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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The federal government may have accepted Bobby Green’s name change, but his UFC 304 opponent Paddy Pimblett won’t follow suit. Pimblett doesn’t care that Green’s longtime moniker “King” is now his legal name. In fact, he thinks it’s a sign of mental decline following a couple bad knockout losses in recent years.

“No, his name is Bobby, lad,” Pimblett explained to MMA Junkie. “He was born Bobby, he was Christened Bobby, his mom and daddy call him Bobby. His name is Bobby. … The fact that he’s changed his name at nearly 40 years of age shows that CTE is real.”

He continued, “I do think it’s still affecting him because he got clipped with a few shots against Jim Miller, who’s not a big puncher … I think he’s a little bit chinny now. Not even just the Jalin Turner one, he got knocked out clean by Drew Dober as well a couple of months before that.”

The Dober knockout actually happened about a year prior to Green’s loss to Turner, but nobody can deny that the “Tarantula” dropped a hellish amount of damage on Green. It will be interesting to see if Pimblett tries to take advantage of Green’s potentially declined durability, however, because Green is historically rather difficult to drag to the floor.

UFC 304 is scheduled to go down in just a couple weeks on July 27 from Manchester, England, and the Lightweight contest is situated prominently on the main card. It’s an important fight for Pimblett, who will attempt to break into the 155-pound rankings by taking out No. 15-ranked Green and extending his UFC win streak to six. King, meanwhile, has won three of his last four bouts, most recently bloodying up Jim Miller in a decisive victory.

Insomnia

Alex Pereira used a bit of trickery to earn himself an addition $ 253k — a savvy veteran in every sense!

A kind of slap fight that I can get behind.

Conor McGregor has been chirping at Khabib consistently for years, but I can’t remember the last time the trash talk went the other direction.

Brendan Allen and Nassourdine Imavov are the two Middleweight prospects-turned-contenders that often seem overlooked, but the winner should be in title shot discussion.

Definitely watch Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov at whatever your correct local time is.

Sean O’Malley makes so many height-based jokes you would think he’s not a Bantamweight.

Touch-pull-return demonstrated by a master:

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Beautiful combination to finish the fight.

Monstrous physical strength on display in pretty much all of these wrestling exchanges.

Spinning to reset one’s stance after a kick is a known strategy, but I’ve never seen the spin off a shin-to-shin failed kick.

Random Land

May require multiple watches to understand …

Midnight Music: Alternative rock, 1989

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

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Alex Pereira has earned the right to pick his own shots, which is why the reigning UFC light heavyweight king will only move up to heavyweight for a superfight against Jon Jones.

Can you blame him?

Pereira, who is coming off knockout wins at UFC 300 and UFC 303 to earn back-to-back title defenses, just passed Jones on the current pound-for-pound rankings. That may not sit well with UFC CEO Dana White, but Pereira’s recent activity (five fights over the past 15 months) and stranglehold on the 205-pound division has cemented his spot as one of the best in the game.

Jones seems ready to entertain a clash with Pereira in what would be one of the biggest fights in MMA right now. Pereira has gotten that big and Jones is that feared. A clash between the two would be instant fireworks and provide fight fans with the matchup they actually want to see. After all, a planned title fight between Jones and former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic just isn’t that interesting.

For Pereira, it’s Jones or nobody at this current time when it comes to moving up to heavyweight. Pereira has looked dominant at light heavyweight, but there’s still some contenders to face (i.e. Magomed Ankalaev). If he was going to leave his division behind it would have to be for the real belt. That means a potential clash with interim UFC heavyweight king Tom Aspinall wouldn’t cut it.

“It doesn’t interest me to fight [Aspinall] at the moment,” said Pereira during a recent submission to his YouTube channel. “To be honest, heavyweight isn’t my goal, it isn’t my main focus. Tom Aspinall, not talking him as a fighter, I’m talking positions. I think I’m in another position now. It doesn’t make sense for me to fight for the interim belt, honestly.”

“I am not taking anything away from [Aspinall], I respect him a lot,” he continued. “I think he’s an incredible athlete, a guy that is very dangerous technically. I’m just talking about fighting for an interim belt. There’s no point for me. So I rule that out, there is no possibility to fight him now. If he was champion and he said that, of course we would be promoting that fight. I would force it more, but there is no point to fight for the interim belt right now.”

“Like I said, my focus is on my category,” Pereira explained. “I’m evolving a lot, doing very good. That is my focus, I’m doing a lot of good things in this division. I’m very happy with this. I’m not going to force anything. I think when I go to heavyweight, I have the weight and name today to fight back at middleweight — which I won’t be doing, but If I did go back to middleweight — I’d fight the belt. If I go to heavyweight, I would fight the belt. Like I said, I’m 37, so I have to go straight to the top, straight to the belt. If it’s Jon Jones, if it’s Aspinall, whoever, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m just eyeing the belt.”

Thoughts?

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BYB Extreme is bringing the Trigon to the “Big Easy” for the “Bourbon Street Brawl” event on Sat., July 13, 2024 at John A. Alario Sr. Event Center in New Orleans. BYB 28 will be headlined by a heavyweight title bout pitting defending champion “Hurricane” Ike Villanueva against undefeated No. 1 contender Gustavo “The Cuban Assassin” Trujillo. In addition, a lightweight women’s battle between former champion Monica Medina and top pound-for-pound pugilist Helen Peralta anchors the stacked FUSE TV fight card.

BYB Extreme is back for a championship doubleheader in “The Big Easy” this Sat. night (July 13, 2024) with an action-packed lineup headlined by the heavyweight title fight pitting current BYB heavyweight champion and former UFC hurter Ike Villanueva opposite ex-Bellator smashing machine Gustavo “Cuban Assassin” Trujillo.

The winner will be crowned BYB Heavyweight Champion and lay claim to the historic Police Gazette Boxing Corporation World Diamond Belt. Tomorrow night’s BYB 28 card will be held inside the John A. Alario Sr. Event Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, airing LIVE on FUSE TV starting at 8:30 p.m. ET (get ticket information here).

Complete BYB 28 “Bourbon Street Brawl” fight card and FUSE TV lineup below:

BYB 28 Main Event On FUSE TV:

Heavyweight: Ike Villanueva vs. Gustavo Trujillo (6×3) for BYB Heavyweight Title

BYB 28 Co-Main Event On FUSE TV:

Featherweight: Monica Medina vs. Helen Peralta (6×2) for BYB Featherweight Title

BYB 28 Main Card On FUSE TV (8:30 p.m. ET):

Cruiserweight: Scott O’Shaughnessy vs. Chad Kelly (5×3)
Lightweight: Logan Speyrer vs. Oleksandr Sitarchuk (5×3)
Light Heavyweight: James Connelly vs. Mark Tiffin (5×3)
Heavyweight: Dylan Rush vs. Jay Fish (4×2)
Super Middleweight: JD Burns vs. Rome Lindsay (5×3)

BYB 28 Untelevised Prelim:

Light heavyweight: Jonathan Noah vs. Adam Nash (5×3)

Here’s the latest odds and betting lines for “Bourbon Street Brawl:”

For much more on this weekend’s BYB 28 “Bourbon Street Brawl” event click here.

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ESPY winners are selected through online fan voting.

UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley is the best UFC fighter of 2024, according to the annual ESPN “ESPY” Awards, beating out fellow cage fighters and UFC champions Alex Pereira (light heavyweight), Islam Makhachev (lightweight), and Zhang Weili (strawweight).

ESPY stands for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly.

Jon Jones edged out Israel Adesanya to claim last year’s top honor and in the 12 months since that achievement, O’Malley (18-1, 1 NC) captured the bantamweight title by stopping Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292, then defended the 135-pound strap with a decision win over Marlon Vera at UFC 299.

During that same timeframe, Pereira (11-2) went 4-0 with three knockouts, with all three finishes coming in light heavyweight title fights. That includes a pair of stunning, short-notice stoppages at UFC 300 and UFC 303.

Makhachev (26-1) racked up a pair of pay-per-view (PPV) title defenses at UFC 294 and UFC 302, both finishes, while Zhang (25-3) defended her 115-pound belt with a couple of decision wins at UFC 292 and UFC 300.

Terence Crawford won the 2024 ESPY Award for Best Boxer.

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Social media influencers are 0-2 against ranked Middleweights in 2024.

Earlier this year, former champion Sean Strickland made headlines for bloodying Sneako in a UFC Performance Institute sparring session. In the video above, rising contender Khamzat Chimaev is following his lead. Chimaev takes on Russian YouTuber Litvan, whose goal was to survive a minute in the cage with “Borz.” Predictably, it didn’t go too well, and the influencer was left curled up in agony on the canvas in short fashion.

That’s all well and good, but … wasn’t Khamzat deathly ill just a few weeks ago? Fans were quick to question the timeline on social media, wondering why Khamzat was beating up YouTubers when he couldn’t meet Robert Whittaker in the Octagon. The unfortunate answer is that it’s tough to tell when exactly this was filmed, only that Litvan released a video hyping up the sparring session about two weeks ago.

One way or another, it’s bad optics.

Khamzat Chimaev’s career is in a strange place. “Borz” is clearly very talented, but after an electric start to his UFC career, his activity has fallen off a cliff. He’s fought just four times in the last four years and only once at Middleweight, which is a hard way to build momentum and lock down a 185-pound title shot. Something keeps going wrong at the last second, and now his career is stalling.

At least he’s healthy enough for Crypto scams.

Insomnia

Israel Adesanya is putting in the work ahead of his return to action against Dricus Du Plessis.

Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Manuel Torres is awesome on several levels. Two massive and talented Lightweight prospects who will try to destroy one another!

Any jiu-jitsu gym worth its salt should be teaching takedowns in addition to rolling on the floor.

Dustin Poirier is feeling sassy this week.

Rafael dos Anjos’ jiu-jitsu is excellent and probably underappreciated because he’s been controlled by some of the best wrestlers of the last decade.

Betting on the UFC Denver main event? Take this into consideration …

A classic clip of Lightweight familial violence.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

There will always be a place for bathroom fistfights in this column. Also, that headbutt out of the clinch was kind of clean …

15 minutes of action and scrambles between two OGs!

Caught on one leg with a powerful left hook:

Random Land

An interesting strategy.

Midnight Music: Hip-hop, 1994

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

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Michael “Venom” Page will have to go back to the drawing board after his second Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) appearance at UFC 303 last month (June 29, 2024).

“MVP’s” Welterweight contender clash with Ireland’s Ian Machado Garry resulted in only the third loss of his 25-fight career when Garry earned the unanimous decision nod. The fight was pivotal for either’s title hopes with the upcoming rematch between the champion, Leon Edwards, and top contender, Belal Muhammad, set to headline UFC 304 this month (Sat., July 27, 2024).

Garry, 26, kept his perfect 15-0 record intact with the victory over England’s Page. However, the former Bellator Welterweight staple wasn’t overly impressed with the rising contender.

“Not all. No,” Page responded when asked on The MMA Hour if Garry is championship material. “Because if that’s the game you’re going to go [to] when you get a decent striker, then Leon is going to kill you anyway, then Shavkat [Rakhmonov] is going to kill you anyway. There’s a few guys in there that I just don’t see him surpassing.

“Even in some of the areas, he didn’t feel massively strong,” he continued. “I’m not even trying to be disrespectful to him, because again, he’s done his job, he was smart about how he kind of went by it. But for me, regardless, this game for me is about combat. It’s about fighting. Not about stealing wins. Even like I said, that last round, I didn’t necessarily need to stand up or need to let him stand up. I could’ve stayed there and just dragged it out and potentially got a better score in the third round and maybe that would’ve swayed it, but that’s not the game I’m in. I’m in a combat game. Like, I want to cause damage, I want to hurt people.

“So yeah, I don’t see him progressing to the top,” Page concluded. “I think he’s talented. I think he’ll always be around there, top 10, top five and then he’ll keep losing out to certain people. But he is still talented, and obviously, he’s got a loads of time to progress and get better anyway.”

While Page looks to regroup and rebound in whatever his third Octagon appearance will be, Garry advances and has postured for a match up against the mentioned Rakhmonov.

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Mark Coleman is back in the hospital.

Just four months after his house fire heroics left him on life support, “The Hammer” will undergo emergency surgery to address a nasty hip infection. Unfortunately for the retired UFC hall of famer, the procedure has been delayed due to his medication.

“Back in the hospital again,” Coleman told his Instagram followers. “My hip is septically infected. They were going to do emergency surgery today, but I’m blood thinners so they’re going to have to wait until Monday. So I’m going to hang out here for the weekend. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Shortly after Coleman’s recovery from the deadly blaze back in March, the promotion tapped “The Hammer” to present the “BMF” belt at UFC 300. No word yet on how long the former UFC champ will be sidelined with his latest issue.

“Life is good,” Coleman insisted. “God always has a plan.”

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight veterans Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Muslim Salikhov will collide this weekend (Sat., July 13, 2024) at UFC Denver inside Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.

Ponzinibbio has lost three of his last four heading into this co-main event slot, but the Brazilian has actually been fighting rather well. Split-decision losses to Michel Pereira and Geoff Neal are nothing to be ashamed about, and he was actually handling Kevin Holland nicely prior to a third-round “Trailblazer” rally (watch it). At 37 years of age, Ponzinibbio is no longer at his most athletic, but he’s settled into the gritty veteran role nicely. Salikhov — 40 years of age himself — surely understands that situation, except he never quite had peak Ponzinibbio’s speed nor power. Fortunately, “The King of Kung Fu” remains a funky and dangerous striker capable of turning off the lights.

Let’s take a closer look at the betting odds and strategic keys for each athlete:

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ponzinibbio vs. Salikhov Betting Odds

• Santiago Ponzinibbio victory: -205
• Santiago Ponzinibbio via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
• Santiago Ponzinibbio via submission: TBD
• Santiago Ponzinibbio via decision: TBD
• Muslim Salikhov victory: +170
• Muslim Salikhov via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
• Muslim Salikhov via submission: TBD
• Muslim Salikhov via decision: TBD
• Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

How Ponzinibbio Wins

It’s rare to see a fighter with such an obvious turning point in their career. In 2018, Ponzinibbio was at his best, riding a massive win streak and closing in on a title shot. Health problems and injury layoffs sidelined him for most of three years, and since his return, he’s been occupying that gritty veteran role as mentioned.

That career transition featured some technical shifts as well. Since Ponzinibbio was no longer just blowing opponents out of the water with the pure ferocity of his jab, he’s now forced to build combinations and land kicks off the strike. Generally, he’s put together a nice, technical kickboxing game but is still able to dig deep and make it ugly if necessary.

It feels necessary here. Salikhov is the pretty striker, the more dedicated range technician. He’s still a step behind Ponzinibbio physically, however, so the path to victory for the Argentinian is to stay on the front foot, mix his targets, and wear Salikhov down until a big shot upstairs becomes available.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

How Salikhov Wins

Saklikhov lives up to his “King of Kung Fu” nickname. He’s something of a specialist in regard to spinning techniques, but he’s also a slick counter striker who can punish his opponent’s attempts to close distance.

Contrary to Ponzinibbio, Salikhov wants a slower, cleaner kickboxing match. If he’s able to dictate the distance and choose when to engage, he’ll be the man in the driver’s seat. Since Ponzinibbio can no longer rely on blinding speed to close the distance, he’ll be more vulnerable to Salikhov’s counters, particularly after being softened up by a few body kicks.

I’d like to see Salikhov focus on winning the low kick battle here, which is a solid weapon for both men. If Salikhov is the one chopping Ponzinibbio down, the Argentinian will have a more difficult time tracking him down. Conversely, if Salikhov is getting his lead leg battered, he’ll end up in the pocket versus the power puncher more often than he’d like. Salikhov has the varied kicking game to hide those low kicks and set them up well, and they could be a helpful weapon for him.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Ponzinibbio vs. Salikhov Prediction

This should be a competitive fight for as long as it lasts, but all the x-factors go the way of Ponzinibbio. Though the two men are of similar ages and at similar points in their career, it has to be mentioned that Ponzinibbio reached a higher peak than Salikhov. Consequently, he’s been fighting a higher level of competition even late in his career.

It feels like a step up for Salikhov and step back for Ponzinibbio. The hard-nosed “Gente Boa” may take a round to find his mark, but at some point, he’s going to establish his range and start landing. It’s also a bit concerning that Salikhov went 20 professional fights without getting knocked out, but has been stopped in via strikes twice in his last four bouts.

Ponzinibbio still has quite a bit of pop in his punches …

Prediction: Santiago Ponzinibbio victory (-205)

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Denver fight card right here, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance on ESPN (simulcast on ESPN+) at 10 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Denver: “Namajunas vs. Cortez” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Conor McGregor is at it again.

“The Notorious” has been harassing Dustin Poirier on and off for the past few months, going on wild social media posting sprees attacking his past opponent … and Dustin’s wife. The stuff McGregor has written is so gross we’re not particularly interested in repeating it. This time he took a shot at Poirier’s Good Fight Foundation charity.

