Midnight Mania! ‘Racist’ Insult Lands Cejudo In Hot Water

Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Henry Cejudo’s shtick is well-established at this point. “Triple C” acts as obnoxiously and — dare I say it? — cringey as possible for attention. It distracts from the fact that Cejudo is an astoundingly talented and accomplished athlete, but Cejudo is chasing dollar bills, and he’s kept his trash talk fairly harmless overall.

Earlier today, however, Cejudo referred to top Bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling as “Aljamima” and sparked a bit of controversy in the process.

Cejudo’s play on words with the maple syrup brand, Aunt Jemima, is messing about with a more complicated issue. The design of the Aunt Jemima logo directly stems from Jim Crow Era racist imagery and minstrel shows. While it’s unclear if Cejudo knows the extent of that ugly section of American history, UFC anchor Karyn Bryant has already requested he refrain from repeating the insult.

It seems unlikely to me that Cejudo would purposefully go down this path if he knew about the entire issue — being accused of racism is good for no one’s brand. Bryant’s response was measured as well, simply asking Cejudo to stop. Predictably, Twitter is less reasonable and filled with replies aggressively attacking Bryant, immediately naming Cejudo an irredeemable racist, and generally being cancerous.

Will our own comment section be any better? Scroll below to find out!

Insomnia

Let’s recap some of the social media fallout regarding Diego Sanchez and his goofy coach, whom “The Nightmare” is passionately defending on the Instagram.

A much funnier take on a more devastating DQ victory:

Pacman is a legend.

Luis Pena with the best analogy yet regarding bare knuckle boxing!

Thiago Santos moving well again! It will be great to have “Marreta” back in the mix, one of the most entertaining fighters ever.

Great shot of a perfectly placed body kick:

Slips, rips, and KO clips

There were so many incredible knockouts and moments over the weekend at various regional events that I’m set for most of the week! Let’s begin with one of the best check hooks of the year:

This is a fantastic exchange of kicks. One day, I hope MMA kick counters are at a similar level.

Is there anything more fun than a double knockdown?

Random Land

Trippy!

Midnight Music: Though the band name-changed from Women to Viet Cong and finally to Preoccupations over the years, few bands did post-punk better in the 2010s.

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