Midnight Mania! ‘Wonderboy’ Will Face Till in Liverpool

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight Welcome to Midnight Mania!
It appears that the UFC welterweight division is finally moving again.
With an(other) interim title reportedly in the final stages o…

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

It appears that the UFC welterweight division is finally moving again.

With an(other) interim title reportedly in the final stages of negotiation between Colby “Scat” Covington and Rafael dos Anjos, Stephen Thompson is reportedly set, or all but set, to fight Darren Till in the UFC: Liverpool main event on May 27. Till had previously been announced as a headliner with the opponent To Be Decided.

Ariel Helwani, a journalist for MMA Fighting and host of the MMA Hour, confirmed that the fight is close but not totally finalized yet.

The choice of Thompson is a good one in terms of entertainment value, and a tough test for Till. Known for his karate base and striking ability, Thompsos came as close to the title as it is possible to get, going to a draw with Tyron Woodley back at UFC 205, then narrowly losing a controversial (and boring) majority decision in the rematch. Woodley has been the only recent opponent capable of forcing “Wonderboy” into a boring fight. He bounced back with a clean decision win over Jorge Masvidal in his last performance.

Till, meanwhile, burst onto the scene with a first round knockout over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. He is a massive welterweight, and showed excellent cage craft in that bout, cutting of the escape and forcing Cerrone to the fence. In the past, Till has been known to suffer from cardio issues later in bouts, an area where Thompson could potentially test him. Both fighters like to fight long, out of a somewhat similar hands-low stance, and it will be interesting to find out whether Thompson’s elusive distance management will be able to defuse Till’s pressure.

This presumably ends the hunt for the right opponent for Till. Is “Wonderboy” the right choice to face off against the 25-year old Scouser?


Insomnia

While Chris Taylor is on welterweight fights today (he also broke the Covington-dos Anjos news), he also announced Neil Magny vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio is “in the works” for the Santiago, Chile card.

Forrest E. Griffin’s letter to his boss, the Sheriff of Richmond County, Georgia, to request leave to participate in The Ultimate Fighter 1. It would change both his career and the the course of UFC history.

Talented featherweight prospect Cory Sandhagen doing pad work with a cast or brace on one hand

Georges St. Pierre demonstrates how to lay on top of someone to win a fight

Tyron Woodley, who despite his constant superfight thirst has been one of the most active UFC champions in welterweight history, gets the pleasure of watching Rafael Dos Anjos and Colby Covington fight for an interim belt.

This video by Case Harts illustrating Sage Northcutt’s waterfall run out of California’s bear country is excellent and hilarious.

Right in the dick.

Judo referees kill me. They never see the tap.

I’ve been guilty of this:

l Ok, we’re live!

A post shared by Because jitsu (@because_jitsu) on

The real number one fight of all time

A post shared by As Shopped As It Gets (@as_shopped_as_it_gets_) on

I’m not sure how I feel about this, or what happened before he started filming, but this dude doesn’t want to fight and he’s hiding behind his girl.

???

A post shared by Derrick Lewis (@thebeastufc) on

It was cool of Conor McGregor’s account manager to post this.

In case you didn’t realize Nick Newell can block head kicks:

@notoriousnewell demonstrating how to defend against a head kick

A post shared by As Shopped As It Gets (@as_shopped_as_it_gets_) on

Tony Ferguson boxing blind

Patricio PItbull refutes Michael Chandler’s accounting of events after Brent Primus pulled out of his rematch with Chandler in April.


Slips, Rips, KO Clips

This is always worth another look

Boxing was tonight and it was not kind to this man’s organs


Podcasts and Video

AJ and I chat about last weekend’s card and Aldo-Stephens. Check us out on SoundCloud as well as iTunes and Stitcher on the official MMA Mania channel! Follow MMA Mania on Youtube too

MMA Ratings


Good Reads


Random Land

I don’t care who you are, this will make your day better

In Love… Vid by @loulouminidachshund

A post shared by Black Jaguar-White Tiger (@blackjaguarwhitetiger) on

Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality