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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Darren Till has strong opinions about Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya.

Earlier this week, “The Gorilla” offered his thoughts on a game plan for “Stylebender,” advising Adesanya to feint a lot then catch Du Plessis coming forward. The English striker faced off with Du Plessis in December 2022 during the South African’s rise to contention back, so he does have some basis for his strategy. At the same time, Till coughed up his third-straight UFC defeat via third-round submission to “Stillknocks” (watch highlights), a fact Du Plessis was quick to point out when Till revealed his master game plan.

Well, Till is putting his money where his mouth is! The former UFC contender posted on social media that he put a $ 50k bet on Adesanya. “Dricus is getting rawdogged,” Till wrote. “Easy money.”

Hopefully, this is a case of genuine belief rather than sour grapes. After all, Till has long been friendly — in an awkward, competitive sort of way — with Adesanya, whereas Du Plessis ejected him from the UFC roster in an ugly loss. Ultimately, we’ll find out tomorrow night (Aug. 17, 2024) at UFC 305 if Darren Till’s prediction is on the money.

As for Till, his next step in combat sports in unclear. Last month, Till made his professional boxing debut against Mohammad Mutie and won via a second round technical knockout (watch highlights) … but also got taken down in the process. He’s called out Mike Perry several times, but he also sounds unwilling to face Perry without gloves.

Insomnia

I don’t think anybody is overly impressed by Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree. Obviously everyone will watch, myself included, but this is not a serious fight.

All this clip tells me is that Dominick Cruz has access to a good lawyer and/or is friends with the local police.

Dricus Du Plessis is establishing himself as the meanest bastard in press conference history. Don’t banter with “Stillknocks!”

Jiri Prochazka making friends with the Australian fauna.

Social media star IShowSpeed is known for impressive athletic achievements, but out-punching “Poatan” — even on an untrustworthy machine — is quite the feat.

Send Volk to the Olympics ASAP.

Paul Felder reflects on his wild war with Dan Hooker, an absolutely underrated banger.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

A picture-perfect overhand across the jab.

If you have anyone besides Georges St. Pierre ahead of Matt Hughes on your all-time Welterweight list … you’re wrong!

These old school Eddie Alvarez highlights are awesome!

Random Land

Interesting inventions.

Midnight Music: Alternative, 1988

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

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The 2024 Professional Fighters League (PFL) playoffs continue TONIGHT (Fri., Aug. 16, 2024) inside Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood, Fla., as last year’s light heavyweight winner, Impa Kasanganay, takes on Josh Silveira, while Rob Wilkinson faces Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov in the co-main event of the evening.

The event will stream on ESPN+ and ESPN for United States-based viewers, while international mixed martial arts (MMA) fans can catch the action via DAZN starting at 6:30 p.m. ET.

PFL Hollywood Quick Results:

205 lbs.: Impa Kasanganay vs. Josh Silveira
205 lbs.: Rob Wilkinson vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov
155 lbs.: Gadzhi Rabadanov vs. Michael Dufort
155 lbs.: Brent Primus vs. Clay Collard
155 lbs.: Biaggo Ali Walsh vs. Brian Stapleton – Ali Walsh via first-round knockout
135 lbs.: Danny Sabatello vs. Lazaro Dayron – Fight ruled a majority draw
155 lbs.: Mads Burnell vs. Elvin Espinoza – Burnell via unanimous decision
205 lbs.: Thad Jean vs. Chris Brown – Jean via unanimous decision
145 lbs.: Jordan Oliver vs. Braydon Akeo – Oliver via unanimous decision
145 lbs.: Michelle Montague vs. Marilia Morais – Montague via first-round rear-naked choke

To checkout the latest PFL-related news and notes click here.

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LIVE: UFC 305 early weigh ins video results! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is just one day away from the upcoming UFC 305 pay-per-view (PPV) event on ESPN+, scheduled for this Sat. night (Aug. 17, 2024) at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia. UFC 305 will be headlined by the middleweight title fight featuring reigning 185-pound champion, Dricus Du Plessis, against former division titleholder, Israel Adesanya, a five-round showdown that follows a stacked UFC 305 main card, also showcasing the 125-pound brouhaha pitting Kai Kara-France in a flyweight fracas opposite one-time title challenger Steve Erceg.

But before they can fight, they must first weigh in.

UFC 305’s early (and official) weigh ins will stream LIVE from the promotion’s host hotel in the embedded video above starting promptly at 6 p.m. ET. The festivities are expected to last roughly two hours, but could end much earlier depending on how quickly all 24 fighters get to the scale. The promotion will also stage the UFC 305 ceremonial weigh ins complete with fighter staredowns RIGHT HERE live from RAC Arena at 11 p.m. ET. Remember, today’s weigh ins will permit a one-pound allowance in non-title fights, but championship contests must return exact weights … no exceptions.

Complete UFC 305 early weigh ins text results below:

UFC 305 Main Card On ESPN+ PPV:

185 lbs.: UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis () vs. Israel Adesanya ()
125 lbs.: Kai Kara-France () vs. Steve Erceg ()
155 lbs.: Mateusz Gamrot () vs. Dan Hooker ()
265 lbs.: Tai Tuivasa () vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik ()
170 lbs.: Jingliang Li () vs. Carlos Prates ()

UFC 305 Prelims Card On ESPN/ESPN+:

265 lbs.: Junior Tafa () vs. Valter Walker ()
145 lbs.: Josh Culibao () vs. Ricardo Ramos ()
125 lbs.: Casey O’Neill () vs. Luana Santos ()
145 lbs.: Jack Jenkins () vs. Herbert Burns ()

UFC 305 Early Prelims Card On ESPN+:

155 lbs.: Tom Nolan () vs. Alex Reyes ()
170 lbs.: Song Kenan () vs. Ricky Glenn ()
125 lbs.: Stewart Nicoll () vs. Jesus Aguilar ()

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 305 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 305: “Du Plessis vs. Adesanya” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 305 fight card and PPV lineup click here.

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‘DC’ doesn’t know where Adesanya’s career goes if he loses to Dricus Du Plessis in Perth, Australia this weekend at UFC 305.

Former UFC double champ Daniel Cormier believes Saturday’s UFC 305 title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya is the most important fight of “The Last Stylebender’s” career.

Cormier is in Perth, Australia to commentate the pivotal middleweight title fight between Du Plessis and Adesanya. Izzy has a chance to become one of the few three-time UFC champions in history — a stat that Du Plessis has pointed out isn’t exactly a positive one. If he fails on Saturday night and falls to “Stillknocks,” where does that leave the UFC superstar?

“I think Izzy needs to win, man. He’s got to win this fight,” Cormier said in an interview with Submission Radio. “Because I don’t know what his career looks like for a guy like Israel Adesanya if he isn’t in the title reign.”

“Motivation is a tricky thing. Especially for a guy that seems to have everything. All the money, all the titles. He’s got the fame. He’s got everything. Getting up to fight for a championship again is easier than saying, ‘I’m just going to fight on a pay-per-view and I might be the co-main event.’ I don’t know if that’s in Izzy’s cards anymore. I think it’s titles. And if it’s not titles, it’s getting back to titles. But I don’t know that he has that run in him. And I don’t know if he should have to have that run in him, because he’s done so much already.”

“It’s vital that he wins on Saturday,” DC concluded.

The big question: which Izzy will we see on Saturday? The one who thundered through the middleweight division en route to his first title, or the one who seemed unable to outpoint Sean Strickland back in September 2023, the last time we saw him compete? This is the longest break we’ve seen Adesanya take since he arrived in the UFC, and his teammates have talked about him healing up a multitude of nagging injuries that could make a difference. But the time off was definitely needed, according to Cormier.

“This dude carried a heavy schedule, man,” he said. “His schedule was crazy. They rode him. They rode him through the pandemic. They rode him after the pandemic, and he always showed up. So, he continued to fight and make a ton of money, but you need a break. And it feels like he’s refreshed and excited again to have the opportunity to go out and fight and try to become champion.”

“Fighters are monsters,” Cormier continued. “Because they have such strong minds, they convince themselves that they‘re okay. When in reality, they’re not. But I don’t know that it was Izzy’s body that was run down as it was probably hard mentally.”

“You’re always getting ready to fight the most dangerous, scariest guy in the world, every time when you’re the champion. And he did that time and time and time again. He had one of the greatest title reigns we’ve seen in a long time. And I think this break will serve him well. I’m not saying he’s going to win because of it. But I think he’ll be better in the octagon than last time because he’s able to reset. It’s hard to carry that schedule. But Dricus is tough. He’s very good.”

Bookies have Adesanya and Du Plessis even at -110, which tells you just how much uncertainty surrounds this grudge match between the two African fighters. All answers will be given when the cage door swings shut on Sunday afternoon in Australia (Saturday night for those of us living in North America) and reality sweeps away speculation, leaving only one man standing.

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

UFC CEO Dana White still doesn’t expect Conor McGregor to return in 2024, but he won’t rule it out completely.

A couple days ago, White dropped an unfortunate update on McGregor’s much-anticipated UFC comeback, explaining that he would not be returning this year after his pinky toe derailed a scheduled July clash versus Michael Chandler. Seeing as McGregor’s injury was relatively minor, it was a surprise that the delay would be so long, and there have been some strong reactions.

