Midnight Mania! Smith: This Isn’t Bloodsport, Get Him Out!

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

One of the bigger stories to come out of UFC on ESPN 11 was Max Rohskopf’s stoppage loss to Austin Hubbard. More specifically, the controversy came when Rohskopf — 25 years of age with just five professional fights to his record — admitted defeat in the corner repeatedly. Rather than throw in the towel, his corner, namely jiu-jitsu champion Robert Drysdale, repeatedly told his fighter to keep going.

Everyone has been offering opinions. Some athletes like Dan Hooker have mocked the young prospect, while many others (including Dana White) have defended his decision. Plenty of Drysdale’s associates have taken his defense on Twitter, and Drysdale himself has done his best to explain the situation.

Anthony Smith is more qualified than most to offer an opinion. Just last month, he was battered by Glover Teixeira for an uncomfortably long period of time. Many criticized his corner for refusing to throw the towel, but Smith himself defended the coach and was proud to keep fighting despite the overwhelming damage.

Even with this perspective, “Lionheart” believes Drysdale messed up. “I’m frustrated for sure,” Smith told TMZ. “I think that the reaction from fighters and fans was more frustrating … I get it, the kid is young, he’s facing adversity possibly for the first time in his career. He thinks he doesn’t have it or needs encouragement. But, uh, I believe he asked out 9 times! This isn’t goddamn Bloodsport!”

“Not all of us think the same,” Smith continued. “Not everybody is me. It’s just different. He’s a young kid and he wanted out, get him the f*ck out of there! He wanted to go home. He said he didn’t have it. He said he didn’t want to do this any more, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ That’s different from just being down on yourself and needing a pick me up. Listen, I respect Drysdale as much as anyone in the game. That guy is a pioneer in the jiu-jitsu world, I’m a huge fan of his. But, he messed up.”

All in all, it’s a rather unfortunate situation for Rohskopf. He took the fight on short-notice and was getting beaten up while fatigued, so he showed some self-awareness and admitted defeat. Had his coach thrown in the towel immediately, his fight would be a footnote on the weekend.

Now, it’s a polarizing issue way beyond the fight itself, which surely makes a difficult weekend even more rough.

Insomnia

In case you were unsure, Josh Emmett is tough as nails.

On another note from this weekend, do not ever make the mistake of thinking fighting is a real sport. It’s the goofiest “opportunity” ever!

Somehow, I don’t expect Gilbert Burns’ request to be fulfilled.

There are no bad match ups at 170 lbs.

I don’t know if Paulo Costa himself runs his Twitter account, if he’s been hacked, or if his manager is a weirdo. Either way, the last 48 hours have been hugely entertaining.

The army of Darren Till clones continues to grow at a concerning rate.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

This one-punch knockout comes with its own wild backstory:

Face punch to rear naked choke is an underrated transition.

Zhang did a really nice job feinting and measuring his foe’s reactions before stepping in with the fight-ending 1-2.

Random Land

Anyone else rooting for the robots to take over?

Midnight Music: On Friday, Bob Dylan and Neil Young both released new albums. I don’t mean to be stuck in 1968, that’s some crazy sh*t! Young’s Homegrown was actually written and recorded in 1975, but it sat on the shelf for 45 years because the music industry is nuts. It’s stuck in purgatory no longer …

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