Midnight Mania! Manager Ali Abdelaziz Faces Battery Charges After PFL Incident

Photo by David Becker/WireImage

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Ali Abdelaziz represents quite a few of the sport’s biggest stars, a massive roster which includes names like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Frankie Edgar, and Cody Garbrandt. However, Abdelaziz seems to get himself into more trouble than the rest of them combined, as the controversial manager cannot help but get into altercations with professional fighters.

Despite already facing a battery charge in Las Vegas for ganging up on Colby Covington with Kamaru Usman at his side in a buffet line, Abdelaziz has continued pushing the limits. Last Friday night (Oct. 11, 2019), Abdelaziz got into an altercation of some kind with fellow manager Malki Kawa. He also had to be separated from former UFC Lightweight champ Anthony Pettis, one of Kawa’s athletes.

Today, MMAFighting.com released further information on the altercation, which included a police report that noted witnesses seeing Abdelaziz hit a man “in his face with a closed fist.” Kawa later identified himself as the victim and confirmed the report, saying he merely went to talk to Abdelaziz, who “subsequently struck him in the face with a closed fist on the right side of his face for no reason.”

As a result, Abdelaziz was cited with battery and removed from the event. Considering all the scrutiny Abdelaziz faces due to his background and relationship with the highly dangerous Russian dictator Ramzan Kadyrov, one would expect Abdelaziz to lay low and avoid situations like these.

Insomnia

UFC “Tampa” Thrill and Agony (Instagram edition):

Israel Adesanya’s title-winning performance was really a work of art.

This looks absolutely exhausting (and for the record, the river is clearly winning).

A brief bit of info regarding Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s foot: foot swelling is extremely common after a fight. Few fighters can hope to match Jedrezjczyk’s volume, and while she’s an accurate kicker, even one check can cause damage like this. In fact, even simply hitting an elbow/hip/knee unintentionally can produce such an injury. It’s easy to forget, but hands and feet are actually terrible weapons!

Apparently former UFC Flyweight contender John Moraga is a boxer now!

“Platinum” vs. Robbie Lawler is a gift to the MMA world, even if Mike Perry’s career could really use a few easier opponents to improve his overall skill set.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

I have 10 years of experience in jiu-jitsu, but I had never previously seen the “Buggy choke” that Luis Pena attempted against Matt Frevola over the weekend. It looked to me like “Violent Bob Ross” came pretty close, but here’s a completely successful example below. There’s always more to learn!

Tofiq Musayev picked up another win in Rizin over the weekend, and that dude is the real deal. He visits Team Alpha Male to train, and I have to say, the combination of ripped muscles and great skill paired with a vaguely 2011 Justin Bieber-esque haircut is distinctly intimidating in person.

It’s a lot easier to punish bad takedown attempts when knees to a downed opponent are legal.

Random Land

I seriously love this artist but not as much as I love cereal. Win-win!

Midnight Music: The day David Bowie died, I flying alone on an airplane returning from my hometown in New Jersey to Sacramento. It was then that I had the idea to dedicate a limb to tattoos relating to different bands and music. Though I’ve yet to add an homage for Ziggy Stardust himself, it will eventually happen.

More to the point, “Soul Love” popped up on my Discover Weekly playlist while writing, and that’s a jam!

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