Midnight Mania! White Must Face Punishment, Or Something’s Wrong With The System

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Earlier today, UFC President Dana White addressed his controversial domestic incident at the UFC Vegas 67 media day. Similar to his initial statement, White took full responsibility for the slap, and he requested that no one defend his actions.

There was also an update on White’s punishment. Many have called for White to step down from his position as President or at least take a few weeks off. Instead, White’s punishment will be more abstract: he’ll have to live with himself and all the mean words people say about him.

Former UFC color commentator Jimmy Smith takes issue with the lack of actual punishment. In his opinion, White needs to face some actual consequences.

“Dana White said all of the right things,” Smith explained. “He took full accountability. ‘There’s no need to defend me. You shouldn’t defend me, I was wrong. I admit it, I have to live with this the rest of my life.’ I have no issue with what Dana White said, other than, well what punishment are you going to do?

“It would hurt him to not be in charge of the UFC. For any length of time, that would bother him. Would it bother him financially? No. But it would bother him.”

Smith’s reasoning is fairly simple. It wasn’t that long ago that MMA was widely considered a barbaric sport unworthy of main stream attention. Back in the “human cockfighting” days, the sport barely survived, let alone thrived on major channels like ESPN. Smith warns that if domestic violence issues like this go unpunished, the sport can lose progress in its quest for mainstream acceptance.

“It can drag us back, and you gotta be a little bit older to remember those days, but they did happen, and they can come back again. So, a lack of accountability for Dana White affects everybody, because it says our sport doesn’t deserve any better. Of course there’s no consequences, there a bunch of animals who fight in a cage.”

Smith concluded, “When it comes to Dana White, if there’s no accountability, the system itself, something’s wrong.”

Insomnia

One Championship is making moves! Think the promotion picks up more US visibility in 2023?

I would GLEEFULLY watch Charles Oliveira fight Beneil Dariush, Arman Tsarukyan, or any other Top 10 Lightweight.

MMA can be a gentlemanly sport!

I’ve been to Xtreme Couture, and it’s not really a huge gym, so this will be interesting …

I wouldn’t call it confirmed just yet, but UFC is rumored to be returning to New York in April.

Unfortunately, New Mexico’s athletic commission will allow Diego Sanchez to fight former WBA Light Middleweight champion Austin Trout in a bare knuckle boxing match after initial concerns.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Hard low kicks really are one of the quickest ways to convince someone that they do not, in fact, want the smoke.

Bernard Hopkins putting hands on his opposition:

Spinning backfist as a counter to the low kick! Valentina Shevchenko does that but nowhere near this violently.

Random Land

Kids will be kids.

Midnight Music: RIP Jeff Beck.

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