Midnight Mania! Sterling: Why Is Yan Rewarded Rematch For Cheating?

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

I don’t believe Aljamain Sterling is afraid of Petr Yan or ducking a rematch with the Russian, but this isn’t going to convince any detractors.

At the UFC 260 media scrum, the Bantamweight champion questioned why his opponent deserved a rematch. It was ruled that Yan intentionally cheated, so shouldn’t there be consequences to those actions beyond losing the belt?

“Aljo” believes so.

“Any other sport when you do something intentionally illegal you get suspended, you get fined, you get ejected from the game. This guy is getting rewarded with a rematch, which I get is a big fight,” Sterling said (transcription via BJPenn.com). “But, it is like, we can just break the rules and nothing is ever going to happen to us. I can just jump the Octagon and nothing is going to happen, I can go and fight another corner or push him after the bell and nothing is ever going to happen. It’s like, I feel like when you have rules for a reason and you have to enforce them or otherwise let’s just run it up.”

Before the illegal knee, Yan was well on his way to victory opposite Sterling, landing the harder shots even before his foe began to fatigue. That’s a big part of the necessity of the rematch: Sterling still has to prove himself the better man.

Ultimately, he’ll have the opportunity to do so when the fight is likely rebooked sometime this year.

Insomnia

Final content drop for Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou — historic night for the Heavyweight division!

I felt this deserved some highlighting beyond the above mix: Ngannou is getting into the NFT game?

Manny Pacquaio goes to work in slow motion:

Being an MMA fighter is just a roundabout way to end up as a podcaster, police officer, or real estate agent.

Khabib is reportedly taking a coaching role in Luke Rockhold’s Middleweight return. If Rockhold’s offensive wrestling improves, that’s a dangerous man …

Am I the only one who finds this picture really funny?

Slips, rips, and KO clips

I don’t believe it produced a finish, but this kick is too good not to post!

One Championship with another montage of badass highlights:

Reminder: range is the most important thing when throwing a low kick. People get hung up on setups (which help), but naked low kicks are safe from far away. Up close however …

Random Land

Penguin slide!

Midnight Music: I dug this weird piece of funky new wave from Gary Wilson, who Wikipedia tells me has a something of a cult following. Consider me intrigued enough to listen further!

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