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

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya was exactly as wild as most expected (watch here).

The UFC 305 main event saw a back-and-forth war for most of four rounds. Both men started strong on the feet in the first round, then “DDP” took over in the second momentarily with his wrestling attack. Adesanya took back the third with active body punching that seemed to really push momentum into his corner, but Du Plessis managed to hurt him and secure the late finish via rear naked choke.

During the finishing sequence, there was a moment where Adesanya was stumbled by a “DDP” left hand. After regaining his feet, Adesanya pointed to the ground then was promptly rocked by big punches and submitted. The commentary crew thought “Stylebender” was trying to copy Max Holloway’s signature point-and-brawl, a move made famous by his Justin Gaethje knockout win.

Adesanya explained differently on his YouTube channel. The former champion explained that he was merely pointing out that he tripped and didn’t want to encourage a surging Du Plessis.

“Let me explain this because the commentary booth got it wrong,” Adesanya began. “I was moving, then my right ankle rolled, and I tripped as he was throwing. To the untrained eye, in the moment, it looked like — I think maybe [Dominick Cruz] said, ‘That was a really bad shot he got hit with’ — and it looked like I was rocked.

“I got up and circled out, and I pointed at the ground, looking at [Du Plessis]. [Daniel Cormier] goes, ‘He’s pointing at the ground like Max Holloway, like come here!’ Nope. What I said to him was like, I tripped. You didn’t rock me. I didn’t want him to think he rocked me.”

Since Holloway’s legendary finish over Gaethje, we’ve seen quite a few fighters try to copy the “Blessed” stand-and-bang point at the ground. It has yet to pay off, which perhaps serves as further evidence that Holloway really is the baddest dude around.

As for Adesanya, it remains to be seen what’s next for “The Stylebender.”

Insomnia

I have very much enjoyed the post-fight show of respect between Adesanya and Du Plessis. I somewhat expected continued bitterness from at least one side, so this is cool to see.

Nate Diaz didn’t want that Gabi Garcia smoke!

The downside of being on the UFC roster for a while is that you’ll eventually end up on the wrong side of somebody’s highlights.

Elite jiu-jitsu scrambles are so fun.

Joe Rogan and company seem to have been rooting for “Stylebender.”

I cannot get over how good of a fight Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway is. Two generational talents are going to try to take each other’s heads off!

Luke Rockhold’s CJI debut didn’t go according to plan.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Sanchez stood his ground and caught his opponent mid-shift with a nasty two-punch counter combo.

A perfect high kick from multiple angles:

Watching this produces a dull ache in my left knee ligaments.

Random Land

The risk of oceanside property.

Midnight Music: Soul, 1967

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

MMAmania.com – All Posts

Absolutely killer photo too. I’d of posted it as well, loss or not lol. submitted by /u/RickDankoLives [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

For Dricus du Plessis, everything went according to plan.

On Saturday, du Plessis successfully defended his UFC middleweight title, submitting Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 305. The bout was a back-and-forth battle over the first three rounds, with both men landing shots and Adesanya, for the most part, defending du Plessis’s takedown attempts. But in the fourth round, “Stillknocks” was able to take advantage of a retreating Adesanya to land big shots, score a takedown, and quickly lock in a fight-ending rear-naked choke. And according to the champ, that was mostly the plan.

“He had more heart [than expected],” du Plessis said in the post-fight press conference. “I said I’m taking him out in the third and I got him out in the fourth. I could see in the end of the third he was starting to break down, starting to break down, starting to break down. But there just wasn’t enough.

“But in the fourth round, the story of the fight was — because I knew — look at my game plan. Me and my coaches … looked at what he does and he kept on talking about he’s a new fighter, he’s going to come in there, be different, the old Adesanya. So he’s going to come in there and try and fight me and stop me from going forward, because they know that’s how I fight and that’s his kryptonite. He’s not going to make the same mistake like he did against Strickland.

“So every round, you can at the beginning of that round I was standing my ground, but he was in the middle of the octagon, and he was almost dictating. But if you’re not used to fighting like that, you get more tired, if you’re not used fighting with that kind of pressure. And I didn’t back off. I wasn’t fighting on the outside, I just stood my ground. And every round, [with] around two minutes [left] my coach would shout, ‘Listen, it’s time to go!’ And I would start pushing forward, start pushing forward. That’s when I started getting — every round at the end, I got the success, got the success. And every round, the first bit of the round when he was dictating would be shorter, shorter, shorter. In that fourth round, I landed quite a lot of big shots. The man can take a punch, but you can only take that many.”

Of course, the old adage is that everyone has a game plan until they get hit, and du Plessis acknowledged not everything went perfectly in the fight. “DDP” credited Adesanya for his durability and his kicks in particular, and admitted that he wasn’t planning on a submission finish, it just happened that way.

“I knew, physically, I’m stronger than Israel Adesanya,” du Plessis said. “He is a master at getting back to his feet if you have his back. [Robert] Whittaker had his back many times. How many guys have gotten him down and not been able to do anything with it? So I got him down in the second round, landed a couple of hard shots, and every time he would get back to his feet, I didn’t fight him on it. I just kept control of the hits and landed big shots, because he was so focused on my hands on his hips, he wouldn’t protect his face. Land big shots, maybe they’d create a cut, that was what I was hoping for. Land big, big, hard punches, then get him back down to the ground so he has to do all that trouble [again].

“In that fourth, man was staggered from the blows. I could see when he went down, I landed big shots. I didn’t plan on taking him down. I was actually planning on knocking him out [but] body positioning was just that of, the best thing to do right now is take him down. And I could feel as we went to the ground, he wasn’t resisting at all. He was out of it a little, I got the back, and as soon as I straightened him out, it was over.”

Heading into UFC 305, there was a fair amount of bad blood between du Plessis and Adesanya, stemming from comments made about the nature of being an African champion, but afterward both men were highly respectful of each other. In fact, backstage post-fight, the two shared an embrace as du Plessis gifted Adesanya a jacket and Adesanya raised du Plessis’ hand as the true champ.

The moment garnered a lot of attention from fans, and as he puts his rivalry with Adesanya to bed, du Plessis explained exactly what happened there.

“I never went after his family,” du Plessis said. “I just wanted to make sure — I have parents too. I respect anybody’s parents, so I just went over to him and said after the fight, ‘If it sounded like I was saying anything bad about your parents, that was not the case.’ What I’m saying to you, harden up. If you want to cry about that, so be it. But I will never disrespect your parents. And he said, no, no, no, he understands.

“As a warrior to a warrior, I’m still not [friends] with Israel Adesanya. We are not friends because on a personal level we do not see eye to eye, but warrior to warrior, after spending that time with him in the octagon and what he’s achieved in the sport, it’s no secret, I respect that. And after spending the time with him in the octagon, you can’t not respect that man and what he’s done in the sport. So to give him that jacket was a token, a reminder, a token of appreciation, a thank you for this. It’s a memory for me. It’s such a massive moment in my life, fighting a great fighter like Israel Adesanya.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Manny Pacquiao’s longstanding rivalry with mixed martial arts superstar, Conor McGregor has hit yet another hurdle this week, the a court ruling how a contract penned by the boxing megastar with the Dubliner-backed Paradigm Sports Management was “illegal” – amid continued links to super fight in the future. 

Pacquiao, a former multiple time and weight world champion in professional boxing, most recently competed in an exhibition outing under the Rizin FF banner in Japan earlier this month – fighting in a draw with Rukiya Anpo in a highly-scrutinized performance from veteran striker over the course of three rounds.

Continually linked with a first professional walk since a unanimous decision loss to Yordenis Ugas back in 2021, 72-fight professional veteran, Manny Pacquiao has yet to make good on a potential return to the squared circle for a swansong outing.

Manny Pacquiao sees Paradigm contract ruled as void

However, amid links to a showdown with fellow combat sports megastar, McGregor – Manny Pacquiao has seen a reported contract he had inked with Paradigm Sports Management voided during a court hearing this week, with the firm’s manager and agent, Audie Attar not possessing a valid manager’s license in the state of California during a specific period between 2019 and 2021. 

“The court finds for Mr. Pacquiao on the declaratory relief cause of action and declares the contract void due to illegality,” A court decision read. (H/T MMA Mania)

And reacting to the news of his now-voided contract with the agency, Pacquiao’s legal representative, Jason Aniel thanked the boxer’s patience and support throughout the dispute.

“This decision negates the jury’s findings back in May of 2023,” Aniel wrote in a statement provided. “We thank the court’s time and effort in this matter. Mr. Pacquiao thanks his fans for their patience while the court fully resolved all the legal issues.”

LowKickMMA.com

A lot of MMA fans were surprised to see that Alex Pereira’s next UFC light heavyweight title defense will be against Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307 in October.

Despite Rountree having an impressive run of finishes with back-to-back wins last year, many expected to see Magomed Ankalaev get the next shot at “Poatan”.

Instead, Ankalaev will be taking on Aleksandar Rakić at UFC 308 where a win over another top contender will surely see him earn a second shot at the 205-pound title.

He was unsurprisingly critical of the UFC’s decision to book Pereira against Rountree Jr. but some of his comments struck a nerve with another one of the light heavyweight division’s big names.

Jamahal Hill Says He’d Be Willing To Fight Magomed Ankalaev At UFC 308

During a recent YouTube video on his channel, Jamahal Hill gave his reaction to Ankalaev’s comments after the announcement.

Hill believes that Ankalaev has looked to gain popularity from the fans by coming at him to try and win some of them over.

The former champion also referenced how the Dagestani fighter hasn’t always been in the UFC’s good books, believing that he has bitten his tongue this time around rather than publicly slamming the promotion for not booking him as the next title challenger.

“I made a reaction video about the Khalil Rountree and Alex Pereira fight announcement and there was one guy in particular who yeah, I will agree he’s been given the run-around by the business right and I’m assuming now, he’s learned his lesson now to watch his mouth ‘cuz as you know, we talking about Mrs, I ain’t even going to, little ‘Frudamed Gankalaev’, ankle grabber, whatever you want to call him. This dude just can’t stop trying to like clout chase in whatever way he can. bro like, you fought to a draw, you had your chance, you had your chance of winning the title.

“Now, I am one of the people that agree that he should have been next in the title shot above Khalil Rountree, and I spoke on this. But, for you to say like, say I’m crying because I spoke on an obvious fact of the game that affects everybody in our weight class and things like that, I see what you tried to do bro. You see that the whole fan base, they’re kinda against me, they kind of want to throw s*** on me and s*** like that. You think that you can get some cool points by jumping on that bandwagon and trying to call me out. Stop it bro, stop it bro. I would expect a low IQ move like that from you, you know what I mean. You don’t want to say anything about the fight being announced because you’ve now learned your lesson from the time whenever you lost, talking about you don’t want to fight for the UFC…and now they have now smacked your hand and now you know to watch your mouth and stay in check.

Hill ended the video by saying that he would be open to stepping in to face Ankalaev if, for whatever reason, Rakić is unable to compete on October 26 in Abu Dhabi.

“Sweet Dreams” was originally scheduled to make a quick turnaround after losing the title but withdrew from UFC 303 in June due to an injury.

“They don’t even like you enough to let you fight [for the title] over the #8 dude! So chill out bro, chill out tryna get cool points bro, focus on other s***. You got a fight coming up against Rakić, shout out to Rakić cuz’ he’s very well capable of putting your a** out. But, best believe if my phone ring and they need somebody to come step in and handle you, bro you’re light work for me. You’re light work for me and I can’t wait to show that.”

Read also: Dricus Du Plessis’ Coach Offers Alternative To Alex Pereira’s Middleweight Tease: ‘I Won’t Give Him The Joy…’

Continue Reading Jamahal Hill Claps Back At Magomed Ankalaev Over LHW Title Drama: ‘Bro, You Light Work For Me!’ at MMA News.

MMA News

In the aftermath of UFC 305, Alex Pereira has hinted at a move back down to middleweight to face Dricus Du Plessis.

‘Stillknocks’ just successfully defended his 185 lbs title after securing the biggest win of his career. The South African settled his feud with Israel Adesanya in a razor-close affair that ended with a huge submission victory for the defending champion.

Intrigued by what he witnessed, Alex Pereira confirmed his interest at moving back down to the weight class. Alongside his dominance in a new division, the kickboxing sensation holds a 4-1 record at middleweight under the UFC banner.

The current light heavyweight titleholder is looking to better his record and add more gold to his resume as he begins to eye a possible meeting with Dricus Du Plessis, according to his latest social media post.

“Coming down to 185 one more time.” Pereira said after watching the UFC 305 main event.

Related: Dricus du Plessis submits Israel Adesanya in UFC 305 main event

While many would likely love the idea of the Brazilian colliding with Du Plessis, that bout won’t be happening anytime soon.

Focused on staying active, Alex Pereira has yet another fight booked — making it his fifth fight in a little over 14 months. 

Pereira will put his title on the line against Khalil Rountree Jr. on October 5. Though a lot can change in the sport, even a short night at the office e against Rountree wouldn’t allow him to leapfrog other contenders for the middleweight title fight.

As stated by Dana White, Dricus Du Plessis’ next defense of his crown will be in a rematch against Sean Strickland.

Alex Pereira’s last appearance at middleweight came in the headlining bout of UFC 287. Pereira was knocked out by long-term rival Israel Adesanya and decided his career would benefit from the added weight — thus beginning a legendary run at 205 lbs.

MMAWeekly.com | UFC and MMA News, Results, Rumors, and Videos

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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

In the main event, 33-year-old Canadian Andreas Gustafsson and 33-year-old Swede Pat Pytlik square off in a welterweight bout.

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

Fight Card

Andreas Gustafsson vs. Pat Pytlik

Rizvan Kuniev vs. Hugo Cunha

Cortavious Romious vs. Michael Imperato

Cam Rowston vs. Torrez Finney

Billy Brand vs. Cody Haddon

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts