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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!

Those unprofessional media scumbags are at it again!

Per the latest official UFC rankings — which are voted upon by UFC selected members of MMA media — Heavyweight champion Jon Jones is currently the third best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. He sits behind fellow champions Islam Makhachev and Alex Pereira in that order.

Pound-for-pound rankings will always be an endless source of debate, but the logic here is fairly simple: Makhachev and Pereira are actively winning fights and putting on high-level performances. Jones, conversely, has been away so long that there’s an interim champion racking up title defenses. He’s won just once in the last four years, so he loses points based on activity despite being nearly unbeaten as a professional throughout his entire remarkable career.

UFC CEO Dana White disagrees. Strongly. During his recent interview with Kevin Iole, White talked extensively about the Heavyweight title picture, asserting that interim champion Tom Aspinall deserves nothing and can wait as long as Jones vs. Stipe Miocic requires. While discussing Jones, White brought up the recent pound-for-pound snub and positively unloaded on the whole situation.

It’s a rant for the ages.

“Jon Jones is ranked number three pound-for-pound in the world,” a smoldering White began. “The most fucking ridiculous, embarrassing, stupid, no-nothing-about-f—king-fighting ranking of all f—king time. Jon Jones is the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, period, end of story. To have anybody above Jon Jones right now just goes to show that you know absolutely f—king nothing. It’s undebatable!

“Anyone who even tries to debate this with me, you’re just hating on Jon Jones, and you don’t like him as a person. These are f—king facts. It’s not like me and Jon Jones have this unbelievable relationship. What I am saying about Jon Jones is undebatable: the baddest dude to ever walk the face of the Earth in combat sports.”

Jones is expected to return to action in November opposite Stipe Miocic. If he’s victorious in impressive fashion, another win might be enough to elevate him back up to the top spot on the pound-for-pound list.

If not, expect to hear about it.

Insomnia

A bit of showmanship from Thailand.

Belal Muhammad gets a shoutout from fellow UFC veteran CM Punk!

Megan Olivi is moving up in the world of NFL broadcasting.

Francis Ngannou on the silver screen! Or at least, the Netflix equivalent.

Canelo Alvarez breaks down Shakur Stevenson vs. Gervonta Davis and offers his prediction.

Speaking of Canelo, Conor McGregor is not impressed with his drawing potential … despite Alvarez making way more money per bout.

Okay, maybe Deiveson Figueiredo did NOT become the first man to drop Marlon Vera.

Dricus Du Plessis politely putting a fan on the floor with a body shot:

Slick head movement is so satisfying.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

ROLLING THUNDER!

A phone booth KO off the initial flurry:

Fatigued, stuck on the fence, eating knees is a bad way to be.

Random Land

An impressive collection of critters.

Midnight Music: Indie, 2013

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

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Amit Elor is now an Olympic gold medalist.

The 20-year-old phenom from California wrapped up a dominant run through the 68kg weight class with another shutout victory after beating Meerim Zhumanazarova from Kyrgyzstan with a 3-0 score in the final match from Tuesday’s action at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The win crowns Elor as the youngest American to ever win a gold medal in wrestling as she surpasses Kyle Snyder, who claimed that title after he won gold back in 2016. Snyder

Snyder is actually still competing as he represents the United States at 97kg with his competition starting on Saturday.

As for Elor, she was overwhelmed with emotion following the win as she celebrated with her coach, former UFC title challenger Sara McMann, who was the first American woman to ever win a medal at the Olympics after she claimed a silver at the 2004 games in Athens.

“I just couldn’t believe that I became an Olympic champion,” Elor said just moments after her win. “This has been my dream for my whole entire life. It’s hard to believe. It’s such a full circle moment. For me, the past few months, especially after I made the Olympic team, I received so many message from younger girls telling me I was their inspiration.

“I really hope that they can chase after their dreams just like I did and they won’t give up either.”

Elor stormed through the competition at 68kg, which was a new home for her after winning two World Championships at 72kg. Over her four matches on the way to the gold medal, Elor outscored her competition 31-2.

“I’m sharing this medal with my whole entire family,” Elor said. “I’m sharing this medal with my whole entire country. Becoming an Olympic champion is one of the most difficult things in the whole entire world.”

The hard work paid off as Elor becomes the first American to win a medal in wrestling at the 2024 Olympics with her teammate Sarah Hildebrandt seeking to join her when she wrestles for gold on Wednesday.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

When UFC inks a new broadcast deal sometime in 2025, the owners at TKO Group Holdings may want to send a thank you card to NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

In July, the NBA officially close deals spanning 11 years and $ 77 billion for basketball games to be broadcast on NBC, ESPN/ABC, and Amazon Prime Video for more than a decade starting in 2025. The landmark deals were massive upgrades from the previous broadcast rights deals for the NBA, but also take the league off the market for the next 11 years.

Meanwhile, the NFL — by far the most valuable sports league in the United States — has a deal running through 2033, the college football playoffs are locked up until 2032, and the MLB and NHL don’t have new deals coming until after 2028.

That leaves UFC as the only major sports property coming available for a broadcast rights deal for the next three years, which puts the promotion in pole position to land a huge TV contract after its current deal with ESPN expires in 2025.

“If you look at what else is available, there is not much coming,” NBC Sports president Rick Cordella told The Athletic about the current market for sports broadcast rights deals. “[The NBA] was clearly a big one.”

The same article quoting Cordella mentions several times that UFC is the only truly valuable sports rights package available any time in the near future.

While UFC clearly offers value to whoever bids on its broadcast rights, the organization essentially being the last man standing until at least 2028 sets it up for a huge windfall at the negotiating table.

By all accounts, UFC has enjoyed a close working relationship with ESPN, which also took over pay-per-view broadcasts for the promotion once its initial deal was inked.

That being said, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro has doled out nearly $ 80 billion in broadcast rights deals since taking over the network, and that’s amid a dwindling audience with the network available in 66.5 million homes compared to 100 million back in 2011.

ESPN is attempting to answer that challenge with direct-to-consumer streaming product Venu, an all-in-one sports service that combines networks from ESPN, FOX, and Warner Bros. Discover into one package for $ 42.99 per month. ESPN is also expected to launch its own standalone streaming service in 2025 to help retain viewers no longer buying a full suite of channels from cable, satellite, or other streaming services like YouTube TV.

ESPN is expected to try and retain UFC’s broadcast rights, but how much the network is willing to spend remains to be seen. Aside from UFC, ESPN is largely done spending on any other broadcast rights deals after locking up the NBA for 11 years and $ 28.8 billion.

While ESPN may look like the frontrunner to keep UFC, it’s impossible to know how things will play out.

Amazon Prime Video has suddenly become a major player in the sports broadcast landscape after landing the NFL’s Thursday Night Football package and then paying $ 20 billion over 11 years for the NBA. Amazon also owns rights to NASCAR as well.

Jay Marine, the global head of sports at Amazon Prime Video, told The Athletic that the company is well aware that UFC is the only major sports deal coming up over the next few years. That knowledge undoubtedly played some part in the bidding for the NBA’s rights, with Marine adding that he’s looking forward to a much longer-term partnership with the basketball league, with hopes for a “three-decade, four-decade-plus relationship.”

In May, TKO Group Holdings president Mark Shapiro revealed that UFC was very close to inking a deal to move to Amazon Prime Video before eventually reaching an agreement with ESPN. Shapiro promised that UFC would explore all viable options with this next broadcast deal negotiation, which could easily bring Amazon back into the fold again.

“We will be flexible so we are giving any perspective partner or current partner the best programming for the most ideal windows so that they can grow their base and retain their [subscriptions],” Shapiro said. “Very important.”

A big part of NBC’s willingness to dish out $ 27 billion over the next 11 years for the NBA was building a model where Peacock — the company’s streaming service — could retain viewers year-round rather than just for any single sports league season. Lessening churn (viewers subscribing for a few months and then cancelling) increases Peacock’s overall profitability.

“Our portfolio of sports on Peacock is incredibly robust,” Cordella said. “You add the NBA to it — I’m a sports fan, you are a sports fan, it feels like a must-have. If you are a sports fan worth your salt, you need Peacock. You need NBC.”

That’s also a check mark in UFC’s favor because there is no offseason for combat sports.

One of the biggest advantages UFC maintains over other sports leagues is a year-round model for events, which includes 12 to 14 annual pay-per-views as well as shoulder programming that remains consistent from month to month.

While Amazon benefits from selling subscriptions to Amazon Prime — a service that gives customers free shipping among other perks, along with Prime Video — NBC, ESPN, and other networks have to find ways to keep subscribers tuned in month to month, year to year.

Adding a valuable year-round product like UFC provides that, especially with its embedded, loyal audience that has only grown in recent years. Despite stars like Conor McGregor not fighting since 2021 and others such as Ronda Rousey long retired, UFC continues to back up the Brink’s truck at every event with record-breaking attendance and live gate numbers.

With NBC, Amazon, and ESPN landing the massive deal with the NBA, that leaves companies like Warner Bros. Discovery out in the cold (the company is actually suing the NBA currently over matching rights for the next TV contract).

As much as Warner Bros. Discovery can lean on other sports offerings already under contract like MLB, NHL, as well as NASCAR and college basketball, losing the NBA hurts. The company was ready to spend billions to retain the NBA, and now that money is available for an entity like UFC to swoop in and capture it.

That’s not even considering streaming services like Netflix potentially getting interested in UFC’s broadcast rights after obtaining Christmas Day games from the NFL as well as an unprecedented 10-year deal for WWE’s flagship program Monday Night Raw starting in 2025.

WWE is the other half of TKO Group Holdings alongside UFC — a fact that has to be acknowledged when negotiations on the new TV deal begin next year.

There’s also players like Apple out there with more than $ 67 billion in cash on hand the company could spend to land a marquee product like UFC. Apple has spent money on sports broadcast rights deals in the past, and stealing away UFC could be a huge addition to the lineup.

It’s impossible to know which way UFC is leaning right now with negotiations not expected to begin for a few more months, but after the latest shifts in the sports media landscape, the promotion is now positioned for even more lucrative deal than before.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alexa Grasso lost a head-to-head matchup with Valentina Shevchenko, but her team came out on top on this week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 32.

Shevchenko handily beat Grasso in this season’s Coaches Challenge, this time comprised of a basketball shooting contest, only to see her lone featherweight semifinalist fall in disappointing fashion. Team Grasso’s Kaan Ofli (10-2-1) barely needed a minute to secure a guillotine choke on Team Bullet’s Roedie Roets (7-1) and advance to the TUF 32 finals.

Australia’s Ofli was well-prepared for Roets’ wrestling, which was on full display just seconds in as Roets immediately tackled Ofli to the mat. Ofli scrambled to his feet, only to be taken down again, but he was quick to notice Roets in a vulnerable position. he wrapped the South African fighter in a tight guillotine to earn the tap-out victory in Round 1.

Ofli now awaits the winner of the other featherweight semifinal between his teammate Mairon Santos and Team Bullet’s Zygimantas Ramaska.

In the Coaches Challenge, Grasso and Shevchenko were challenged to see who could score more in a basketball competition, with the rivals shooting at the same time and earning points from different spots on the court based on distance. On hand to oversee the contest was Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum.

The coaches were competing for a $ 10,000 prize, plus $ 2,000 for each of their eight fighters.

The contest got ugly fast as it became clear that neither fighter had much familiarity with shooting a basketball, though Shevchenko and her team eventually realized her best strategy was to simply pile up points from the shortest-distance shot. By the time Grasso attempted to score from the spots that were worth more, Shevchenko was already building an insurmountable lead. The former champion even capped her win off with a long shot to nearly double up Grasso 33-17 after four short quarters of action.

In other drama, semifinalist Ramaska is concerned that he won’t be able to compete due to a facial fracture from his first fight. After seeing two doctors, he was told there’s a strong chance that he can fight, but viewers won’t know for sure until fight night rolls around.

Next week, Team Grasso teammates Paddy McCorry and Robert Valentin face off for a spot in the middleweight finals.

The Ultimate Fighter 32 airs live every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Following the season finale, Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko are set to face off in a flyweight championship trilogy bout at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.

The finalists of the TUF 32 middleweight and featherweight tournaments will also compete for a six-figure UFC contract at the show’s live finale. A date for that event is yet to be announced.

Here are the TUF 32 rosters divided by team:

Team Grasso

Featherweights

1. Guillermo Torres (Mexico) (7-1)
2. Kaan Ofli (Australia) (10-2-1)
3. Bekhzod Usmonov (Tajikistan) (11-4)
4. Mairon Santos (Brazil) (13-1)

Middleweights

1. Robert Valentin (Switzerland) (10-3)
2. Paddy McCorry (Ireland) (4-1)
3. Omran Chaaban (Finland) (6-1)
4. Tom Theocharis (Canada) (9-5)

Team Shevchenko

Featherweights

1. Roedie Roets (South Africa) (7-1)
2. Zygimantas Ramaska (Lithuania) (9-2)
3. Nathan Fletcher (England) (8-1)
4. Edwin Cooper Jr. (USA) (6-1)

Middleweights

1. Shamidkhan Magomedov (Russia) (7-1)
2. Mark Hulme (South Africa) (12-3)
3. Ryan Loder (USA) (6-1)
4. Giannis Bachar (Greece) (9-2)

See the semifinal results below:

Middleweight

Ryan Loder def. Omran Chaaban via decision

Paddy McCorry vs. Robert Valentin

Featherweight

Kaan Ofli def. Roedie Roets via submission (guillotine choke) (R1)

Zygimantas Ramaska vs. Mairon Santos

See quarterfinal results below:

Roedie Roets def. Guillermo Torres via decision

Robert Valentin def. Giannis Bachar via KO (strikes) (R1)

Kaan Ofli def. Nathan Fletcher via decision

Omran Chaaban def. Shamidkhan Magomedov via technical submission (anaconda choke) (R2)

Zygimantas Ramaska def. Bekhzod Usmonov

Ryan Loder def. Tom Theocharis via submission (arm-triangle choke)

Mairon Santos def. Edwin Cooper Jr. via split decision

Paddy McCorry def. Mark Hulme via submission (guillotine choke) (R1)

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Disdain
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