“Scammers, him and the wife. SCAMMERS,” McGregor wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “BROKE SCAMMER ALERT.”

McGregor was reacting to news that Khabib Nurmagomedov was buying the shorts Poirier had worn at UFC 302 after the winner of a charity auction pulled out.

“Buy the shorts that he quit in in the most important fight of his life #NeverBeen,” McGregor quipped.

This isn’t the first time Conor has trash talked Poirier’s Good Fight foundation, which helps underprivileged families in Dustin’s home state of Louisiana. After their second fight, Mac promised to make a charitable donation of $ 500,000, only to renege on the offer claiming The Good Fight wasn’t being transparent about where the funds would go.

McGregor eventually donated the money to the Boys & Girls Club of Acadiana in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Poirier hasn’t responded to this latest attack, or many of the previous attacks. He did address McGregor’s regular taunting during a new appearance on The MMA Hour.

“He crossed lines you can’t come back from,” Poirier said. “I want to whip his ass.”

“When he does it, like the other day, I saw him say something. And it’s like that’s what he’s trying to bring out of me. He wants me to fire back or something. I just go on with my day. Is it hard? Yeah, because of course I wanna say something right back and try to set up a fight with him. I wanna, but it is what it is, man.”

Insomnia

Kamaru Usman with the super hero fit:

Alex Pereira has some words for Artem Vakhitov, who is trying to get their rivalry going once again.

I love that bears love wrestling.

Is anyone optimistic about a 2024 Dominick Cruz return to action?

Khamzat Chimaev is looking decidedly healthy in this training clip, but I still wouldn’t advise buying into his cryptocurrency.

Should UFC rebook Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree after Rountree’s suspension is up? The fight still makes sense.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

A series of highlights from Liam Harrison, featuring some of his career-best wins:

Throwing a crisp high kick from the back foot like this is so impressive.

Little shots can do a ton of damage if the receiving fighter doesn’t expect/see them.

Random Land

Snow covered by sand.

Midnight Music: Post-punk revival, 2002

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

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Tracy Cortez is set to compete in the biggest fight of her career at UFC Denver this weekend (Sat., July 13, 2024).

UFC’s return to its origin state has crumbled in its build. Originally on tap for the main event was a Flyweight contender bout between former Strawweight champion, Rose Namajunas, and Maycee Barber. Unfortunately for Barber, she suffered an injury that led to her withdrawal and Cortez’s heroics, stepping up a week earlier than her planned match up against Miranda Maverick for UFC Vegas 95 next weekend (Sat., July 20, 2024).

The division’s title is currently stuck between the Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko rivalry. However, the champion, Grasso, has speculated Shevchenko might not make it to the planned Noche UFC event in Las Vegas’ Sphere on Sept. 14, 2024. Should there be any issues or a resort to other options, Cortez hopes to make a statement against Namajunas and slide into the title challenger role.

“I really want to fight for the belt,” Cortez told MMA Junkie. “I know there’s a lot of people ahead of me still. I know winning this fight, where it could move me to, and the performance I put on Saturday, I know everything that comes with it. If I get the opportunity and they grant me the opportunity to fight at The Sphere, I think it would be incredible history. Two Mexican women on Mexican Independence Day fighting on the biggest sport event ever. I think that would just be incredible. That’s something I never imagined and I feel like it’s just arm’s length. That is what I’m striving for, but at the end of the day, long-term goal, I am fighting for the belt.”

Cortez, 30, has been perfect in her 12-fight career (11-1) since she dropped her debut bout by second round guillotine against Cheri Muraski in August 2017. In her match up with Namajunas, she’ll be the former champion’s third fight at 125 pounds.

“Who doesn’t love Rose? She’s an incredible person, but unfortunately, we are in the fighting business,” Cortez said. “She wants to move up to 125 and we’re going to face each other. Whether it’s now or down the road, it just happens to be now. I have nothing bad to say about Rose and if anything, I’m excited for this challenge and I’m grateful she took this fight with me.

“I want to say I’m a true 125er,” she continued. “Sh*t, I could even fight at 135 but I’m a real Flyweight and I don’t think she’s yet to face someone like myself, and vice versa. I’ve never faced a former world champion, so it’s putting both of us in a good test.”

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Denver fight card right here, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance on ESPN (simulcast on ESPN+) at 10 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Denver: “Namajunas vs. Cortez” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

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