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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Jorge Masvidal’s online message is a simple one: “Gamebred” is back!

The 39-year-old veteran called it quits in April 2023 after coming up short to Gilbert Burns in his fourth consecutive loss. Admittedly, each of those four defeats came to top-ranked Welterweight competition — including a pair of title fights versus Kamaru Usman — but it was still clear that Masvidal had lost a step in regards to explosiveness, timing, and conditioning.

It’s hard to keep a BMF down for long, however. Shortly after retiring, Masvidal began to publicly discuss his options about returning to action in one form or another. For example, the Floridian floated a BMF vs. BMF match up opposite current (sort of) strap-hanger Justin Gaethje. Alternatively, he also talked about stepping into the boxing ring, pitching a Jake Paul throw down amongst other options.

He’s also been called out by the face of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), Mike Perry. Finally, Masvidal is currently running his own bare knuckle MMA promotion, Gamebred FC, and he could certainly draw some extra eyes to his show by fighting outside the Octagon for the first time since July 2012.

There are lots of lucrative options, so stay tuned as we learn more about what the “unretired” athlete is envisioning.

Insomnia

Aljamain Sterling came up short in his grappling match, but he made it entertaining!

Judo throws are endlessly watchable.

I cannot help but feel that Ian Garry just tries too hard.

I have nothing but respect for Tom Aspinall, an (interim) champion who desires activity and the toughest opponents.

Shavkat Rakhmonov went to the Alexander Volkanovski school of dancing.

Instagram numbers are a confusing game.

Paulo Costa is a USADA-evading genius.

Gregor Gillespie is one of the great Lightweight “what if’s.”

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Kevin Holland knocking out Geoff Neal on the regional scene while both were on the come-up is an underrated fun fact.

Paterno moved from half guard directly into this armbar with seriously impressive speed.

A beautiful right hand contributes to an incredible winning run..

Random Land

This clip went viral on Friday night, and I’m sure many readers already saw it. Yet, it’s so good it must be here.

Midnight Music: Hip-hop, 2002

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

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Just because Sean Strickland rocks, it doesn’t mean he’s made of stone.

If toxic masculinity had a face, it would be Sean Strickland’s. But underneath that incredibly tough exterior is a flesh-and-blood human being attempting to navigate life after overcoming an overwhelming amount of trauma. And whether you love him or hate him, you have to appreciate how open the reigning middleweight world champion has been with fans regarding his rocky upbringing and the strained relationship with his father.

Unfortunately, putting all of that information out there makes it that much easier for someone to weaponize it. That’s exactly what happened at the UFC Seasonal Press Conference last month in Las Vegas. Going face-to-face with his first title challenger, Dricus Du Plessis, ‘Stillknocks’ decided to deliver a low blow by making an ill-advised crack about Strickland’s childhood struggles.

The comment kicked off a fiery exchange between the two which turned physical 24 hours later when they were seated near one another during UFC 296.

Sean Strickland lets his guard down

Sean Strickland has since revealed that during an appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast shortly after the incident, he was overwhelmed with emotion while reflecting on a moment from his childhood.

The episode was officially released on January 1, 2024.

“In second grade, I kept falling asleep at my desk and my teacher took my desk away from me,” Strickland said. “She made me stand up and so, me, I’m like, ‘F*ck you’ and being this little kid, I just went and fell asleep on the ground. Mind you like, the school system’s like, ‘Oh, Sean, he’s just a bad kid.’ They don’t realize I’m up until three o’clock in the morning.

“I remember laying in bed, I remember when I stopped believing in god, man,” he continued. “Like, f*ck. I have f*cking … it’s crazy sh*t, dude. Crazy sh*t, man (laughs)” (h/t MMA Mania).

Von began to tell his own story after Strickland was done speaking but he was quick to apologize as the champ was noticeably “just processing,” as he’s heard saying.

“I think that’s one of the hard things people don’t understand about trauma, you know?” Strickland added.

Sean Strickland is coming off his best year yet in combat sports, earning three straight wins, none bigger than his lopsided unanimous decision victory over Israel Adesanya in September to claim the 185-pound crown. He’ll put that title on the line for the first time on January 20 when he headlines UFC 297 in Toronto against No. 2 ranked contender Dricus Du Plessis.

‘Stillknocks’ goes into the bout riding an eight-fight win streak dating back to 2019.

LowKickMMA.com

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Belal Muhammad didn’t think much about Colby Covington heading into UFC 296, but he somehow left Las Vegas with even less respect for the three-time title challenger.

Muhammad kept a close eye on Covington and reigning UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards as a backup for the title fight, hoping he would face the winner in 2024. It didn’t matter who came away with the title, because he just wanted his chance to become champion.

But then Covington launched an ill-advised insult aimed at Edwards’ deceased father during the pre-fight press conference that even had Muhammad feeling bad for a potential future opponent.

“Honestly, it was pathetic,” Muhammad said about Covington in an interview with MMA Fighting. “It shows you what his real character is. People were like, ‘He’s playing a role,’ but when you go that low, that’s not playing a role. That’s what you have truly inside of you. You’re soulless. You’re really a disgusting person – a disgusting human being, true to the core.

