Midnight Mania! Romero To Bare Knuckle?

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Yoel Romero is one of the best fighters in MMA history without a major title to his name. He came damn close to capturing the UFC title on several occasions, but the strap eluded “Soldier of God.” Now, UFC has released the knockout artist onto the world, pointing to Romero’s recent defeats (that mostly came in title fights!) as the reason for his pink slip.

As with Anderson Silva’s high-profile release last month, speculation immediately began regarding where Romero would head next. Also like “The Spider,” two of the biggest American promotions in Bellator and Professional Fighter’s League (PFL) have opted to pass.

This reads to me more like “Bellator and PFL don’t have the funds to pursue Romero” than “Bellator and PFl don’t want Romero,” but that’s just conjecture. However, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) definitely has deep pockets, based on their $20 million offer to Mike Tyson and supposed multi-million dollar deal with Paige VanZant.

“We are very interested.” BKFC President David Feldman said to BJPENN.com. “How could we not be? He has BKFC written all over him. He would be a welcomed addition, we will see if we can make it happen.”

There is currently no champion in BKFC in Romero’s weight class, but one has to imagine he’d be the favorite to take that title if Romero moves in that direction. Otherwise, there are still many potential international options if Romero wishes to remain a cage fighter.

Insomnia

Marvin Vettori with perhaps the worst case of Velcro burn/fingernail scratches I’ve ever seen:

A new fighter breaks through every once in a while, but somehow, Heavyweight never seems to change too drastically.

Rafael Fiziev returns to the Octagon this weekend, and that dude can strike!

Claressa Shields is getting some work in with Jon Jones ahead of her transition to MMA:

Can Tom Breese keep the ball rolling at Middleweight? His last couple fights have been impressive.

Hey look, a fight cancellation NOT due to COVID-19!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Slams are EXTREMELY effective when one arm is trapped.

Is Holyfield vs. Tyson 3 the old guy boxing match to make?

The first TikTok in Midnight Mania history? I could not not include this excellently refereed Walmart boxing match.

Random Land

Dessert is king.

Midnight Music: I realized today that I have yet to post a Billy Joel song, which surprises me!

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