Midnight Mania! Khabib Receives ‘Best Mom’ Award?!?

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Khabib Nurmagomedov has a pretty special relationship with his parents, or at least one that receives more media coverage than most. Khabib’s father Abdulmanap was his primary trainer from the time the Dagestani combatant to walk through most of his title fights, and Nurmagomedov’s fighting future was immediately thrown into uncertainty when his father passed due to complications from COVID-19.

Nurmagomedov did return to the cage once more to settle the interim title situation with Justin Gaethje (HIGHLIGHTS), but immediately afterward, Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from competition after promising his mother he would stop fighting without his father behind him.

As an award for being a loyal son, Khabib Nurmagomedov was awarded a medal that reads “Best Mom.” Nurmagomedov uploaded a picture of the award to his Instagram story with the caption, “This is the medal they presented me with in Derbent.” (translation via RT.com).

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Instagram

Despite Dana White’s apparent wishes, Nurmagomedov appears happy in retirement and unlikely to return to competition.

Insomnia

Say what you will about Sean O’Malley, but the man has nice kicks. Oh, and he’s back in the cage February 13!

Some of the science behind Brandon Royval’s unfortunate shoulder injury on Saturday night:

I’m going to be 100% honest with my readers: I had genuinely zero idea that Katlyn Chookagian and Lauren Murphy have fought before. I looked up the event on Wikipedia and definitely watched it too …

Can Alonzo Menifield get back on track after consecutive losses?

Y’all ready for Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr?

It’s genuinely really cool that the Shevchenko sisters made history and won both their fights.

I demand an Instagram post of Georges St. Pierre eating fast food before I believe he’s truly retired. Human beings don’t do stair sprints for fun.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

The referee moved quick to interrupt the soccer kick!

This might be the nastiest arm-trapped-behind-the-back finish that I’ve ever seen.

Fight Circus 2 lived up the hype and perhaps got even weirder. There will be more clips this week:

Random Land

Wawa is the greatest place on Earth.

Midnight Music: A track by “The Big O!”

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