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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Manel Kape vs. Muhammad Mokaev is one of the more unique fight moments in recent memory. When’s the last time a fight had an exciting build up, absolutely terrible climax, then interesting and controversial fallout? Outside of the boring fight itself — which saw Mokaev defeat Kape via close decision — the whole ordeal has been rather entertaining.

The big narrative after UFC 304 has been Mokaev’s release. The 23-year-old Flyweight prospect has won seven in a row to start his UFC career, and his victory over Kape should have bumped him into the Top Five. Instead, he’s been released outright, reportedly for chasing Professional Fighter’s League (PFL) leverage and generally being difficult to work with.

Or maybe he’s just too boring.

Whatever the case, Kape is arguing online that Mokaev doesn’t deserve the win at all because he tapped to a guillotine. “Starboy” wrote on social media, “You can clearly see the moment when Mokaev Tap” alongside the slow-motion clip above, which does see Mokaev reach down to Kape’s leg in a tapping-like motion.

There’s a couple problems, however. One, the referee walks in front of the shot, blocking the view! Secondly, Mokaev could just as easily be moving his hand to press on the leg in an attempt to weaken Kape’s guard and general squeeze. It’s not exactly damning evidence, and far better cases have still failed to see commissions take action.

Ultimately, Kape is still on the roster and Mokaev is not, so the Portuguese fighter should probably just take that moral victory and move on.

Insomnia

I saw a few comments complaining that Belal Muhammad spiked Leon Edwards illegally, which was not the case. Unless it’s a genuine Tombstone Piledriver from The Undertaker himself, you will never see a slam takedown penalized in MMA.

Arnold Allen is not impressed by Giga Chikadze’s post-fight comments.

A very interesting threat about referee Mike Beltran with better cited sources than one might expect …

How many highlight reel KOs does Robelis Despaigne have to deliver before people are excited about him again? I’d guess two.

It won’t happen, but I would unironically watch Conor McGregor vs. Sean O’Malley in 2024 and think it would be competitive.

How many miles do you think Jiri Prochazka can shadowbox-hike in a full day?

It’s going to be really difficult to uncover weaknesses in Aspinall’s game when he fights in 60 second spurts.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Big swings in the pocket from both men.

Reinier de Ridder is still signed to One Championship, but that didn’t stop him from picking up a victory in Abu Dhabi over the weekend …

About as clean as a body cross-hook upstairs combination can land!

Random Land

An epic shot and how it came to be.

Midnight Music: Hardcore punk, 1998

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

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

If Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones ever do fight, Jones will likely be the underdog.

Aspinall officially flipped into a betting favorite over Jones in the potential UFC heavyweight title unification match following yet another brilliant performance from the Englishman at UFC 304, which saw Aspinall defend his interim belt with a 60-second knockout of Curtis Blaydes. In the aftermath of the win, Aspinall is now a -150 favorite to defeat Jones (+130) according to online sportsbook BetOnline — a far cry from where the odds sat in July 2023, which had Aspinall listed as a +170 underdog and Jones as a -200 favorite.

Aspinall, 31, is 7-1 in the UFC heavyweight division since 2020. His only loss over that span came when Aspinall suffered a knee injury just 15 seconds into his first meeting with Blaydes — a loss that has now been avenged in thunderous fashion. Among Aspinall’s wins are numerous ranked UFC heavyweights: Blaydes, Sergei Pavlovich, Marcin Tybura, Alexander Volkov, and Serghei Spivac.

Jones, 37, is widely considered the greatest light heavyweight to ever compete in MMA but has only fought once at heavyweight, capturing the vacant UFC heavyweight title with a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane in March 2023. Jones is expected to return in November against former champion Stipe Miocic in a divisive bout for the MMA fan base.

Aspinall once again called out Jones in the aftermath of his UFC 304 win, however Jones responded only with the cryptic tweet, “Supply and demand at its finest, I love it.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

All the fights for Riyadh Season Noche UFC: Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili in Las Vegas on Saturday 14th September 2024. With betting odds, start time, date, fight card, and information on how to watch.

• Event: Riyadh Season Noche UFC: Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili
• Date: Sat, Sep. 14, 2024
• Location: The Sphere, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
• Broadcast: Prelims 6 p.m. ET in the U.S., Main Card 10 p.m. ET in the U.S.
• Broadcast in the UK: Prelims will begin at 11 p.m. BST, Main Card at 3 a.m. BST

Riyadh Season Noche UFC: Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili Full fight card

Main Card

• Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili: Bantamweight Title Fight
• Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko: Women’s Flyweight Title Fight
• Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes: Featherweight
• Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Ribovics: Lightweight
• Ronaldo Rodriguez vs. Ode’ Osbourne: Flyweight

Prelims

• Irene Aldana vs. Norma Dumont: Women’s Bantamweight
• Manuel Torres vs. Ignacio Bahamondes: Lightweight
• Édgar Cháirez vs. Kevin Borjas: Flyweight
• Yazmin Jauregui vs. Ketlen Souza: Women’s Strawweight
• Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Aoriqileng: Bantamweight

*Fight card, bout order, and number of fights are subject to change

Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili Tale of the Tape

Start date and time

Riyadh Season Noche UFC: Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili takes place on Saturday, September 14th, at The Sphere, Las Vegas. The main card will start at 10 p.m. ET with the the Prelims starting at 6 p.m. ET. In the UK, the main event starts at 3 a.m. GMT with the Prelims starting at 11 p.m. GMT.

Betting Odds

• Sean O’Malley: -105 underdog 
• Merab Dvalishvili: -125 favorite

Tickets

If you are lucky enough to be near Las Vegas, Nevada, or plan to attend Riyadh Season Noche: UFC Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishviliat The Sphere, tickets are on sale from Wednesday 31st July, and will be available here.

Riyadh Season Noche UFC: Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili Preview

PPV price and Live streams

Riyadh Season Noche UFC: Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili is Live on ESPN+ PPV and the PPV is not available right now. When available you will be able to purchase the PPV here. In The UK, Noche UFC is available on TNT Sports as well as the early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

What is Next after Riyadh Season Noche UFC: Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili?

The next UFC event that follows Noche UFC: Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili is UFC Fight Night: Paris on the 28th of September 2024.

LowKickMMA.com

Lightweight prospect Paddy Pimblett will be in the UFC rankings when they’re updated following his UFC 304 first-round submission win over King Green on Saturday.  

Green entered the fight ranked 15th in the lightweight division and was coming off a UFC 300 dominating performance over Jim Miller.  It was the toughest test of Pimblett’s career and “The Baddy” rose to the challenge.  

Green looked to get Pimblett to the canvas but Pimblett quickly applied a guillotine choke and pulled guard midway through the first round.  The Englishman transitioned to a triangle choke and locked it in.  While Green was caught in the triangle choke, Pimblett applied an arm bar.  Green went unconscious from the triangle choke.  With the win, Pimblett extended his winning streak to eight consecutive fights.

“Statement made b*tches,” Pimblett said following the submission win.  “I’m the first person to submit Bobby in the UFC.  That’s a statement to all you haters out there.”

“I’ve got a ranking next to my name now haven’t it, so suck this,” Pimblett continued.

Pimblett dedicated the win to a boy who lost his life to cancer at the age of 7.  “I just want to dedicate this fight to little Chaddy The Baddy.  Seven years of age, he lost his life to cancer.  His name is Chad Jones, but he called himself ‘Chaddy The Baddy.’  He was a ‘Baddy’ fan, so little man, that’s for you.”     

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC 304 went down this past Saturday in Manchester, England, and a whole bunch of stuff happened. Belal Muhammad pulled off the upset, dominating Leon Edwards to become the new welterweight champion; Tom Aspinall avenged his previous loss to Curtis Blaydes with a 60-second obliteration; Paddy Pimblett arrived in the lightweight top 15 by demolishing King Green; and Muhammad Mokaev found a way to get let go from the UFC despite being young, undefeated, and unarguably one of the best fighters in his weight class

There are so many talking points this week and we got a ton of questions, so let’s try to answer as many as we can without writing War and Peace.

Belal Muhammad, welterweight champion

“Is Belal on Paulo’s secret juice?”

To quote President Thomas J. Whitmore: “He did it! The son of a bitch did it!”

Belal Muhammad ate a rash of shit for years from what felt like everyone in the MMA community as he relentlessly campaigned for his shot at the title and redemption against Leon Edwards, and ultimately, he gets the last laugh as “Remember the Name” made it so everyone would have to. He’s the welterweight champion of the world and no one can ever take that away from him. It’s a remarkable story of perseverance and dedication, and you can’t do anything but tip your hat to him, especially given the way he did it.

Ahead of the fight, I was pretty confident Edwards would win because he’s younger, faster, stronger, bigger, hits harder, and has more tools for the matchup. All of that is still true, but I failed to account for the one thing that I think made the difference in this matchup: Belal wanted it more. Saying stuff like that in sports is usually very stupid because everybody wants to win. And perhaps it’s stupid here as well, but on fight night and after re-watching the contest, what stood out to me the most was Belal Muhammad simply refused to be denied. Leon Edwards did not.

Muhammad came out in that fight and immediately set the terms. “I’m going to move forward, I’m going to put on the pace and the pressure, I’m going to hit you until you defend, and then shoot. I’m going to break you.” It was classic Belal, and while Edwards contested it early, he quickly lost the battle of wills, giving ground freely and getting bullied right out of his title.

Belal didn’t win Saturday because he was bigger or stronger or more talented than Leon Edwards. He won because he willed it into being (and he’s very skilled and smart, etc.). Paulo Costa wishes he had that secret juice.

Fighting at 6 a.m.

“Is it fair to expect fighters to be able to perform optimally fighting at any time of day?”

After losing his title, Edwards gave a post-fight interview where he said his body never felt right all week and that he couldn’t get going for the fight, and people of course immediately made the leap suggesting that was probably due to fighting at 6 a.m. in the morning. And there’s a fair chance that’s actually true. I also could not possible care less about this.

This was not some surprise, last-minute fight that sprang up out of nowhere. Leon Edwards knew he’d be fighting at this time of the morning for months. If he failed to prepare his body properly for fighting, that’s entirely on him. Because you know who didn’t have any issues with the time? Belal Muhammad. His body worked just fine!

To me, this entire situation is just like fighters competing at different altitudes. Yes, fighting at 6 a.m. is different, but it’s the same for both parties and you have time to prepare accordingly. As a fan, my expectations — especially for champions! — is that they leave no stone unturned for their fights. If Leon didn’t (and it is an if, because Leon did not blame the loss on the time, remember), he’ll just have to live with that one.

Belal’s first title defense

“Am I the asshole? Usman is the fight to make for Belal! Either Kamaru is back or a Belal win would legitimize his career like few other things would. I’d like to see the new blood fight in 5 rounders/headline first. Thoughts on this match up competitively and commercially?”

I don’t know if you’re an asshole, but you don’t sound like someone I agree with right now.

Kamaru Usman is a terrific fighter and an all-time great. He has a case for being the second greatest welterweight of all-time (people criminally disrespect Matt Hughes because this fandom has the memory of goldfish), he’s well-known, and he shouldn’t come within six counties of a title shot at this point in time.

Call me old fashioned, but I like my title challengers to be guys who have won relevant fights in the weight class in recent history. Aside from the fact that Usman is on a three-fight losing streak (which should be disqualifying for any title shot, frankly), he has not beaten a currently relevant welterweight in more than three years. Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal do not count as relevant, I’m sorry. Gilbert Burns is the most recent opponent Usman’s beaten who has meaningful wins this decade.

Muhammad should defend his title against Shavkat Rakhmonov, who is undefeated and has never been to a decision. If Usman wants a title shot, he needs to beat somebody at welterweight. There are no shortage of them. Get one win and then we can talk.

Leon Edwards

“What are the chances Leon ever gets another shot at the belt?”

I’ll be generous and go with 50/50, because while Edwards has some pretty clear negatives in this regard, he has a few things going for him.

First, Leon is still relatively young. “Rocky” is only 32 years old and he’s now a former champion. “Former champion” has cache and sort of perpetually keeps you in the title conversation, so long as you don’t go on a Tony Ferguson-esque losing streak. Edwards is still young enough and super talented, so a few wins (and a new champion) put him right back in line, especially as a notable figure in a market UFC caters to.

That being said, the downsides are real as well. Edwards was never a beloved champion by fans or the promotion, so he’s not like Usman: He won’t get the “let’s throw him in for a title shot for no apparent reason” treatment. He’s not a particularly exciting fighter nor is he overly charismatic, so he’ll have to win meaningful fights to get back to a title shot, and that’s a lot to ask at welterweight, especially for him. I have a ton of respect for Edwards as a fighter, but the combination of not finishing fights and having periodic lapses during fights means every bout is risky. You roll the dice enough and eventually you roll a 12.

The margin for error is small at the top and it’ll be interesting to see if Edwards can do it, but if I had to guess, I’d say no.

Rocky 2

So the obvious answer is Michael Page in a battle for England, and while I like that idea a lot, there’s another one that is far sillier but also perfect. It’s time to settle the feud: Leon Edwards vs. Jorge Masvidal.

When Edwards was the champion, it would have been insane to give Masvidal a title shot. Now that’s no longer an issue and since Masvidal is still under contract with the UFC, it’s do or die time. There’s still enough heat there to draw interest and it gives Edwards a much-needed rebound fight after the title loss. Let’s do it. The ‘MVP’ fight can wait.

Retreating is just surrender

“Has the last few years shown that a willingness to back yourself up to the fence repeatedly is actually the worst weakness a champion can have? So far its been the death of Leon, Israel Adesanya twice, Tyron Woodley, Anthony Pettis, etc…

I just want to put this here because it speaks to my biggest pet peeve in all of MMA: In this sport, retreat is surrender.

Simply put, there are only a handful of fighters currently competing in MMA who can win while fighting off the back foot. It’s a very specific skill set and it’s way harder to do. Meanwhile, the list of fighters who have vastly overachieved relative to talent because they move forward constantly is too long to list. If you know very little about MMA, 99 times out of 100, the guy moving forward is going to win.

Edwards lost this fight from the opening bell when he consented to Muhammad’s pressure, and things only got worse for him as he willingly moved to the cage. If I were an MMA coach, I’d train with cattle prods and every time someone in the gym stepped backward, I’d zap them. You simply cannot do it. Leon did and paid the price.

Science

“Can chickens be GOATs?”

No, they cannot. You see, I’ve spoken to the scientists, I’ve done the research, and it’s quite clear: Chickens cannot be GOATs. In fact, they’re not even in the same family, order, or class.

Chickens ≠ GOATs. Spread the word.

Tommy Aspinall and Jon Jones

“If we as the MMA community get #TomBeatsJon trending, will Jon want to (eventually) fight Tom instead of Stipe? *I’m not disrespecting Jon’s or Stipe’s resumes, of course, I’m just more interested in a Jon-Tom fight.”

No. Jon Jones will never fight Tom Aspinall because he doesn’t want that smoke. You, sir, are late to the party. I’ve been pioneering the #GaslightJonJones movement for more than a year, and while I’m fairly certain he’s actually caught wind of it, the man still ain’t fighting Tom Aspinall yet. Because he never will.

I want to be extremely clear: I am disrespecting Jon and Stipe’s résumés. Jon has one good win in the past six years and should have two losses in that same time. He openly ducked a rematch with Dominick Reyes, drug his feet on moving to heavyweight when Francis Ngannou was still around, and now insists on fighting a 42-year-old firefighter who has no wins over current UFC fighters and has not even fought in three years. In any other circumstance, the public would be HOWLING at this absurdity.

Jon wants to fight Stipe Miocic for the same reason Jake Paul wants to fight Mike Tyson: It’s a big event that he will win and can tell himself that it’s special and meaningful. It’s pure upside with no risk. And that’s fine, far be it from me to tell people not to lie to themselves. But I don’t have to buy it and neither do you.

Simply put, Jon Jones doesn’t want it with Tom Aspinall. He’s (rightly) concerned that Aspinall will beat him and ruin the thing Jon’s made so central to his legacy: His “undefeated” streak. He won’t risk it.

