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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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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!

2024 has been a difficult year for former UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.

His sophomore boxing performance went considerable worse than his professional debut, as Anthony Joshua wasted little time in handing “The Predator” his first knockout loss in combat sports. A painful defeat was nothing compared to personal tragedy, however, as Ngannou’s 15 month old son suddenly passed just weeks later in April 2024. Ngannou has already opened up about the tremendous sadness and struggle with moving forward after the death of his child, but now there’s an official date for his return: October 19 against PFL Heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira.

It’s a return that almost didn’t happen. In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Ngannou talked about having to make a decision about his professional career and the uncertainty of it all. Ultimately, however, Ngannou decided to fight on to honor his son’s memory and create something positive from the trauma.

“This is not a great moment for me,” Ngannou began (via Curtis Calhoun). “I need some activities. I need to stay active to be in a zone that I belong to. I also need to keep it going, to fight for my boy, for Kobe. The past few months hasn’t been the easiest. I think it has been by far my hardest [moment] in life. I lost my son. For some time, I felt like I didn’t even have to do this or questioning about if I should do it or fight again…

“But I want to do something good in his memory. Not to be the reason for me to quit but to be motivation and also to fight for him.”

When asked further about his potential retirement, Ngannou explained that his doubts and concerns were greater than fighting. His uncertainty was existential and more complicated than just fighting.

“It’s not that I have come close to retiring. It’s just that in this circumstance you think, you have different thoughts,” Ngannou said. “You see how fragile life is. You feel hurt, you feel powerless. You feel useless. You’re questioning about your existence, about the importance of all of this, or life in general.”

Insomnia

Some fun facts ahead of UFC Vegas 95 this weekend:

I don’t often say this about unranked Middleweights, but Brunno Ferreira is a must-watch action fighter.

Jon Jones being weird on social media? Couldn’t be!

Joaquin Buckley analyzes the rise of Alex Pereira in … unique … fashion.

Canelo isn’t impressed with or bothered by Conor McGregor yapping.

A super slick single leg takedown counter!

Walking 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) is one way to jumpstart Jiri Prochazka’s new weight cut to 185 pounds.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

As it turns out, yelling in pain is not optimal defense to any leg lock!

A sneaky gi choke:

Caught standing tall by a wide left hand swing:

Random Land

Not everybody is built for the world’s greatest games.

Midnight Music: Art rock, 1980

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

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Chris Weidman will fight again before the end of the year.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Weidman will face Eryk Anders at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 following Anders’ management team announcing the booking on Twitter.

The event is expected to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York, although UFC has yet to officially announce the site.

After missing more than two years following a brutal leg injury in his UFC 261 fight with Uriah Hall in April 2021, Weidman is 1-1 in two octagon appearances. In his last outing, the former UFC middleweight champion earned a technical decision over Bruno Silva at UFC Atlantic City in March. The 40-year-old is set for his 20th promotional walk.

Anders also enters the bout off a March victory, having defeated Jamie Pickett at UFC Vegas 87 via unanimous decision. Anders has flip-flopped wins and losses over his past four bouts, which includes a stoppage victory over Kyle Daukaus in December 2022.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Veteran referee, Herb Dean has reflected on his part in the post-fight brawl between the camps of both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor – explaining that while he, security personnel, and other officials tried to coral the teams, there were still “plenty of targets” of attack.

Sharing the Octagon in a brutal grudge fight back in 2018, then-undisputed lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov managed to defend his title for the first time during his reign – taking on former two-weight champion, McGregor.

Taking on the Dubliner in the main event of UFC 229, Nurmagomedov landed a fourth round neck crank submission win over McGregor – handing the former champion his first defeat at 155lb, before beginning a brutal brawl with the former’s corner, including former Bellator MMA star, Dillon Danis.

Separated from McGregor by referee, Dean after appeared to spit in the direction of his bitter rival following his submission success, Nurmagomedov’s team scaled the Octagon in pursuit of the Dublin striker, with officials storming the cage in a bid to separate and stop the mass brawl.

Herb Dean reflects on Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor brawl

Reflecting on his part in stopping the influx of fights in the Octagon, veteran official, Dean admitted that while he and others managed to corral combatants, everyone inside the venue was a “target” during the fiasco.

“The funny part about that [the brawl] is even though that whole brawl was chaos,” Herb Dean said. “All those guys were extra respectful of the officials. So, I pull him (Khabib Nurmagomedov) off [of Conor McGregor] right? And then he’s still going after him, talking to him, and I’m like pushing against him. And he’s like, ‘Okay, well… I’m not gonna wrestle Herb, but I’ve got other people I’ve gotten – you.’”

“…They’re not listening, but nobody was threatening the referee or one of the inspectors,” Herb Dean explained. “You’re grabbing the guys – once you grab them they’re like, ‘Oh, okay.’ But if you don’t get them they’re like, ‘There’s plenty of targets.’”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Will Conor McGregor ever fight again? Will he face Michael Chandler in December, as both have alluded to, after their cancelled UFC 303 bout in June?

Those questions have yet to be answered, but veteran fighter Urijah Faber is confident that “The Notorious” is far from done.

Faber, a former WEC featherweight champion who also coached a season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite McGregor back in 2015, told MMA Fighting that he sees hunger in McGregor despite all the money and fame the Irishman has made throughout the years.

“For being a friend but a distant friend, someone that I feel like I’ve spent enough time on with to kind of understand, the guy wants to fight,” Faber said. “He has money, he has fame, he could easily go and just do the movie career or be a businessman or whatever, but I feel like in his heart, his identity, his passions are still to fight. I think he will fight.”

McGregor fractured his leg in a trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier in July 2021 and later left the USADA drug-testing pool, which delayed a potential UFC return. McGregor was finally cleared in 2024 and booked the Chandler match for UFC 303, but withdrew weeks prior with an injured pinky toe.

Faber’s teammate Chad Mendes, who once fought McGregor for the UFC interim title at UFC 189, doubts he’s ever coming back, telling MMA Fighting that McGregor “just keeps backing out.”

Faber disagrees.

“He’s in no rush, he’s going to do it on his terms, which is a great place to be,” Faber said of the constant delays. “Not many people in this world, in our world, mixed martial arts, get to be in the place he’s in, where he wears the pants. But I think he will fight because he loves to fight. I mean, that’s who he is in his heart, that’s what’s given him these opportunities. He’s still young and full of piss and vinegar, so I hope to see him fight. The MMA space always benefits when a superstar comes out and puts their neck out.”

McGregor won 10 of his first 12 UFC bouts, beating the likes of Jose Aldo, Poirier, Max Holloway, Nate Diaz, and Eddie Alvarez, but was stopped twice by Poirier in 2021. If his return is booked for December, it will be almost five years after his most recent victory — a 40-second knockout against Donald Cerrone. But Faber is impressed enough, based on the footage he’s seen of McGregor training, to pick the former champ to beat Chandler.

“If he trains correctly, I think he’ll win,” Faber said. “We actually sent him a Rollbot. If you haven’t seen it, rollbotbjj.com, it’s a company that I have. I was impressed. The Rollbot is a high-tech training dummy with neck sensors and joints that dislocate. He wanted one bad, so we sent him one out, and I was watching him on that thing — and I’m like, ‘This guy is as skilled as it gets when he goes to the ground.’ He hasn’t lost a beat, so I’d like to see him back.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts