Midnight Mania! Volkanovski Slams ‘Embarrassing’ Cejudo

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Henry Cejudo has fully embraced his “Triple Cringe” persona for months now, and credit to him, it’s working to extent. I can personally say I’ve written many more articles about Cejudo as a result of his attention-grabbing antics and intergender challenges. For the most part, it’s harmless, as Cejudo is goofing about and annoying his peers without actually causing any trouble.

No harm, no foul.

However, cringe is not not the only aspect of Cejudo’s new persona. He’s frequently been calling out fighters coming off losses, and for whatever reason, UFC is obliging his choice of opponent. As a result of his wars of words, Cejudo is set to face Dominick Cruz at UFC’s planned mega-event on May 9th.

Cruz hasn’t won a fight since June of 2016.

One of the men Cejudo has called out that has won a fight recently is Alexander Volkanovski. Cejudo is interested in pursuing “Quadruple C” status by taking out the Featherweight kingpin, and today Volkanovski struck back at the Olympian by attacking his refusal to face top contenders.

“It seems like he’s challenging everyone but his No. 1 contenders, so whatever,” Volkanovski told MMA Junkie. “Look: I think, good on him. If you’re calling me out, all right. But I still think he should be focusing on his division and his No. 1 contenders. It literally looks like he’s getting everyone but the No. 1 contenders, and that’s something that I find – I think that’s just embarrassing. I really do believe that.”

“I think it is cringey, living up to his name when he’s doing them sorts of things. But again, I wouldn’t mind shutting his mouth up, to be quite honest. But right now, I’ve got a division that I want to hold. And again, he’s just trying to hold onto that bantamweight belt. So if he moves up, he knows I’ll kick his ass, but he’ll still get to hang onto that bantamweight belt a bit longer. If he’s going to be like that, I don’t think he deserves that chance. But you never know. If he keeps running his mouth and no one else is ready for a fight, and that’s what fight’s in front of me, I think I’ll do the world a big favor by shutting him up.”

Volkanovski is likely to face off with Max Holloway in a championship rematch next. If “The Great” can dispatch Holloway once more, does anyone think he gets an opportunity to live up to his promise of shutting Cejudo up?

Insomnia

I believe this is called “one upmanship.”

Dustin Poirier shares an emotional moment with a young fan:

I thought this throwback photo of Alexey Oleinik and Fedor Emelianenko was pretty cool!

This might be the most relatable content that Conor McGregor has ever posted.

Luke Rockhold is a curious case. On one hand, his rise through the Middleweight division was amazing to watch, as he straight up destroyed contenders left and right. The fights since have not gone well, as Rockhold’s athleticism seems to be waning despite his technical boxing improvements.

All in all, a guy who perhaps didn’t live up to his full potential despite achieving great things. Say what you will, but Luke Rockhold has never been in a boring fight!

Before Jon Jones’ late-night creep tweet, this was my planned headline for last night!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Three takeaways here:

1. Yves Edwards is the man
2. “Thug Jitsu” is not to be f*cked with
3. Holy crap, Jeremy Stephens’ chin is insane.

Relaxing when the opponent grabs a double-collar tie is not a great strategy.

School fight madness!

Random Land

Someone show this clip to Joe Rogan.

Midnight Music: A few months ago, I recommended Lee Hazlewood’s 1970 psychedelic country album Cowboy In Sweden. I still do:

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