this at home.

Stay woke, Maniacs!