Category Archives: Mmamania.com

Turns out the “People’s Elbow” only works in WWE.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is quickly learning what it’s like to be a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, suffering an elbow injury while filming “The Smashing Machine,” the upcoming movie based on the career of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) veteran Mark Kerr.

“Any time your film is called ‘The Smashing Machine,’ well, you’re going to get smashed up,” Johnson said on Instagram. “Looks like I have a cantaloupe right there on the bottom of my elbow. I got banged up pretty good today in our scenes.”

“There might be some soft tissue damage in there. That’s a lot of fluid, we’ll see. I got to get it out of there first before I get any kind of MRI. But yeah, the pain feels pretty good. But all good. It is what it is, until it isn’t.”

Fortunately for a wealthy actor like Johnson, this is just a movie. He won’t have anyone pressuring him to compete injured and he’s not a month behind on his mortgage. You know, all the stuff real MMA fighters have to deal with in this cutthroat business where you “eat what you kill.”

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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 may have sworn off trash talk, but the Irish star still loves a good ol’ tweet-and-delete.

The latest target of his online ire? UFC 302, which featured a headlining match up between Lightweight kingpin Islam Makhachev and longtime contender Dustin Poirier. That main event battle was pretty universally regarded as a great fight (except for one critic), and ultimately, Makhachev retained his title via fifth-round submission.

McGregor, however, doesn’t sound that impressed. In a since deleted tweet, he revealed insider pay-per-view (PPV) numbers, writing “500K ppv buys 302 done. A nothing burger.”

What’s quite interesting here is that if McGregor’s numbers are accurate — more on that in a moment — then UFC 302 was actually quite a success! Obviously, McGregor is in a class of his own regarding PPV buys, but in the current era, breaking 500k buys would be impressive and somewhat unexpected for anyone other than Jon Jones. It’s not like the UFC 302 card was particularly stacked with talent like UFC 300 or 299; it was heavily reliant on the main event.

If Poirier and Makhachev sold that much, that’s great! McGregor has bad blood with Poirier, however, and Makhachev is a trainee of his sworn enemy and potential opponent. It’s no surprise that McGregor isn’t seeing the sunny side here!

The other problem is that the PPV buys business has always been a murky one, and it’s grown more confusing and less accurate since the ESPN deal and subsequent streaming purchases. Unless UFC CEO Dana White is on the mic bragging about sales numbers, the information is hard to access.

At this point, a McGregor tweet-and-delete is better than nothing.

Insomnia

Similar to the drunken Sergio Pettis post last night, I love when MMA fighters have truly bizarre responses to defeat.

If you put a gun to my head, I would not be able to recall a single detail about the first Tybura vs. Spivac fight … and I know I watched it. There’s a chance I even wrote about it!

Denis Puric and Rodtang beat the snot out of each other then hung out afterwards. Good stuff!

If it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid … but I don’t think this worked.

Kick with good form or else!

The history behind the worst sound I’ve heard in recent memory (respectfully).

Poirier’s daughter knows the value of gratitude!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Both men threw left hooks, but one was tighter …

Shocking news: Makwan Amirkhani got tired late in a fight, and it didn’t end well.

Three straight accurate and powerful connections shut off the lights:

Random Land

I think this is so cool.

Midnight Music: Hip-hop, 2011

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

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Jake Paul might still be returning to the ring in July after all.

Happy Punch has reported that Paul will compete against Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) star and former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight, Mike Perry, on July 20, 2024. The report did not specify what type of contest the match up would be or where. That date was originally scheduled to be Paul’s 11th professional boxing match (9-1) against Mike Tyson in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Paul vs. Tyson was recently delayed and rebooked for the venue on November 15, 2024. The change in timing came as a result of Tyson suffering an ulcer flare-up and brief hospitalization.

Should Perry, 32, be the next man to challenge the 27-year-old “Problem Child” in the boxing ring, it will be Perry’s return to gloved combat for the first time since his UFC departure in April 2021 and his first boxing match since 2015. However, Perry has been flawless in life after UFC, winning five consecutive bare-knuckle boxing (BKB) matches in BKFC.

The closest Perry has gotten to stepping into the ring with gloves on came when he was the official backup fighter for Logan Paul vs. Dillon Danis in October 2023.

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Justice for Edmond!

Ronda Rousey had a terrible gameplan at UFC 193.

Play-by-play man Mike Goldberg, later replaced by the inimitable Jon Anik, blamed the energy-draining life of a “rock star,” to which color commentator Joe Rogan quickly interjected, “she’s getting lit up.” Turns out the real reason “Rowdy” was lumbering forward with her hands down and chin up was because opponent Holly Holm concussed her with the very first punch.

And ruined her love for apples in the process.

“The Holm fight, I didn’t really get to start my process because I literally just got hit right away, and it knocked loose all my bottom teeth and I was out on my feet from the very beginning,” Rousey said during a recent Q&A to promote her new book (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “So there wasn’t like that same kind of process of what I usually have. My process was usually, I would plan out the first exchange, and everything from then on out would be an improvisation, within the range of what I trained for specifically for that person.”

I’m sure all those “secret” pre-fight concussions didn’t help.

“For Holm, what we trained a lot [was] doing lateral, side-to-side movement to herd her towards the cage,” Rousey continued. “When I was basically out on my feet, I couldn’t see distance. There’s no depth perception when you have a bad concussion. I was completely unable to carry that out and even think coherently. I wasn’t able to operate the way that I usually do. I was constantly always trying to keep pressure on the person and keep them reacting to me at all times. That’s why you never saw me, ‘Let’s back up and do this again,’ or we’re going to back up again and come back. It was one long exchange. That was basically speed decision-making, this is what was happening.”

Losing her bantamweight title to Holm also exposed all her fake friendships.

Rousey, now 37, would return the following year against Amanda Nunes, suffering her second straight knockout loss in the UFC 207 main event. The taste of defeat was enough to send “Rowdy” into retirement where she attempted to make her way into the world of professional wrestling. Unfortunately, the rigors of WWE showmanship proved too strenuous for the Olympian, who will share more details of her journey in her “Our Fight” book.

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In addition, Dominick Reyes jumped two spots in the light heavyweight division with his first-round finish over Dustin Jacoby.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings to reflect the performances at the UFC Louisville: “Cannonier vs. Imavov” mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last weekend (Sat., June 8, 2024) at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The most notable change came in the middleweight division, where surging contender Nassourdine Imavov took over the No. 4 slot with his controversial fourth-round finish over former title challenger Jared Cannonier.

“Killa Gorilla” slipped to No. 5 in defeat.

Here’s how UFC compiles its official rankings:

Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.

Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).

MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Islam Makhachev
2. Jon Jones
3. Leon Edwards
4. Alex Pereira
5. Ilia Topuria
6. Sean O’Malley
7. Alexander Volkanovski
8. Max Holloway
9. Dricus Du Plessis
10. Alexandre Pantoja
11. Israel Adesanya
12. Charles Oliveira
13. Tom Aspinall
14. Sean Strickland
15. Aljamain Sterling

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexandre Pantoja

1. Brandon Royval
2. Brandon Moreno
3. Amir Albazi
4. Kai Kara France
5. Alex Perez
6. Muhammad Mokaev
7. Manel Kape
8. Matheus Nicolau
9. Steve Erceg
10. Tim Elliott
11. Matt Schnell
12. Tagir Ulanbekov
13. Tatsuro Taira
14. David Dvorak
15. Cody Durden

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Sean O’Malley

1. Merab Dvalishvili
2. Cory Sandhagen
3. Petr Yan
4. Marlon Vera
5. Henry Cejudo
6. Deiveson Figueiredo
7. Song Yadong
8. Jose Aldo
9. Rob Font
10. Umar Nurmagomedov
11. Kyler Phillips
12. Mario Bautista
13. Dominick Cruz
14. Jonathan Martinez
15. Pedro Munhoz

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: Ilia Topuria

1. Alexander Volkanovski
2. Max Holloway
3. Brian Ortega
4. Yair Rodriguez
5. Movsar Evloev
6. Arnold Allen
7. Josh Emmett
8. Aljamain Sterling
9. (T) Giga Chikadze
9. (T) Calvin Kattar
11. Lerone Murphy
12. Bryce Mitchell
13. Dan Ige
14. Diego Lopes
15. Edson Barboza

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Islam Makhachev

1. Arman Tsarukyan
2. Charles Oliveira
3. Justin Gaethje
4. Dustin Poirier
5. Mateusz Gamrot
6. Michael Chandler
7. Beneil Dariush
8. Rafael Fiziev
9. Max Holloway
10. Renato Moicano
11. Dan Hooker
12. Benoit Saint-Denis +1
13. Jalin Turner -1
14. Rafael dos Anjos
15. Bobby Green

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: Leon Edwards

1. Kamaru Usman
2. Belal Muhammed
3. Shavkat Rakhmonov
4. Colby Covington
5. Jack Della Maddalena
6. Gilbert Burns
7. Ian Machado Garry
8. Sean Brady
9. Stephen Thompson
10. Geoff Neal
11. Joaquin Buckley
12. Neil Magny
13. Vicente Luque +1
14. Michael Page -1
15. Kevin Holland

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: Dricus Du Plessis

1. Sean Strickland
2. Israel Adesanya
3. Robert Whittaker
4. Nassourdine Imavov +3
5. Jared Cannonier -1
6. Marvin Vettori -1
7. Brendan Allen -1
8. Paulo Costa
9. Jack Hermansson
10. (T) Khamzat Chimaev
10. (T) Roman Dolidze +1
12. Caio Borralho
13. Michel Pereira
14. Anthony Hernandez
15. Chris Curtis

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Alex Pereira

1. Jiri Prochazka
2. Magomed Ankalaev
3. Jamahal Hill
4. Jan Blachowicz
5. Aleksandar Rakic
6. Nikita Krylov
7. Johnny Walker
8. Khalil Rountree
9. Volkan Oezdemir
10. Anthony Smith
11. Carlos Ulberg
12. Bogdan Guskov
13. Dominick Reyes +2
14. Alonzo Menifield -1
15. Azamat Murzakanov -1

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Jon Jones

1. Tom Aspinall
2. Ciryl Gane
3. Sergei Pavlovich
4. Curtis Blaydes
5. Alexander Volkov
6. Stipe Miocic
7. Jailton Almeida
8. Marcin Tybura
9. Serghei Spivac
10. Tai Tuivasa +1
11. Derrick Lewis -1
12. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
13. Alexandr Romanov
14. Marcos Rogerio De Lima
15. Rodrigo Nascimento

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Alexa Grasso
2. Zhang Weili
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Manon Fiorot
5. (T) Julianna Pena
5. (T) Raquel Pennington
7. Rose Namajunas
8. Erin Blanchfield
9. Tatiana Suarez
10. Yan Xiaonan
11. Jessica Andrade
12. Amanda Lemos
13. Ketlen Vieira
14. Kayla Harrison
15. Maycee Barber

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: Zhang Weili

1. Tatiana Suarez
2. Yan Xiaonan
3. Amanda Lemos
4. Jessica Andrade
5. Virna Jandiroba
6. Marina Rodriguez
7. Mackenzie Dern
8. Amanda Ribas
9. Angela Hill
10. Loopy Godinez
11. Tabatha Ricci
12. Luana Pinheiro
13. Iasmin Lucindo
14. Michelle Waterson-Gomez
15. Gillian Robertson

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexa Grasso

1. Valentina Shevchenko
2. Manon Fiorot
3. Erin Blanchfield
4. Maycee Barber
5. Jessica Andrade
6. Rose Namajunas
7. Katlyn Cerminara
8. Natalia Silva
9. Amanda Ribas
10. Viviane Araújo
11. Tracy Cortez
12. Karine Silva
13. Ariane Da Silva
14. Casey O’Neill
15. Jasmine Jasudavicius

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Raquel Pennington

1. Julianna Pena
2. Ketlen Vieira
3. Mayra Bueno Silva
4. Kayla Harrison
5. Irene Aldana
6. Holly Holm
7. Macy Chiasson
8. Miesha Tate
9. Karol Rosa
10. Norma Dumont
11. Pannie Kianzad
12. Yana Santos
13. Julia Avila
14. Chelsea Chandler
15. Germaine De Randamie

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the flyweight division, following the UFC Vegas 93: “Perez vs. Taira” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN2 and ESPN+, scheduled for Sat., June 15, 2024 at APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight kingpin Sean Strickland is a bit of an enigma. Take, for example, his relationship with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) star Mike Perry. In the last couple months, Strickland has respectfully expressed interest in fighting Perry and seeing how good he is, but he’s also trashed BKFC at a recent press conference.

“How much would I f—king fight bare knuckle for?” Strickland said. “Not nothing they would pay me. They’re paying their guys s—t. F—king breaking their hands, breaking their orbitals, making like a couple thousand bucks.”

Former UFC champion and current BKFC athlete Eddie Alvarez already clapped back at Strickland, and now Perry has responded as well. Reacting to the comments above, Perry argued, “Strickland, he’s fighting for the UFC for pesos, and I’m getting paid over here. He’s always posting videos on Instagram where he walks outside of his garage or his front door, and somebody is in his driveway and he’s trying to fight a bare knuckle for free right there. What are you talking about Sean?”

Strickland responded, almost meeting Perry halfway. Strickland explained that he’s using his platform as an advocate to improve “utter garbage” UFC pay, but he also insists most BKFC athletes are getting paid less than their UFC counterparts.

“UFC pay is utter garbage,” Strickland wrote in response. “lol their [sic] signing guys at 10/10 that should be criminal … but the vast majority of BKFC fighters are getting paid way less than that … As a ufc fighter I advocate for better pay for me and the entire roster … You should do the same for your guys.”

He continued, “While I’m on my soap box from a poor man who became kinda a rich man once you have capital it just snow balls. These elites could probably never take a paycheck again and easily make 500k a year … yet they still line their bank accounts with millions that they will never need or spend. In all industries.”

Just over a week ago, Strickland returned to the win column by defeating Paulo Costa via unanimous decision at UFC 302. He’s insistent that he’ll sit out until he receives a title shot after the win. Perry, meanwhile, is still unbeaten in bare knuckle boxing and most recently stopped Thiago Alves in quick fashion (watch here).

Insomnia

I think more MMA fighters should get hammered and then post Instagram stories after disappointing losses. Reveal those true feelings!

Daniel Cormier was not excited to exchange pleasantries with Jon Jones.

A follow-up to Liam Harrison’s canceled One Championship fight last week:

Unfortunately, the way the point of Brunno Ferreira’s elbow landed directly in the middle of Dustin Stolzfus’ face seemed to guarantee some last damage.

Ripping cigs and scoring knockouts? That’s a true Nak Muay.

I love jiu-jitsu, but the art is truly inflicted with a mix of the greatest people on Earth and absolute losers.

Shavkat’s logic seems bulletproof to me.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Switching between knees and elbows from the double-collar tie is such an effective way to destroy an opponent.

A jiu-jitsu master successfully takes the cage!

Leading with the knee while kicking is a good strategy for power and unintentional knee KOs!

Random Land

A fighting pun.

Midnight Music: Punk, 1987

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

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Dustin Poirier may have made his final walk to the Octagon at UFC 302 at the start of this month (June 1, 2024).

Unfortunately for “The Diamond,” UFC Lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, was too much to overcome in his third attempt at becoming an undisputed champion. The bout was more competitive than some expected it to be, but in the end, Poirier succumbed to a fifth round d’arce choke (watch highlights).

It was speculated ad nauseam ahead of the bout whether or not it would be Poirier’s final fight of his thrilling 40-fight career (30-9, 1 no contest). Poirier admits he’d have hung up the gloves off a win, but now, he still isn’t 100 percent sure despite leaning towards still doing so.

“I still don’t know,” Poirier said on The MMA Hour. “I can’t say I’ll never fight again, but I just don’t know the reason. What am I going to fight for? To get into a battle? I love that, but I’ve taken some lumps over the years. It has to be for something. And maybe that’s something I’ll realize in the coming weeks, but I’m just taking it one day at a time.

“I’m leaning towards being done. For sure,” he continued. “Especially with getting the title fight, how many more times would I need to fight to put myself back in position to fight for the world title? I don’t know. And like I said, I’m not going to do it again, I’m not going to fight five more times to try and earn another title shot. I’m in a weird spot and I don’t know how to explain it or what decision to make. I’m just taking it day by day and seeing what comes with my mind changing and just to see how I feel.”

Although Poirier never earned the label of undisputed champion, he held interim Lightweight gold on one occasion and earned 10 Fight of the Night bonuses in his 31 UFC appearances.

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Oleksandr Usyk unified the world heavyweight boxing titles by defeating Tyson Fury last month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “The Gypsy King” was quick to invoke his rematch clause, leading to a second go-round — also in Riyadh — in late December.

If Fury is able to avenge his loss to the Ukrainian “Cat,” that would leave them tied at one apiece, setting up a potential trilogy. Unfortunately, promoters have other plans, which include former unified heavyweight titleholder Anthony Joshua.

“I think that everything we’re hearing from His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] is about the potential of ‘AJ’ fighting the winner of Fury-Usyk if [Joshua] wins in September,” promoter Eddie Hearn told talkSPORT. “Let’s be honest, if Fury wins and becomes unified [champion] again, we have to make the ‘AJ’ fight. We just have to.”

The 34 year-old Joshua is the winner of four straight, including his destruction of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou back in March. It’s worth noting that “AJ” was defeated by Usyk in back-to-back fights, first in 2021 and then again in 2022.

Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) is scheduled to return on Sept. 21 at Wembley Stadium against an opponent to be named.

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Less than two months removed from his knockout win over Matheus Nicolau at UFC Vegas 91 last April, No. 4-ranked Alex Perez makes a quick turnaround to continue his march toward the 125-pound title opposite Japanese phenom and No. 13-ranked flyweight up-and-comer Tatsuro Taira in the UFC Vegas 93 five-round main event, streaming LIVE on both ESPN2 and ESPN+!

Event: UFC Vegas 93: “Perez vs. Taira”
Date: Sat., June 15, 2024
Location: UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada
Broadcast: ESPN2/ESPN+
Start Time: 4 p.m. ET Preliminary Card | 7 p.m. ET Main Card

UFC Vegas 93 Main Event On ESPN2/ESPN+:

125 lbs.: Alex Perez vs. Tatsuro Taira

UFC Vegas 93 Main Card on ESPN2/ESPN+ (7 p.m. ET):

185 lbs.: Ikram Aliskerov vs. Antonio Trocoli
145 lbs.: Timothy Cuamba vs. Lucas Almeida
135 lbs.: Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Miles Johns
125 lbs.: Asu Almabaev vs. Jose Johnson
170 lbs.: Josh Quinlan vs. Adam Fugitt

UFC Vegas 93 ‘Prelims’ Card on ESPN2/ESPN+ (4 p.m. ET):

125 lbs.: Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Joshua Van
125 lbs.: Jimmy Flick vs. Nate Maness
135 lbs.: Brady Hiestand vs. Garrett Armfield
125 lbs.: Carli Judice vs. Gabriella Fernandes
145 lbs.: Jeka Saragih vs. Westin Wilson
115 lbs.: Josefine Knutsson vs. Julia Polastri
145 lbs.: Shayilan Nuerdanbieke vs. Melquizael Costa

*Fight card, bout order and number of fights remain subject to change.*

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Here’s what you may have missed!

At 40 years of age, Jared Cannonier is one of the best Middleweights alive.

Heading into his fourth consecutive main event slot, “The Killa Gorilla” didn’t quite have the momentum he deserved. The former title challenger has made his desire for a second shot plenty clear, and wins over Sean Strickland and Marvin Vettori — the latter being a record-setting beat down — should have placed him in the immediate mix for a chance at gold.

Fight politics being what they are, however, Cannonier needed more. UFC doesn’t like giving 40 year olds title shots, even if they’re knockout artists … and especially if their first title shot was a bit of a stinker and there’s other popular names in the mix. Consequently, Cannonier was forced to look down the ladder and find Nassourdine Imavov, a very talented up-and-comer 12 years his junior.

The fight was highly competitive. Cannonier was strangely determined to wrestle, and his efforts fatigued him. Even so, Cannonier was up on two of the three judges’ scorecards heading into the fourth, and the fight was very much up for grabs. Imavov did his part of reaching for the victory, cracking Cannonier with a nice right hand over the top.

Cannonier was hurt. His legs wobbled, but he regained his footing. He took a few steps away from Imavov, but he kept his eyes on the advancing “Sniper.” Cannonier threw a counter hook and blocked a couple punches. His guard was high and his legs beneath him when referee Jason Herzog stepped in and called the fight.

Now, I love to bash judge and referee incompetence whenever possible, but Herzog is one of the best in the game. This is a case of a largely great referee doing a difficult job for a long time — mistakes are bound to happen. The real unfortunate aspect of this specific mistake is the circumstance, namely that Jared Cannonier is now royally screwed, and there’s no forcing the cat back into the bag.

A week ago, Cannonier vs. Du Plessis was a feasible match up, a fight that could happen with just a smidge of luck. Better yet, the match up was a very reasonable one for Cannonier. Du Plessis has blocked plenty of punches with his face, and Cannonier hits like a mack truck. I would favor the South African champion overall, but “Killa Gorilla” would definitely stand a reasonable at shutting off his lights if the two were to fight in the next three months.

Now? Cannonier is AT LEAST two fights away from a title shot. More likely, he’s three or four wins away. Even if UFC opts to book an immediate rematch (probably not) and pretend this didn’t happen at all, Cannonier is delayed months before having any possibility of a title shot. That’s all too long for a 40 year old contender. Instead of having a reasonable — if still long — shot at gold, Cannonier now requires an absolute miracle. That’s the outcome of a mistake from the referee, an element outside of Cannonier’s control.

Put bluntly: it sucks!

In a more abstract sense, it’s a great example of how luck and popularity can play such pivotal roles in creating a champion.

For complete UFC Lousisville: “Cannonier vs. Imavov” results and play-by-play, click HERE!

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