Midnight Mania! Healthy For The First Time

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Illegal knee controversy aside, Petr Yan’s spent nearly four years now looking very much like the best fighter alive. The Russian striker is offensively volatile from both stances, defensively very sound, and he has a surprisingly deep understanding of the wrestling game for a man known for his kickboxing. By and large, Yan has proven himself a class above his fellow Bantamweights, an impressive accomplishment given just how talented 135-pounders tend to be.

Perhaps making his accomplishments more impressive are the injuries and difficulties Yan’s dealt with outside of the cage. Per his manager Danny Rubenstein, UFC 273 will be the first time Yan makes the walk into the Octagon with some kind of lingering issue.

“He’s great – I’ve honestly never seen him look better,” Rubenstein said (via MMAJunkie). “I’ve had a lot of conversations with a lot of people around him, outside of him – everybody is very impressed by what he’s been doing and especially this camp and how he’s looked this camp.

“His weight is good. (He has) no injuries, which is pretty much a first for him. Every other fight, he’s had some kind of injury. The Jimmie Rivera fight, he was in the hospital the week before the fight. So everything has always been, with Petr, very difficult getting to the fight. He’s always made it there and always performed very well. But the fact that he’s healthy now and no injuries, I think it’s going to be a good week for him.”

Of course, Yan isn’t the only fighter to deal with injuries. Sterling himself underwent neck surgery last year, and his recovery has delayed their rematch for some time. If a healthier spine helps Sterling perform more effectively on Saturday night, we could be looking at a match up between two especially fresh champions at their best.

Insomnia

An unfortunate shakeup to next weekend’s Bellator 277 card … only a real sicko would fight Aaron Pico on eight day’s notice!

Jessica Rose-Clark tried her best.

Life is all a matter of perspective, really.

Floyd Mayweather is doing more weird exhibition stuff.

Francis Ngannou is still getting in whatever work he can on his recovering knee.

Aljamain Sterling is looking VASCULAR!

Israel Adesanya shares an anecdote about magic mushrooms during lockdown:

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre remains the greatest upset in UFC history, even if it’s no longer the statistically widest (Holm vs. Rousey).

I think buggy chokes are pretty cool, but knowing when to let go is an important skill regardless of submission.

A bunch of comments seem to think this is fake, but if it is … I’m convinced.

Random Land

The audience really makes this clip.

Midnight Music: Basically a rip off of Funkadelic (but a good one!), 2016

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