Midnight Mania! Gaethje Passes McGregor In UFC Rankings

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

UFC rankings are an enigma. Fighters change position constantly, often without having actually done anything aside from having a new fight booked or maybe getting injured. On the whole, they are largely unpredictable and unreliable, despite unfortunately having a considerable impact on the lives of the athletes.

This change, however, feels justified and overdue. Per the latest UFC rankings, Justin Gaethje has surpassed Conor McGregor in the Lightweight rankings.

u/rdon1

In terms of fairness, it’s easy to understand why Gaethje should be a spot or two ahead of “The Notorious.” After all, McGregor has just one Lightweight victory in the UFC — though an all-time great win to be sure — and it came way back in 2016. Plus, his return bout is at Welterweight! Meanwhile, Gaethje has won his last three bouts, each via brutal first-round knockout.

“The Highlight” deserves his high-ranking.

As usual, it seems McGregor may be having the last laugh anyway. Despite his single digit drop in the Lightweight rankings, the Irishman did rise a position on the pound-for-pound list to No. 13. That’s a lot of movement for a man whose comeback fight still hasn’t actually happened!

Insomnia

Does Tony Ferguson even have real coaches? Training partners? His social media makes it seem like he’s just alone in his bat cave thinking up new training methods.

Roxanne Modafferi is confirmed to be wildly nice.

Diego Sanchez is still taking shots at his former training camp.

NOT an easy list to become a part of:

Holy crap, I forgot just how gigantic Thiago Alves used to be.

Even after hundreds and hundreds of reps, it’s always possible to completely flub a takedown.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

It’s so strange to see Conor McGregor pre-hair cut and tattoos.

A pretty brilliant arm bar — sometimes diving on the arm is the best defense to a sweep!

Cartwheel kick gone wrong!

Random Land

I don’t understand what is happening here, nor do I claim to understand.

Midnight Music: One of my all-time favorite covers.

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