Midnight Mania! We Demand A Recount!

Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Precisely 24 hours ago, I wrote the words, “Congratulations to councilman Tito Ortiz! I am already confident his new job will provide much content for this column.” Already, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” — and new Huntington Beach city council member — is doing his part to keep this column weird and wild … and delusional.

Ortiz is a longtime California resident and supporter of Donald Trump. To the surprise of few, California was almost immediately called in favor of Joe Biden on election day, awarding its 55 delegates to the Democrat candidate. While some states remain closely contested races still being contested at the time of writing (looking at you, Nevada), Ortiz is demanding California to undergo a recount.

“The people of California are no longer going to tolerate our corrupt Government to claim victory for Democrats with 0 Precints counted,” The petition reads (all misspellings and grammar errors have been copied as is). “The people of California invested heavily their time into Trump rallies in San Diego, Big Bear, Newport Beach, Santa Barbara, Temecula, Rancho Cucamonga, Glendora, Lake Elsinore, Dana Point, Carlsbad. We will not let the Corrupt democrats give away our state !!”

“We the People of California DEMAND a fair count of the state! The people of California are angry! We want our voices heard. We are done with Governor Newsome and his Corrupt Cronies. Their is video evidence of voter fraud and corruption in California.”

There may indeed be some recounts before this presidential election is officially decided, but they will not be taking place in “The Golden State.” The latest figures from The Associated Press have Biden ahead by over 4 million votes, or 65% of the total vote compared to Trump’s 33%.

Apologies to the caravan of pickup trucks with Trump flags that clogged my local freeway in Sacramento, Ca. over the weekend, but in this state at least, the race is done. Dana White is a closer friend to Donald Trump than Ortiz, but even the UFC President could not keep his confused reaction to himself.

Insomnia

On a related note, this clip came across my feed, and I couldn’t not share it!

Respect between veteran badasses!

This is the dream (but post your own statement to unite America, UFC edition).

Is Robert Whittaker going to start his own fight team? Teach a youth program? Something is in the works!

A poor soul runs into a prodigy and immediately pays the price:

Socker boppers dream match? I’d like to see Francis Ngannou punch someone while wearing them and find out what happens.

Some smooth wrestling to score the back take then transition to attack the leg!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

If you’re going to win as an older fighter, being able to punch outrageously hard certainly helps!

It would be rude to make a joke about getting guillotined running in the Swanson family.

This is a well-performed arm triangle, but my primary takeaway is the greatness of “The Lazy King” as a nickname.

Random Land

This trash panda legitimately pulls off some rock climbing moves to score his bounty.

Midnight Music: Chester Watson is a young Florida rapper who follows the monotone, rhyme-dense vein of Earl Sweatshirt and MF Doom. His debut album, A Japanese Horror Film, came out on Halloween, and it’s a pretty interesting, concept-y listen.

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