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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Last week (Tues., Aug. 20, 2024), 25-year-old Torrez Finney picked up his second victory under the Contenders Series banner to improve to 9-0 as a professional. Unfortunately for “The Punisher,” he didn’t impress UFC CEO Dana White enough to earn a UFC contract. In fact, he was the subject of a negative tirade from White, who claimed Finney would “get absolutely decimated in the UFC.” He also blasted Finney for fighting just once in the year between Contenders Series appearances.

The point of the show may be to judge fighters, but it felt a bit harsh. Finney has a bit of hype online, and he seems like a reasonably talented Middleweight prospect. Now, Finney has revealed there’s even more to it than White claimed, as he explained that a potential spot on The Ultimate Fighter sidelined him for the first quarter of 2024.

“You know, I don’t think a lot of people know this, but I was selected to be on The Ultimate Fighter this year,” Finney explained to MMA on Sirius XM (via Forbes). “Whenever you sign The Ultimate Fighter contract, you are restricted from fighting during that time span. So during that time span in January, I couldn’t fight for January, February, March.

“So right when I was selected,” Finney continued. “Well, right when they made the selection, the day before they were about to take your phones — the head producer comes up to my room and says, ‘Hey, we’re going a different route. We’re doing the, um, country thingy, you know, everybody from a different country.’ They selected somebody else. I said, ‘Okay, boom. All right. It is what it is.’ They did that to me, and they did it to Yusuf Zalal. Yusuf Zalal turned around two weeks later and went out and fought on the UFC Fight Night against Billy Quarantillo. And with me, I had to turn around and go find a fight. Two weeks later, we found a fight. I fought in May, but the problem is, four weeks before that May fight, I got offered to be on the Contender Series.”

Finney accepted and won the May bout despite already having the Contenders Series offer in hand. It was a risk to gain experience as had been requested after his first win on the show, yet Finney doesn’t feel he’s being given credit for taking that chance. According to “The Punisher,” these circumstances make the logic behind White’s critique flawed.

“So a lot of that stuff that was said — like when he said, ‘I told you to go back and get more fights, and then you come on here with one fight’ — I feel like some of that stuff is a little bit flawed because, one, I don’t make the decision to be on the Contender Series,” Finney explained. “And then, two, I would have had more fights if it wasn’t for The Ultimate Fighter. And then again, I feel like there’s a disconnect because Dana has so much on his plate. I don’t think he knows everything that goes on within the UFC, so I don’t expect him to know that type of thing. But to say some of the things that he went out there and said without having the knowledge of it — I feel like some of that stuff is a little bit inconsistent.”

Hopefully, this bit of controversy doesn’t hold back Finney from a productive relationship with the UFC. Of course, he could alternatively attempt to follow the footsteps of Brendan Loughnane, who was dissed by White on Contenders Series and then went on to win a million dollars in Professional Fighter’s League.

Insomnia

Possibly the most exciting kickboxing alive is fed up with One Championship.

This was the exact moment I knew “The Leech” was going to get knocked cold. So slick!

There’s a reason most wrestling practices begin with cartwheels in the warm up!

Michael Bisping’s takedown defense was underrated for a long time. I’ll always remember his clinch defense surprising a Chael Sonnen at the height of his powers.

Robert Valentin gives Ryan Loder his props, and hopefully, we’ll see him receive a second shot inside the Octagon.

Some variation of this happens every week in Russia yet doesn’t stop being funny. The table throw!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Switching up angles on the power hand:

An absolutely nasty KO and great demonstration of hitting an opponent as they move to stand.

Eduardo “Chapolin” Henrique is 13-2 with 10 finishes opposite quality competition. It’s time for the call up!

Random Land

There Will, indeed, Be Blood.

Midnight Music: Alternative, 1997

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

MMAmania.com – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Conor McGregor yearns to be free.

It’s been more than three years since we’ve seen ‘Mystic Mac’ grace the Octagon. His drought was scheduled to end on June 29th in Las Vegas, but McGregor ultimately bowed out of his UFC 303 headliner with Michael Chandler due to, of all things, a broken pinky toe.

Since then, McGregor has been lobbying for a date in December, but even more than that it looks like McGregor wants to be free from the shackles of his UFC contract.

Recently, the former two-division titleholder took to social media with a four-word post that had everyone speculating about its meaning.

