Midnight Mania! Covington Accuses Usman Of EPO Use

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Earlier today at the UFC 245 press conference in New York City, Colby Covington once again drew attention to himself via his usual loudmouth tactics. As usual, Covington went after all possible options, including a shot at half of UFC 244’s main event in Jorge Masvidal, who’s also his former training partner/room mate.

However, Covington reserved the heaviest ammo for his upcoming opponent, Kamaru Usman, whom Covington accused of using Erythropoietin (EPO). It was also something of a shot at USADA, as Covington said that Usman had already failed the drug test, which is why the two were not fighting until December.

Earlier in the year, former Bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw was suspended for two full years after testing positive for EPO use. It’s not the type of performance enhancing drug (PED) that can be accidentally ingest, so it seems incredibly unlikely that USADA would sweep this one under the rug.

Usman’s physique and incredible conditioning have seem similar accusations in the past, but as of yet, “The Nigerian Nightmare” has had no issues passing drug tests.

Insomnia

One.More.Day.

What are the odds Jorge Masvidal opens this next fight with a flying attack of some kind? He’s two-for-two so far in 2019.

Francis Ngannou wants to throw hands, kicks, and maybe even submissions with Tyson Fury.

Kamaru Usman and Mike Chandler are clearly not going full speed, but this is still awesome, technical wrestling.

Good news for fans looking to catch ALL that action on Saturday night.

Urijah Faber reacts to Andre Fili’s tattoo homage. I talked to Fili a few weeks prior about the tattoo, and it seems he did successfully surprise Faber — the man he credits for saving his life — with this ink.

Demetrious Johnson picks up all kinds of wins.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Question: How come there aren’t more flying submission attempts in MMA?
Answer:

A definite case of shin-to-the-chin:

One more head kick KO, this time set up by a perfect lean back counter — I could see Israel Adesanya pulling this off.

Random Land

Anyone else pumped for the forthcoming The Witcher Netflix show? Loved the books and game, and the new trailer looks pretty great!

We don’t often visualize the Earth from this direction/angle.

Midnight Music: A recent comment requested Sam Cooke, and that’s an easy call to answer! One of the all time greats, and I cannot help but recommend his live album At The Harlem Square Club, 1963 a second time.

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