Midnight Mania! Swanson Tore ACL At Quintet Ultra

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Last night, four teams of five fighters faced off at the Quintet Ultra jiu-jitsu showcase, with each team representing a different mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. In the finals, Team UFC edged out Team Strikeforce, and overall, Gilbert Burns and Jake Shields were the most impressive of the 20 competitors.

Previous to the final match ups, Cub Swanson faced off with Shields in an earlier round. Shields put Swanson in a knee reap position, which puts pressure on the different ligaments in the knee. In the interest of fighter safety, no heel hooks — the usual finishing technique from that position — were allowed. Unfortunately, Swanson resisted Shields’ sweep attempt from the knee reap position, and his knee unintentionally paid the price.

Today, Swanson revealed that he’s likely looking at a torn ACL and meniscus. More likely than not, a knee injury that severe will sideline Swanson for at least a year. At 36 years of age, it will definitely be a serious obstacle for “Killer Cub” to overcome.

It’s just really unfortunate. Overall, the Quintet Ultra competition was successful, and it gave some of the retired athletes a relatively safe way to showcase their skills and bank a paycheck. Limiting foot locks to help keep the UFC fighters safe was a smart tactic too, even if it didn’t payoff perfectly.

Swanson’s injury also raises the question of whether or not active fighters will continue being able to compete on the mats. UFC cannot be happy that one of its fighters was injured while competing elsewhere, but it’s also not clear precisely how much they can intervene given the whole independent contractor status of fighters.

Hopefully, Swanson will receive a better diagnosis soon and recovers quickly.

Insomnia

We are just one more night away from some seriously great fights.

Between the main and co-main event of UFC 245, the card may set some total strike records by the end of the night.

Jordan Burroughs reflects on what it takes to reach the top:

This might have worked if Chad Mendes wasn’t a literal ball of muscle with short arms:

Media day photos!

Yoel Romero’s strength is genuinely terrifying.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Luckily, no one was seriously injured in the rest of these Quintet Ultra highlights:

The arm was trapped at a rough angle before the bottom grappler even began extending — yikes.

A pair of well-setup and well-timed high kicks finished this bout.

Random Land

The Youtube page for The Office released the full cut of Threat Level Midnight, so obviously that’s a must-watch for Dunder Mifflin fans.

Midnight Music: Enjoy a slice of ‘90s rock from The Brian Jonestown Massacre:

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