Midnight Mania: ‘Strong Like A Man’ Weili Stuns Merab

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Zhang Weili showed out at UFC 312.

Ahead of her co-main event bout versus Tatiana Suarez, many — including myself! — wrongly believed that her opponent’s wrestling prowess could present serious problems to the Chinese powerhouse. That proved accurate for about three minutes, after which Weili dominated every minute of the fight. She shucked off every other takedown, landed some monstrous right hands, and event threw the wrestler to her back on more than one occasion.

Dominance and strength were on display.

UFC Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili was in attendance for UFC 312, and he was plenty impressed with “Magnum.” Talking with Israel Adesanya, the duo discussed the Strawweight queen’s unique strength.

“I actually trained with Weili,” Dvalishvili began. “She’s very strong like a man brother.”

Adesanya responded, “Did you see when she lifted up Francis [Ngannou] at the [UFC Performance Institute]? She high crotched him and lifted him up. I tried to lift up Francis last week, that’s a big man, heavy.”

Dvalishvili continued, “I like training with the girls, she’s small and I try to go light. I felt her power, like I tried but I couldn’t even do anything.”

Reminder: “The Machine” just threw around an undefeated Nurmagomedov! If he’s complimenting Zhang Weili’s strength and wrestling, it confirms what the UFC 312 co-main event demonstrated: taking down “Magnum” is not an easy path to victory. If the rumors of a super fight between Weili and Flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko are true, “Bullet” will likely be the next to try.

Good luck.

Insomnia

If Gable Steveson actually bothers to commit to MMA, that’s a scary prospect for the 90% of Heavyweights who can’t even hop on one leg.

The stakes have never been lower, and yet … I WILL BE WATCHING!

To the surprise of nobody, Dricus Du Plessis can absolutely down a beer.

They robbed Joanderson Brito last time out, he deserves a ranked opponent (this is still a banger though).

EPO or not, I’m more convinced Merab Dvalishvili’s endless energy is powered by his nonstop lifestyle. Clay Guida behaves and benefits similarly!

Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling appear to be on good terms.

Shoutout Rongzhu for his UFC 312 “Prelim” showcase!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Terrance McKinney might rank No. 1 on the current kill-or-be-killed rankings.

The finish here is a great example of using the momentum of the right low kick to reset into a powerful counter left hook.

Went to parry the jab and ate a loaded left hook:

Random Land

Pulitzer worthy.

Midnight Music: Indie rock, 2022

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