Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Luke Rockhold made some waves this week. The former Middleweight champion is looking to return to the title mix at 185 lbs., but he doesn’t feel the same pressure as most of his peers. He’s already held the belt once, and he’s made it clear he’s interested in getting it back or leaving the game entirely.
As such, Rockhold was more than willing to drop a mega rant about all the negative changes to the UFC since the company was sold to WME-IMG in 2016. He argued for better pay and bonuses, but Rockhold also mentioned fight health care and the wear-and-tear athletes suffer.
UFC President Dana White wasn’t impressed. Speaking with TSN, White assured the world that, “while they’re fighting here, these guys are very well taken care of, and so is Luke Rockhold.” The ex-champion has been through a lot of serious injuries, including an MCL tear and spinal problems, but White promised UFC covered those bills.
“Luke Rockhold was above and beyond taken care of with the issues that he had here,” White continued (via MMAJunkie). “I don’t give a s—t what health insurance plan you have, they would have never covered the things that we covered for Luke Rockhold when he was going through his stuff. Everything he said was absolute f—king gibberish and absolute bulls—t.”
White has expressed interest previously in providing long term healthcare, but there remains no timeline for such a program. Instead, White emphasized that the current coverage is excellent.
“Everybody who fights here gets unbelievable healthcare,” White said. “Unbelievable healthcare. I mean, we don’t even sew people up with regular doctors. If it’s bad enough, we send them to plastic surgeons to get sewn up.”
Luke Rockhold will scrap with Paulo Costa this Saturday (Aug. 20, 2022) at UFC 278.
Insomnia
Israel Adesanya is putting some dough on Jose Aldo! I don’t know if anyone cares, but were I to bet tomorrow, I like the odds on both Aldo and Leon Edwards.
Paying my respects and my respects pay me. @Stake pic.twitter.com/OXTVoliBa2
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) August 19, 2022
Marcelo Rojo has fun Muay Thai, and it’ll be interesting to see how he performs at 145-pounds.
Francis Marshall will fight Marcelo Rojo at UFC event on December 3rd. (per @CCLegaspi) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN pic.twitter.com/KqGIV0mygX
— Marcel Dorff (@BigMarcel24) August 19, 2022
Julia Avila reflects on the nature of being a UFC fighter who isn’t among the top stars.
Fighter pay is great when you have a fight; I had 9 cancelled fights one year and since my injury 2021, I had to get a job to make ends meet and have insurance to cover my pregnancy. I love being a part of the UFC, it’s a dream come true. But it is a temporary dream.
— Julia Avila (@RagingPandaMMA) August 18, 2022
I love being in the UFC. I love fighting for the fans and putting on a show, but it’s a dog and pony show. I’m just as replaceable as anyone else on the roster and fans will be none the wiser. That’s the hardest pill to swallow.
— Julia Avila (@RagingPandaMMA) August 18, 2022
“Rocky” has slick elbows, think they make an appearance opposite Kamaru Usman?
Luke Rockhold messing with his coach, Jason Parillo, is pretty funny.
Two big throws!
Darren Till and Khamzat Chimaev’s relationship is a full on brotherhood.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
As an “Ice Cold” fan, this knockout always makes me sad.
Cro Cop beating Igor, felt like a passing of the torch. There was a new king of violence in town and his name was Mirko Filipovic.pic.twitter.com/HPugyacqV4
— Cerebral Vigilante (@Delisketo) August 18, 2022
Strikeforce is under appreciated. The hexagon held some great fights and great athletes!
Thanks, I hate it.
Just now at Fight Pro Championship in Brazil. Matheus Maia destroys his own knee throwing a single strike. pic.twitter.com/Aq6sb717Ch
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) August 13, 2022
Random Land
FLORIDA!
Midnight Music: Folk, 1969
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.