McGregor himself, for example, was upset! He took to Twitter to argue his case and demand a December booking. His would-be opponent, Michael Chandler, is still unconvinced that the fight is off, though he did offer up one replacement option. McGregor also reached out to White directly, which resulted in at least a mild walk back of his former comments.

White elaborated further on the McGregor negotiations and explained, “You can imagine after I said that, Conor was blowing me up, going ‘I’ll definitely fight this year!’ When we get to a point where we’re setting a fight, and I believe that a Conor McGregor fight is going to happen, I will announce it. As of right now, I believe that Conor will not fight this year.

“Conor saying he wants to fight in December? We’ll see how it plays out.”

White’s quote isn’t confidence-inspiring, but at least it’s slightly more optimistic than the previous update?

Insomnia

Colby Covington is hitting a new low with whatever the f—k this nonsense is.

Dana getting told to his face that Power Slap is monotonous is long overdue.

Heavyweight action coming to an Apex near you!

Dricus Du Plessis puts in a formal request that Israel Adesanya stops being weird, which I don’t think is possible!

On a more classy note: “DDP” showing respect to Israel Adesanya’s coach and talking about those 2014 training sessions.

It’s been a really long time since Stipe Miocic won a fight.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Carlos Prates is here to kick ass and rip cigs.

Surgical destruction of the lead leg makes for a great high kick setup.

Elbow war!

Random Land

This dog’s face is the funniest thing I’ve seen in weeks (don’t get mad at me in the comments, it’s a bit!).

Midnight Music: Alternative, 1995

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

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The Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) is finally upon us. Meanwhile, Jones is upon his opponent, Gabi Garcia.

Everyone loves some good competition and Australia’s Jones is creating exactly that with his head-to-head alternative to the world-famous Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) this weekend. CJI will feature tons of talented grapplers competing over the next two nights (Fri., Aug. 16 and 17, 2024). You can watch day one here and day two here.

In a long-anticipated and often teased intergender grappling match, Jones will take on nine-time ADCC champion, Garcia. At least, that was the plan until he complicated things with his friendly expression in the embedded video above.

All jokes aside, the event should be a great night in grappling and the serious money on the line makes the overall head-to-head element in the community a compelling one. In Jones vs. Garcia, specifically, the man himself is so confident in his abilities that he has placed a $ 100,000 bet on a win via leg lock, his signature submission type.

Even for competitors who are no longer just grapplers, mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters and contenders in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) like Mackenzie Dern couldn’t say no to the opportunity.

For much more on the upcoming CJI tourney click here.

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will hold a special pre-fight press conference for select athletes competing at the upcoming UFC 305 pay-per-view (PPV) event, headlined by the five-round title fight pitting reigning middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis opposite former division titleholder Israel Adesanya inside RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia.

Tonight’s UFC 305 press conference stream gets underway promptly at 4 a.m. ET, LIVE in the embedded video above (Thurs. night into Fri. morning). In addition to Du Plessis and Adesanya, today’s media festivities will also feature appearances from flyweight co-headliners Kai Kara-France and Steve Erceg, as well as Mateusz Gamrot and Dan Hooker, among others.

“We revamped the whole training system we’re doing in our gym, and it’s made everything fresh,” Adesanya told UFC.com. “We even have de-load weeks now. Crazy. We’ve never had that before. I come back from that fresh, smashing the next four weeks. It’s been fun. This has been a really different perspective for me. Maturity happens for me in different stages and the last 11 months I’ve grown a lot in many different ways. This is probably one of the best — if not the best — camps I’ve ever had.”

We’ll find out if it pays off this Sat. night (Aug. 17) on ESPN+ PPV.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 305 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 305: “Du Plessis vs. Adesanya” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 305 fight card and PPV lineup click here.

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UFC middleweight veteran Chris Curtis, currently ranked No. 15 at 185 pounds, was recently felled by injury and forced to withdraw from his Kevin Holland fight at the upcoming UFC 307 pay-per-view (PPV) event, scheduled for Sat., Oct. 5, 2024 from inside Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“I’m fine, guys. Bit of a fracture in my left foot,” Curtis wrote on Twitter. “Caught Caio Borralho on the knee, at the very end of the last round of sparring. The bigger problem is I have something called a Lisfranc injury as well, which means I’m not even supposed to be walking without crutches the next four to five weeks, which sucks but had it been any worse, it would have possibly been surgical. So count your blessings there. Hopefully, I’ll be okay for December. If not, I’ll see you all next year. Thanks for all the comments and concerns.”

Lisfranc injuries result if bones in the midfoot are broken or ligaments that support the midfoot are torn, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

Curtis (31-11, 1 NC) is looking to (eventually) rebound from his split-decision loss to Brendan Allen at UFC Vegas 90 back in April. As for Holland (26-11, 1 NC), he’s just a couple of weeks removed from his submission victory over Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC 302 and is likely to be rebooked for Salt Lake City against a new opponent.

UFC 307 does not yet have a main event but is expected to feature the featherweight showdown between Movsar Evloev and Aljamain Sterling. Elsewhere on the card, Iasmin Lucindo and Marina Rodriguez collide at strawweight, not long after Cesar Almeida and Ihor Potieria hook ‘em up at 185 pounds.

Stay tuned for more UFC 307 fight card announcements in the coming weeks.

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Craig Jones has revealed the game plan for his upcoming freak show/super fight versus nine-time ADCC champion Gabi Garcia. The jiu-jitsu ace and Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) organizer is known for goofing around and acting silly, but Jones wanted to publicly make his intentions clear ahead of his bout versus Garcia.

He’s going after her legs!

In a recent Instagram post, Craig posted a screenshot of a prop bet alongside a picture of him staring down his much larger opponent. Jones is betting big money on himself to win via leg lock specifically. He wrote, “In case you thought I was going to take it easy on her. 100k of my own money on the line.”

This type of betting would be illegal in the UFC, but there are no such regulations in the jiu-jitsu world. There’s barely even drug testing!

CJI will go down this weekend from Las Vegas, Nevada and feature some of the biggest names in jiu-jitsu. The tournament will intentionally go head-to-head with the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) tournament, which previously was well-established as the greatest heights in no-gi jiu-jitsu. Jones, however, is unimpressed by the payouts ADCC offers, and so he’s created his own tournament with a mystery financial backer.

Check out the full CJI brackets right HERE!

Insomnia

Israel Adesanya speaks out against the UFC erasure of Francis Ngannou (something Tito Ortiz once predicted!).

Sadly, UFC 307 has lost a planned banger between Chris Curtis and Kevin Holland. Shara “Bullet” to the rescue?

Charles Jourdain is heading to Bantamweight after his recent knockout loss … who thinks this works out well for the Canadian veteran?

Darren Till might be misremembering the first round of his fight versus Dricus Du Plessis.

Alex Volkanovski aside, I have no doubt there are plenty of Rugby athletes who could kill it in MMA.

Can Coach Khabib save Johnny Walker’s career? It’s certainly a step up from SBG Ireland!

Jordan Leavitt calls out Clay Guida, which seems like a reasonable match up?

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Battle of the left hooks:

Old school “Stylebender” highlights!

There are some quality amateur fighters competing around the globe.

Random Land

This is the most brutal sport I’ve ever seen.

Midnight Music: Art pop, 2014

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

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Israel Adesanya plans to become the second three-time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion in the promotion’s history at UFC 305 this weekend (Sat., Aug. 17, 2024).

The most dominant Middleweight champion since Brazil’s Anderson Silva has been none other than “The Last Stylebender,” Adesanya. Throughout his 27-fight career (24-3), Adesanya accumulated five total title defenses across two reigns as champion and could add more depending on if he dethrones Dricus du Plessis in his upcoming bout.

At the height of Adesanya’s power, he wasn’t the only champion from his native continent of Africa. Alongside him stood Heavyweight and Welterweight titleholders Francis Ngannou and Kamaru Usman. While Usman lost his title via a fifth round knockout to Leon Edwards in August 2022 (watch highlights), Ngannou parted ways with the promotion amid a contract negotiation breakdown in January 2023. Therefore, he gave up his title and signed with Professional Fighters League (PFL), making him an essential afterthought when UFC brings up its heaviest weight class.

“Francis, Kamaru, 100 percent these are guys that we have paved the way for people like Dricus,” Adesanya told ESPN. “We have paved the way for a whole continent to be able to dream. To be able to know, ‘Man, I can get there.’ I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: Look, it doesn’t end with us. It doesn’t even end with Dricus. Wait for the next generation of African fighters.

“You can never erase Francis’ history from the UFC. I’ll say that,” he continued. “It’s part of history. We need to fix this. I don’t like that. I don’t like the fact that we’re trying just to cut out a really important part of history. It’s silly. But we’ll fix that. That’s for later on.”

If Adesanya defeats du Plessis at UFC 305, he’ll join only Randy Couture as the promotion’s lone three-time champions.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 305 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 305: “Du Plessis vs. Adesanya” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 305 fight card and PPV lineup click here.

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