“I think for him to do that, he had do that because he wasn’t reaching Leon with any of his normal trash talk. He wasn’t affecting him in any way, so he’s like, ‘I have to level up.’ He probably has a writer who does research, and he’s like, ‘If we’re going to go low, low, let’s do this one right here. This one will get him.’ He thought that would strike him emotionally, and it probably did, but he thought that it would affect him in the fight, and I don’t think it affected him in the fight the way he thought it was.

“He probably thought Leon would run out real quick and try to go crazy from the start. Just the fact that you’re doing that, saying that, it’s pathetic.”

The abhorrent comment made just about everybody uncomfortable — including UFC CEO Dana White — but Covington still had to back up his words in the cage. The only problem was his performance was largely muted as he failed to engage with Edwards, spending most of the fight backing up toward the cage.

Edwards continuously sniped away from the outside, and he even managed two takedowns against the former All-American wrestler from Oregon State. When it was over, he won a fairly lopsided decision; White later said Covington looked “slow and old” after making his first UFC appearance in nearly two years.

“There was no pressure from Colby,” Muhammad said about the performance. “There wasn’t the same relentless wrestling that he always did, because I don’t think Leon gave him the chance to. Leon is very good at using his distance.

“I think Leon’s mistake in that whole time was realizing, ‘Colby took me down once, I popped right back up, he took me down again, I popped right back up,’ so there was nothing to fear from Colby’s end. Leon should have went for the kill more.”

That said, Muhammad had a gut feeling Covington wouldn’t live up to expectations, especially after he spent the better part of the past two years analyzing him as a potential opponent.

“He looked terrible,” Muhammad said. “It was one of those things where I’ve said from the beginning that Colby would be my easiest matchup in the top 10. I knew what his style was, and how to beat him, and Leon did a good job of just putting him on his backfoot, making him uncomfortable.

“Colby, his striking, I always said was amateurish, and every punch he landed, none of it hurt. The punches he was throwing were like cardio kickboxing punches. Leon would just wait for it and then counter off it right away. Then once he started countering off it, Colby got afraid.”

With Covington falling to 0-3 in undisputed title fights, and a 2-3 resume in his past five fights, it’s going to be a very tough road back into contention.

Covington will also turn 36 in February. Age remains one of the biggest obstacles in a division where only Kamaru Usman and Tyron Woodley held the title past 35.

In other words, Muhammad believes we’ve seen the last of Covington as a legitimate title challenger. He may stick around for a few more fights — Covington already tried calling out Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson — but he expects the Edwards loss to serve as Covington’s final chance at becoming UFC champion.

“For sure, I think he’s done with,” Muhammad said. “There’s really nothing else left for him. If I’m ‘Wonderboy’ there’s way better fights out there for him, especially now that Michael ‘Venom’ Page is in the UFC now. He’s going to go against a striker. The way that he lost that fight [against Shavkat Rakhmonov], [Thompson is] only fighting strikers from now on. Colby’s looking for that fight, somebody he can wrestle and try to get a win so he can get another mic time.

“But the game’s over. People realize that you’re not going to fight one of these really good top 10 guys. Any of the top 10 guys will beat him right now. So he’s going to try to pick and choose his next opponent. Maybe he’ll go down to [lightweight], maybe he’ll try to call out Dustin Poirier, try to pick at that. But his title reign days are over with.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Eight months after announcing his retirement at UFC 287, Jorge Masvidal on Monday tweeted he is “unretired.”

The two-time UFC welterweight title challenger added nothing beyond his one-word message, and he did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment from MMA Fighting.

This past October, Masvidal targeted a return to competition in boxing after two decades in MMA.

“No names right now, but I can tell you it’s early next year, and I can tell you somebody is going to get killed,” Masvidal told ESPN.com.

BKFC Mike Perry recently targeted Masvidal for a bare-knuckle fight, though Masvidal indicated he’d prefer gloved combat due to his long career in combat sports.

Masvidal hung up his gloves in April after a lopsided decision loss to Gilbert Burns, his fourth straight setback in the octagon since a failed bid for the UFC welterweight title against then-champ Kamaru Usman at UFC 251. Masvidal rematched Usman nine months later with a full training camp and was brutally knocked out by Usman at UFC 261.

In the wake of his retirement, Masvidal pivoted to promotion, serving as the figurehead for a bare-knuckle MMA promotion that bore his nickname, “Gamebred.” This past November, the promotion held its sixth event with UFC vets Alan Belcher and Roy Nelson meeting in the main event.

During an appearance this past April on The MMA Hour, Masvidal didn’t completely shut the door on a return to fighting but said it would take “something crazy” to get him back into competition, adding he’d need the UFC’s permission.

It’s unclear if Masvidal’s announcement means the MMA leader has given the green light to a return.

Prior to his four-fight skid, Masvidal rocketed to stardom with three highlight-reel wins: a knockout of Darren Till; a record-setting flying knee knockout of Ben Askren; and a TKO stoppage of Nate Diaz to claim the inaugural “BMF” belt.

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