Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Every so often you see MMA emerge, sometimes completely by accident, in places and situations you least expect. That happened tonight, as Philadelphia 76ers power forward landed a pretty effective spinning elbow on Brooklyn Nets center Jarrett Allen.
OUCH.
Flagrant 1 for Embiid. pic.twitter.com/gTuBpIkWQs
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 16, 2019
The foul drew praise from UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who tweeted, “That technique wasn’t too bad, always room in the UFC.” Jones is something of a specialist with the spinning elbow. He has landed it with frequency throughout his career, notably on Stephan Bonnar, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and Alexander Gustafsson in their first bout. That particular spinning elbow may have saved his belt, rocking Gustafsson and turning the momentum in a very close fight against the Swede.
It is unlikely the 7-foot tall Embiid, who weighs 249 pounds, would ever consider competing in the Octagon. He signed a 147 million dollar contract over five years, earning 25 million dollars for the 2018/2019 season. If he ever wanted to take a massive pay cut to start over in a sport that inflicts unknown amounts of long-term damage on the brain, he could probably go train with ‘Bones’! He’s already got at least one technique down. We can officially add him to the list of non-MMA fighters we wouldn’t want to fight.
That technique wasn’t too bad, always room in the UFC https://t.co/k6KPp1oatZ
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 16, 2019
Embiid claimed the foul wasn’t intentional, but his own teammate couldn’t help but break into a chuckle when he said that.
Sixers’ Joel Embiid & Ben Simmons crack up laughing while Embiid was trying to apologize for flagrant elbow to Nets’ Jarrett Allen during Game 2 win: “I got him pretty good but I’m sorry about it. it wasn’t intentional. …. I’m not usually humble that’s why he’s laughing.” pic.twitter.com/Ll1wuTHEk3
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 16, 2019
Insomnia
Supposedly Conor McGregor declined to fight Justin Gaethje.
@danawhite Offer him this fight and he declined it https://t.co/M09yAvFoAx
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) April 15, 2019
Israel Adesanya may or may not get past Robert Whittaker next, but he is already an unbelievable phenom. The progress he has made in a short time is incredible.
@vitorbelfort & @stylebender from many moons ago. Crazy how far he has come. pic.twitter.com/b1KYJJEtKx
— Ryan Loco (@RyanLoco) April 14, 2019
Max Holloway is nothing but class all day. For that matter, so was everyone else in the main and co-main event at UFC 236. It was a pleasure to watch four fighters with nothing but respect for each other go to war in the Octagon.
Life is chutes and ladders. Sometimes we gotta take that slide down to get to the next big ladder. It is what it is. We keep playing. We keep fighting. Congrats to Dustin and Jolie. They should’ve already had a belt. Diamonds are forever pic.twitter.com/9IKYoZAg1P
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) April 14, 2019
It came down to the wire…we both put in on for the culture of fighting. You know me and I know you now, this is the fights movies are made of, that 5th round was some legendary shit. It was only possible cuz I had a man as tough as @KelvinGastelum to dance with.
So thank you KG https://t.co/3RZV19nuiu— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) April 15, 2019
Khabib Nurmagomedov says he didn’t agree with the scorecards. That seems like a pointless debate, but it is only fair to Max to note that he did much better than the final score indicated; I half expected a split decision at the end.
I don’t agree with the judges 49:46, I got a draw, my respect to both fighters, and Porier’s achievement so far cannot be denied, my congratulations Dustin, see you in September. vs
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) April 14, 2019
For people arguing immediately after UFC 236 about scorecards and whether Poirier-Holloway or Adesanya-Gastelum was better, Justin Gaethje has a response: who cares about that? We just witnessed legends do battle!
Who gives a fuck who wins. Be a legend.
— Justin Gaethje (@Justin_Gaethje) April 14, 2019
Taking the gold back to Africa is a great angle for the UFC’s two Nigerian-born champions.
“We were just choppin’ it up. I told him that they’ve taken enough gold from Africa so we’re going to take some back and flex on ’em.” – Adesanya on his moment with Usman backstage. #UFC236 https://t.co/GzNreb3WAl
— Justin Golightly (@justin_golight) April 14, 2019
Everyone needs a friend as hyped for them and their success as Theo Von is for Dustin Poirier.
Lmao @TheoVon is HYPE pic.twitter.com/HDcbeHCuWs
— Mnick (@nbauer10) April 14, 2019
No shit. That was just about the toughest fight we’ve ever seen.
Israel Adesanya: “That was the toughest fight of my career.” #UFC236
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) April 14, 2019
Imagine watching Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum pour their blood out in the Octagon and decide it was the interim titles that made the fight great. Also… maybe actually pay them some real coin for fights like that?
Dustin Poirier vs. Tony Ferguson would be unbelievable as a matchup. There are just no bad fights at the top of the lightweight division.
Congrats @DustinPoirier Way To Work Kid- Champ Shit Only pic.twitter.com/py06zFMLvD
— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) April 14, 2019
It’s this kind of difficult, boring work that often gets overlooked in favor of the difficult but fun sparring or grappling. Both are important for a fighter’s improvement.
Maybe the guy in the red polo was a 39th degree blackbelt.
McGregor was tweeting over the weekend, as usual, saying ridiculous things like Khabib’s grappling was overrated.
Thank you!
However having felt it in there, I highly disagree with the “best grappler in the UFC” comment regarding Khabib.
My solely defensive guard was not passed until round 4.
I, along with my team, overrated his grappling greatly.
The rematch will show all. https://t.co/YUcaJNXP6O— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 13, 2019
Tony Ferguson didn’t even think this was him
This Isn’t Mcnuggets Tweeting Anymore, Clearly The Suits Took Over. I Can’t Hear His Accent Anymore In The Tweets- Champ #gp pic.twitter.com/GWzDtDZdsy
— Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) April 13, 2019
Paulo Costa hitting pads
Slips, Rips, Spinning Elbow Clips
Combate Americas bringing the slugfest
Nice to meet you, Zaakir Badat
meet Zaakir Badat and his hellbowing and gymnastic skills (EFC) pic.twitter.com/7aiWFh7Pa9
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) April 13, 2019
It was a good weekend for fans of spinning elbows!
Is this accurate?
The most dramatic comeback in Boxing History pic.twitter.com/gEedeJ4Gkn
— Seconds Out (@Seconds_0ut) April 12, 2019
Random Land
In the 19th century, TWITTER-LIGHT was twilight.
— Quite Interesting (@qikipedia) April 15, 2019
The Notre Dame burning was a sad sight.
Effondrement. #NotreDame pic.twitter.com/C9SQYcZwHk
— Remy Buisine (@RemyBuisine) April 15, 2019
Sleep well, Maniacs! A better tomorrow is always possible. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality