Midnight Mania! ‘Three Kicks From Aleksandar Rakic And I’m On F**king Crutches!”

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Anthony Smith’s last two trips to the Octagon certainly qualify as rough nights at the office. Glover Teixeira literally knocked his teeth out, and in Smith’s attempt to rebound from that loss last Saturday (Aug. 29, 2020) at UFC Vegas 8, Aleksandar Rakic utterly dominated the longtime veteran.

Speaking on Sirius XM radio, Smith explained just how much damage his lead leg took from the heavy calf kicks of the Austrian.

“It’s not good. It’s not good at all,” Smith said (transcription via MMAFighting). “I’m still on crutches so there’s that. If I’m being really honest with you guys, I’m not doing well. I’m super disappointed. I couldn’t get out of bed on Sunday. They had to send people from the [UFC Performance Institute] to my hotel room to drug me up and put a bunch of anti-inflammatory creams and big compression ice machines. It was like I had a whole f**king team in my room. It’s a little bit better today.

“There’s an occult fracture on my fibula head so that’s cool. It sounds bad but it’s not a huge deal actually. It’s 4 to 6 weeks it will be fine. But yeah, that’s how my leg is.”

Smith explained that the damage to his leg — which happened in the opening couple minutes of the bout — really limited his strategic options, as “Lionheart” simply could not risk absorbing any more low kicks. If nothing else, it proves a valuable insight into just how hard Rakic kicks!

“That’s the thing — he kicked me three times. That is nuts,” Smith said. “Hector Lombard kicked me 32 times in that fight. No issues. I walked through the airport the next day. Three kicks from Aleksandar Rakic and I’m on f**king crutches.”

Admittedly, I wrote the live stream and recall a handful more connections than the trio of kicks that sent Smith to the mat, but there is definitely truth to the idea that Rakic delivered a ton of punishment in a short period of time. After all, Volkan Oezdemir is also a proven low kicker who attack Smith’s lead leg, but Smith was able to rally through far more kicks.

Rakic’s next opponent would be well-advised to start working on his checks now.

Insomnia

Maybe Michael Chandler is finally making his move over to the Octagon! I really wanted to see it in 2014, but I’d still love to watch him fight!

This is unconfirmed, but I’d definitely watch it! Man, what a rough path to a title shot for Leon Edwards though.

Someone slowed down Fabricio Werdum’s incredible flying kick against Travis Browne, and it’s amazing.

Here’s to wishing Daniel Cormier a happy retirement! He may not have retired on top, but a five-round war with the champ isn’t a bad ending either.

Khalil Rountree pays his respects to a mentor and training partner, Anderson Silva.

It pays to be precise at Heavyweight! Side note: I love that Fabio Maldonado’s strategy of “let people punch me in the face so I know I can hit their body” made this list!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Jalin Turner has some real power in his hands.

Charles Oliveira steps into a gi and shows off his grappling skill:

I post content from “Doctor Kickass” fairly regularly breaking down recent MMA injuries and such, but rest assured, he’s also an excellent grappler!

Random Land

A touch of static.

Midnight Music: Many of y’all will hate this, but my team mate turned me onto Detroit rapper Rio Da Yung OG today. As my friend masterfully worded it, “half his stuff sounds recorded in a shoe box.” Every other line is hysterical, all absurd sexual exploits and wanton violence.

If you don’t appreciate obnoxious hip-hop, this one isn’t for you.

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