Midnight Mania! Chandler Is ‘Speaking Out Of His Ass’

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Well, that didn’t take long.

Yesterday, Michael Chandler expressed some frustration regarding getting a fight booked vs. Justin Gaethje. Per the former Bellator Lightweight kingpin, Gaethje had turned down the fight multiple times despite a considerable amount of fan interest. Historically, that’s far from Gaethje’s M.O., so it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that “The Highlight” has responded quickly.

“@MikeChandlerMMA is talking out of his ass,” Gaethje tweeted. “I was waiting for the bout agreement 3 weeks into camp and wake up to news his daddy Dana gave him the shot. He’s been out of commission since the KO. What am I missing? I’m on vacay and this f—er is slandering my name. 3-4 times?”

It’s hard to decipher the the exact truth in a situation like this, where often a manager or other middle man may be responsible for the communication breakdown. Perhaps this response will fuel the rivalry further, though at the time of writing, Chandler has yet to respond.

On the positive side, Gaethje certainly sounds willing to fight Chandler, so hopefully a date is booked sooner than later.

Insomnia

If the first step to your knife defense involves getting stabbed, maybe rethink the strategy.

An interesting comparison on how ranked Lightweights do opposite one another:

Dear readers, would any of you mind quickly hitting me with your car? Anything would be better than having to write an entire preview on Sam Alvey in 2021 … At least Kang vs. Yahya should be fun.

Paulo “Borrachinha” Costa, the greatest social media presence in the UFC.

Sean O’Malley has a quality response to the overly repeated idea that keeping one’s hands up at all times is mandatory.

Randy Costa is bringing major firepower to his bout vs. Adrian Yanez.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Vietnam’s Tran Duy Nhat times a sneaky high kick on the exit:

Chris Wade’s first career knockout was a good one, and REF CAM only makes it sweeter.

Cory Sandhagen’s jab-liver left hook combo is one of my favorite setups in MMA.

Random Land

Our replacement is quickly approaching.

Midnight Music: I had a request for David Wilcox in the comments, so I had to check the folk singer out!

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