Midnight Mania! UFC Booking Four More Fall Events At The APEX

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

In just a few days, UFC Vegas 74 will take place inside UFC’s home venue, the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s been almost exactly three years since UFC began holding shows in the Apex, which means a significant portion of the events now come without much of a crowd.

There’s a growing anti-Apex sentiment among fight fans as a result. Events without crowds don’t have to sell tickets, so there’s less of an expectation to provide a stacked card with known names. Instead, UFC can fill the night with recent Contenders Series pick ups, which makes for a cost-effective event given minimal show and win base salaries and no hosting fees.

Despite UFC President Dana White repeated mentions that it’s time to move on from the Apex, the small venue events keep on coming. Four of the next eight shows will air from there, and now USA Today’s Nolan King reports that UFC is applying for five more licenses in the fall. One event is planned to take place inside the T-Mobile Arena, but the remaining four are further UFC Vegas events.

UFC will be inside the Apex on September 16 and 23, October 7, and November 18. The likely pay-per-view (PPV) event from the T-Mobile Arena is planned for December 16.

For now, at least, the UFC Apex era remains in full swing.

Insomnia

Belal Muhammad responds to Sean Strickland, and I nominate their feud as the least juicy beef of recent memory.

WTF is a True Geordie and why would Conor McGregor entertain fighting him?

One of the great gifts that being able to beat up 99% of the planet allows is the ability to completely disregard any judgement from that 99%.

Blagoy Ivanov vs. Alexander Romanov has the potential to be the MOST tired-Eastern-European-Heavyweight-grappler fight of all time.

Rafael Fiziev vs. Mateusz Gamrot makes more sense than last night’s Moicano offering.

A classic kicking drill:

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Here’s a fun fact for the week: Kai Kara-France is undefeated when fighting on international waters at pirate-themed events.

Mariusz Pudzianowski’s career has been shockingly fun.

Enjoy a Robbie Lawler that you likely haven’t seen previously:

Random Land

A creepy crawly.

Midnight Music: Traditional, 1958

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