Midnight Mania! Tyron Woodley confident Mayweather would train with him for UFC fight with McGregor

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Floyd Mayweather denied any plans to fight in the UFC… but the rule of thumb in combat sports is never to take a promoter’s word at f…

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Floyd Mayweather denied any plans to fight in the UFC… but the rule of thumb in combat sports is never to take a promoter’s word at face value. Mayweather is his own promoter, so that holds true for him as well. In addition to the initial talk and the smoke from Joe Rogan, Dana White (yes, the quintessential promoter) said the talks were real; Mayweather DOES always need Money to fund his lavish lifestyle, and no other fight in combat sports sells as many wolf tickets as a rematch with McGregor in McGregor’s world.

Sorry, Demetrious Johnson, as much as I would love to see you choke Mayweather out in under a minute, you probably aren’t what Floyd has in mind.

Tyron Woodley, who counts Mayweather as a friend, says this all makes perfect sense to him, and he is confident Mayweather would reach out to him for coaching if such a fight does indeed become a reality. Transcript via MMAJunkie.com:

“Conor makes sense, because Conor is really a stand-up fighter,” Woodley said on TMZ’s “The Hollywood Beatdown.” “He throws some kicks. Most of those kicks are flashy kicks just to keep you off of him. But he’s not going to do anything really beyond boxing. He’s not going to be wrestling you; he’s not going to be grappling you. So, for Floyd Mayweather, if I was coming into the sport to do MMA, I would want an opponent like that: a striker. (Not) someone who’s going to wrestle him, kick him or a Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist, and he gets put in submissions, and he doesn’t even know what the hell is going on.”

Woodley is only partially correct, of course. We’ve seen Conor’s ground game before, notably against a young featherweight named Max Holloway, and it was pretty slick, with the Irishman landing effortless takedowns for two rounds. His rocked and gassed takedown attempt against Nate Diaz aside, McGregor doesn’t even need to be a notable high-level MMA wrestler against Floyd. He got Mayweather’s back with ease in their boxing match. It’s a short trip from there to the ground. Woodley also underrates the effect and intent of McGregor’s kicking game.

He is completely correct about the financial incentive. Their boxing match did 4.3 million buys, second-highest of all time; one has to assume a rematch in the Octagon would draw similar numbers. Hence McGregor’s one-word tweet in response to Mayweather’s reticence today. What does Mayweather have to lose, after all, besides of course taking a brutal beating in an eight-sided cage?

“Shit, I might be walking down to the octagon with him,” Woodley said.

He continued, “Do it, man. Your legacy is cemented in boxing. This is something that’s just for fun to rack up some more cash. (You’ve) got a crazy lifestyle, you spend a lot of money, and this is another way where you can stack some (cash). Fight Conor McGregor in MMA, let me know when you need me to slide through. We’ll get you trained, get you ready and beat the brakes off of him inside the octagon.”

Insomnia

Stipe Miocic speaks for us all:

Some days, you run across several fighters giving us a glimpse into the less than ideal world of being a professional athlete and fighter for the world’s premiere MMA organization. Today was such a day.

Manuwa is in awe with Ngannou’s power.

This fight is a travesty in every way.

#gabigarcia VS #shinobukandori #WHYDOH #rizin @rizin_pr

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How Darren Till sees himself

Skill

What is going on here??

I agree with Joe Rogan

Combat sports over the next two weekends:

Good Reads

  • Karim Zidan is essential reading for anyone interested in what sports can mean, geopolitically. This latest piece is among his best work.
  • I love that Nate Diaz can live his life on his terms. If the UFC really want him to fight, they’ve got to put some respect on his name.
  • I also love that GSP taking Bisping’s belt and then abdicating it respectfully, pissed Bisping off, because he spent a year and a half doing the exact opposite.

Slips, Rips, KO Clips

Some fun to be had here:

Marc Diakese is a special athlete, has been since his amateur days.

I love this kick setup:

I don’t think most people can do this:

Random Land

This is the heart of a blue whale, the largest animal to ever live:

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