Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Dustin Poirier has really refined his kickboxing style in the last few years. For years, he was more of a brawler than boxer, constantly breaking his stance to lunge forward with power punches. That began to change around 2017 after his loss to Michael Johnson, as Poirier really grew sharper with his footwork and overall form.
As a result, Poirier has since enjoyed the best period of his entire career, and he’s established himself as one of MMA’s better boxers. He’s also faced a who’s who of dangerous UFC strikers, including former champions known for their boxing in Max Holloway and Conor McGregor.
Having defeated both, Poirier is in a unique position to offer perspective on their skills. While on THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas, Poirier was asked which man was the more skilled pugilist.
“Conor’s definitely the better puncher,” Poirier said (transcription via MMAJunkie). “It seems like Max puts things together and is in position to throw combinations better. I think Max Holloway.”
Atlas, a decorated boxing trainer and commentator, ultimately agreed with “The Diamond.” He added, “To Dustin’s point picking Holloway, I think in his mind, same as mine, he’s seen that the guy has more of the complete package – the consistency of all the elements it takes to be a great boxer.”
McGregor will likely get a chance to make another argument in his favor, as a trilogy battle between the two seems inevitable.
Insomnia
Even in a mild beef with Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler cannot help but be pretty wholesome.
Theo Von snuck @DustinPoirier‘s hot sauce into Michael Chandler’s Super Bowl party.
Chandler thew it away at first, but then decided to do a taste test (via @TheoVon, @MikeChandlerMMA) pic.twitter.com/BfiHtnLmUt
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 8, 2021
Referee Mike Beltran has been solid the last few years; it’ll be good to have him in the UFC APEX.
Referee Mike Beltran will be licensed in Nevada shortly and will start working UFC events at Apex in March. I know, I thought he was licensed in Nevada this whole time too.
— RJ Clifford (@RJcliffordMMA) February 7, 2021
UFC 258 gets a last-second addition.
Andre Ewell will fight Chris Gutierrez at #UFC258 on February 13th. (per @FactoryXMTMMA) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN pic.twitter.com/jTATn5JcUT
— MaRCeL DoRFF (@BigMarcel24) February 8, 2021
Probably staged, definitely funny!
Check out this guy’s reaction to Conor losing to Dustin. Fans are too serious about being fanatics. #UFC cc: the fight den pic.twitter.com/gROR5NRyha
— MzFightDiva40 (@MzFightDiva40) February 5, 2021
Class from Beneil Dariush and Carlos Diego Ferreira following a quality battle:
My pleasure brother. Hardest fight of my career. https://t.co/aH7yyMIpjE
— Beneil Dariush (@beneildariush) February 8, 2021
A bit of superhero/MMA crossover art:
Found a small collection of Marvel Heroes if they were MMA fighters.
Not sure who made them but they are incredible so please tell me if you know who did. pic.twitter.com/mCckXIWxt0
— ?Wonderbread (@WonderbreadMMA) February 8, 2021
High-level stuff from both men! Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo gets forgotten about as an incredible fight because of the unpleasantly brutal finish.
Nice pic.twitter.com/b1e9YFiOyK
— ?? ?? (@SammyboyBowers) February 8, 2021
Bittersweet-ness aside, it’s absurdly impressive that the champion and current top contender were both trained by Henri Hooft.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Jab high, jab low, right hand is a classic.
Headbutts are definitely something to be feared in a street altercation.
I meant to post this last week, but if this weekend was the end of “The Reem,” it was a legendary career!
Random Land
Some passengers left behind.
Midnight Music: A classic post-punk track from Echo & The Bunnymen. While writing this little blurb, I learned that the chords of the song are based on Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” but it’s played backwards. Pretty neat!
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.