“When I get free,” McGregor wrote on X.

McGregor also posted a training clip on Instagram with the hashtag #FreeTheMac.

Conor McGregor’s Comments come days after speculation over UFC 310 headliner

Interestingly, McGregor’s comments come days after newly minted welterweight world champion Belal Muhammad revealed that his first title defense could headline UFC 310 in December, the date McGregor desperately wanted for his rescheduled scrap with Chandler.

It’s possible that Muhammad versus either Shavkat Rakhmonov or Kamaru Usman—the two fighters heavily favored to get the first crack—could be situated as the co-main event under a McGregor vs. Chandler headliner, though no such thing has happened since 2016 when Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz main evented UFC 196.

The co-main event that night was Miesha Tate’s win over Holly Holm to capture the women’s bantamweight title.

LowKickMMA.com

Kamaru Usman has lost three fights in a row in the UFC but he’s still regarded as one of the best welterweight fighters in the world. Many believe he deserved to win his last fight against Khamzat Chimaev or it should’ve been a draw.

There are plenty of contenders in the UFC welterweight division for the new champion, Belal Muhammad. Although fans and the champion himself have acknowledged Shavkat Rakhmonov and Jack Della Maddalena as worthy title contenders, it is worth noting that Usman is ranked higher than both.

While talking about his imminent return to the Octagon, “Nigerian Nightmare” compared his journey to former champs Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski. He also revealed certain bitter truths about MMA fans…

Kamaru Usman Shares The Struggles Of Active Champions Like Himself, Israel Adesanya, and Alexander Volkanovski

Usman recently appeared on the Weighing In podcast hosted by John McCarthy and Josh Thomson. After claiming that he’s better than Muhammad in every department, the former UFC champ remembered how hard he worked at the peak of his career.

“I was entertaining and entertaining and entertaining was the thing for me. I didn’t care what I was going through. I didn’t care what I was dealing with. I didn’t care what I was battling physically, mentally, emotionally. Didn’t matter to me, I was going to jump in there and perform and perform and perform. And the same thing with Israel Adesanya which is why you saw ton of those title defenses and I’m sure Alexander Volkanovski, who also came out and expressed.”

Usman relates to Adesanya and Volkanovski because they were active champs as well. Like them, he sidelined injuries and ignored recovery to go out there and entertain the fans as much as possible.

The future UFC Hall of Famer admitted to benefitting a lot from his championship run. However, he called out fans who immediately turn on champions after they lose their belts. Without realizing how hard it is to maintain dominance at the top of the sport, people call former champions washed or question their legacy.

“Now, I’m in a place where, okay, with all of that comes a lot of injuries. All the things that you’ve been dealing with, it kind of catches up to you. And now I’m just in a position to, where I’m trying to heal all of that. Because you know, you stack up all these injuries over time and it starts to diminish your performances to where people start to forget just how good you are, just how much time you spent building your career, doing the things that made you successful to where they start, oh, he’s washed. Which is how disrespectful are MMA fans. How disrespectful are they, oh he’s washed, oh he can’t do this anymore.”

Such behavior naturally doesn’t sit well with Usman. Now that he no longer has the pressure to defend a championship, though, he looks forward to returning to the Octagon at his best and reminding everyone of his skills.

• Read More: UFC Fight Night Results & Highlights: Caio Borralho Decisions Jared Cannonier

Continue Reading Kamaru Usman Compares Career To Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski Ahead Of Rumored Return Against Belal Muhammad: “How Disrespectful Are MMA Fans” at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

MMA Fighting has DWCS results for all the action from season eight, week three of UFC’s Contender Series on Tuesday night at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nev.

In the main event, 26-year-old Russian Andrey Pulyaev and 29-year-old American Liam Anderson collide in a middleweight contest.

Check out the DWCS results below for Contender Series season eight, week three.

Fight Card

Andrey Pulyaev vs. Liam Anderson

Bogdan Grad vs. Michael Aswell

Marco Tulio vs. Matthieu Duclos

Malcolm Wellmaker vs. Adam Bramhald

Jack Duffy vs. Nick Piccininni

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya will forever be linked to one another after four battles across two different sports, so naturally, Pereria used his YouTube channel to weigh-in on Adesanya’s failed attempt to regain the UFC middleweight championship.

Pereira said he was “very confident” that Adesanya would beat Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305 and wonders if the Nigeria-born fighter suffered an injury that prevented him from using what “Poatan” saw as a great weapon against someone like the champ.

“Of course, I don’t know how Adesanya was,” Pereira said. “When we are there, we don’t talk about injuries, we don’t talk about problems. We are there and we want to fight, want to win. No excuses. Maybe Adesanya had an injury, I don’t know. You could see he kicked very little. Things I say, that inside kick of Adesanya is very good. Not everyone can do that, but he can do it very well.

“I knew it was a good weapon, and he didn’t continue doing that inside kick. Even Dricus said it bothered him, and also bothered me. I’ve said it before for the people who asked me. He didn’t continue to do it. When he is only throwing hands, I think it’s easier for the opponent to protect themselves, or to get out. It was more boxing there, so it was easier for [du Plessis].”

Adesanya reacted to Pereira’s comments on social media.

“Life goes on, I’ll be here cheering for him like I’ve always been saying,” Pereira continued. “This is honest. I respect him a lot, I like his fighting style. His story is marvelous. I mirror him a lot, he’s a guy that knows what he is doing, but this last fight just wasn’t for him. I hope he recovers, strengthens his mind, and comes back stronger.”

Pereira also weighed in on potentially returning to middleweight to face du Plessis. The Brazilian, who won UFC’s 185-pound title before moving up to light heavyweight after losing to Adesanya, posted about it after the UFC 305 main event.

Du Plessis responded at the post-fight press conference, stating that Pereira should stay at 205 pounds to avoid the weight cut, and offered to face him there in the future.

“In fighting, anything can happen, you lose or win. I think it’s a good fight for me,” Pereira said. “Me and Dricus, I see the fighting style. I would do a completely different fight than Israel did. Of course, it’s what I imagine, but that can all change. I’m sure Israel imagined something else and it was different. But I would train, focus on a fight like this to do my best and leave with a win.

“After I did that, Dricus talked about my weight. First of all, when I gave the ‘excuse’ that the weight messed me up, no one agreed. No one said anything. If I used that as an excuse, no one wanted to say, ‘Yeah, that’s right, weight was a problem for Alex.’ No, everyone was quiet. But after I talked about going down one more time, the first thing Dricus said was that it was a problem when I fought Adesanya, when I got knocked out. I did this my whole life. For those who don’t know, I dropped down eight times, to 81kg, and always fighting at 85kg. I’ve hurt my body, getting older doing the same thing, cutting a lot [of weight], and seeing it wasn’t good for me. That last one was a warning to me, that I had to go up and that’s what I did.

“But if you guys remember, when I went up in weight, I said I could do this again, go down to middleweight, but I needed some time to recover. I think I was able to recover, I have four fights in this new weight class, where I took some time to rest. I think if I go down one more time, I’ll do well. No excuses. I want to win. I could lose — OK, good I have that in mind, because I’ll go harder. … Seems like he is a bit scared. If it’s someone who really wants to fight me he would have said, ‘Come, I’m waiting for you’. But no, he tried to make me scared so I wouldn’t do that, but he’s the one that’s scared.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Family members of UFC and mixed martial arts veteran Benji Radach announced his passing on Monday.  He was 45.  

Radach made his professional MMA debut in March 2001.  He began his career on a 10-fight win streak, finishing eight of his first ten opponents via knockout.  He was signed by the UFC in 2002 and made his octagon debut at UFC 37 in Bossier City, Louisiana.  He stopped Steve Berger with punches but the fight was later ruled a a no contest by the Louisiana Athletic Commission due to Radach holding the fence.

He officially picked up his first octagon win at UFC 37.5 in June 2022, defeating Nick Serra, brother of former welterweight champion Matt Serra, by unanimous decision.  He was defeated by future lightweight champion Sean Sherk in his third promotional appearance at UFC 39.  

After spending some time on the regional circuit, Radach landed in the International Fight League (IFL) in 2007 and fought for the promotion’s inaugural middleweight championship.  He picked up his final career win in October 2004, defeating Murilo Rua via TKO in ElitXC.  

Radach last fought at Bellator 137 in May 2015.  His career record stands at 21–7, 1 NC.  The cause of death remains unknown at the time.      

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