Midnight Mania: The Best Event Nobody Watched

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The Professional Fighter’s League (PFL) is a frustrating promotion to follow.

In recent months, all the conversation is about how badly the company is botching their Bellator takeover. What’s the point of dropping serious dough on a rival company if you cannot use its assets? Multiple Bellator champions — athletes who are trying to stake their claim as best in the world and thus legitimize PFL in the process — are outraged at being indefinitely sidelined, unable to make a living or pursue their dreams.

That was the atmosphere leading into the fights on Friday (Nov. 29, 2024), the world championship finale event that handed out six checks worth $1 million each. The PFL tournament system is frustrating in itself, but it at least builds to this kind of event, a night where all the storylines converge and the payoff is theoretically substantial.

In some ways, the card was a massive success. Fight fans who tuned in were treated to some incredible action. Most of the fights ended before the bell, particularly on the main card, which saw five finishes in six bouts. The champions earned their paychecks in definitive fashion, and several really did appear to be absolutely elite talents capable of challenging any in their class.

In particular, Dakota Ditcheva should walk away from this event as the face of PFL. The 26-year-old Muay Thai fighter has been nothing short of spectacular inside the smart cage, and she faced a serious jump in competition opposite former UFC title challenger Taila Santos. Despite Santos’ experience edge and expected grappling advantage, Ditcheva marched her opponent down and beat her into a pulp (watch here).

It was awesome. Ditcheva’s striking is a joy to watch, and she’s able to punish her opponents like few in women’s MMA. Now 14-0 with 12 wins via KO, Ditcheva very well might be able to topple Valentina Shevchenko tomorrow if given the opportunity. She’s certainly a world-class and marketable talent, exactly what PFL needs to stop hemorrhaging money.

Taken in isolation, this event is a positive step for the company. Perhaps it could even be a snowball that builds momentum into the new year. However, it certainly feels like nobody was really watching the promotion’s best moments, and that’s hard to ignore.

Simply put, the odds ahead of time of this event being fun to watch were not great. PFL is infamous already for bloated broadcasts, and their response was to book a 16-fight show with TEN five-round fights. It’s frankly miraculous that all those finishes happened and prevented an absolute slog, which felt like the most likely outcome and surely scared potential viewers away.

Adding insult to injury was the idea to book Nav — a truly mediocre rapper — to perform at the event. Nobody in the MMA scene wants to turn fight nights into concerts. In fact, excessive pageantry and unnecessary intermissions are often a major complaint amongst UFC fans when they tune into a boxing event.

PFL opting to load up their premier card in this manner demonstrates a disconnect between the executives and actual MMA fans. Until that divide is handled, PFL will continue struggling to gain traction, even if they happen to put on excellent fights.

Insomnia

It is objectively very funny that Jon Jones spent part of his Thanksgiving arguing with fans on Twitter.

Tito Ortiz almost created the most legendary MMA Thanksgiving video of all time.

For some reason, I realllllly don’t think Alex Pereira is very worried about a Jamahal Hill rematch.

Speaking of “Sweet Dreams,” beefing with a long retired Mike Bisping over a compliment isn’t a great look either.

Lerdsila shutting down his opponent’s attempts to hit him before they even start!

Credit to Team Nurmagomedov, they are absolutely dominating the Lightweight field.

D-1 Ngannou is everywhere.

This match up may have called for some Citizen Kane/Tom Cruise camera angles.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Anime attack alert.

Probably eight out of 10 amateur fights begin with at least one fighter madly rushing forward behind their right hand. It didn’t work out this time …

Love the angle on these knees.

Random Land

Maybe turtles’ reputation as slow is undeserved?

Midnight Music: Alternative, 2005

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