Prove me wrong, Jon.

Paddy Pimblett

“Has Paddy been widely underestimated — could he fight for a belt some day?”

Both yes and no.

On the one hand, I think most of the criticism surrounding Pimblett for his career has been justified. The man simple is much more popular than he is talented. After all, this is a guy who lost to Jared Gordon, who isn’t exactly a world-beater (sorry for the stray, Gordon). But on the other hand, the idea that Pimblett was a finished product was pretty clearly stupid.

Pimblett is still only 29 years old and he improves just about every time we see him. And in this fight with Green, Pimblett looked the best he ever has, both physically and competitively. Was Pimblett a great fighter when he joined UFC three years ago? No, absolutely not. Is he a great one now? Maybe. He’s certainly working toward it at least.

Development in sports in general, and especially in MMA, is not linear. It takes some fighters longer than others to put it all together, and sometimes they never do. Sometimes a life event happens and it changes a fighter. Maybe having a kid did that for Pimblett or maybe his years and years of dedication and hard work have finally helped him turn a corner. That’s part of the fun of MMA fandom: You get to see the journeys unfold in real time. And if you’re a Pimblett fan, you’ve been having a very good week.

Muhammad Mokaev

“If the UFC chooses not to re-sign Mokaev, where does he end up? ACA? Rizin? Does he challenge Dodson for the BKFC title?”

So as it turns out, the UFC did choose not to re-sign Mokaev, which some people have an issue with. I am not one of them.

Mokaev had about as bad of a week as possible for a guy who extended his undefeated resume to 13-0 (1 NC). He started a brawl, generally acted like an ass repeatedly, and then won a tepid decision (that most media actually scored for Kape) over a guy he allegedly hated. He then just confessed to sucker-punching Kape for the stupidest reason imaginable. A truly baffling level of unawareness.

I have been extremely high on Mokaev for years, even saying he was a future two-division UFC champion. And while I still am high on him as a fighter, the truth is he has some growing up to do. He’s 23 years old and this week he acted like he’s 12. Physically, he is capable of competing with anyone in the world, but is that someone you want to hitch your wagon to promotionally? I wouldn’t.

If UFC had cut him, maybe that’s one thing. But to opt not to re-sign a fighter who has allegedly been difficult to work with behind the scenes, isn’t especially popular, and is now acting out in the most childish ways, that’s reasonable. Mokaev is young. He can go to some other organization and grow up a bit (though not BKFC, you have to punch people there), and then return to the company as an older and wiser man.

And hopefully as a better fighter, too. Because for as much as I like Mokaev, he is not showing the same growth Pimblett has time in and time out. He’s functionally the same fighter he was when he joined the promotion. The man needs to round out both his people skills and his fighting skills while he’s outside the UFC if he ever wants to make good on all his potential.

Refereeing

“Does Mike Beltran yelling really angrily prevent more fouls than taking a point?”

We’ll end here: I don’t often say things like this, but Mike Beltran should not referee anymore. A truly shameful display from him on Saturday.

Mokaev cheated repeatedly and relentlessly and Beltran did nothing about it. Worse actually, Beltran acknowledged that Mokaev was cheating — egregious shorts grabbing, low blow, eye poke, the full gamut — and the only consequence was a stern talking to. I wish I was making this up but a direct quote from Beltran during that fight is, “Don’t put yourself in a position where I have to enforce the rules.” Dude, that’s your job! If you get to a point where you’re yelling at a fighter, you’re well beyond when you should have intervened. Take action!

Until referees start enforcing the rules, every single fighter should cheat their asses off. Because there isn’t really cheating in MMA. Every referee is bad because none of them want to take points (when in fact they should take points for everything other than fence grabs, which should just be giving position), but Beltran was on another level on Saturday.

Thanks for reading, and thank you for everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Israel Adesanya is back for one of the biggest fights of his career.

On Sunday, the official promo for UFC 305 was released, headlined by middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis defending his title against two-time champion Adesanya, who will be back from an 11-month hiatus when he steps into the cage for the Aug. 17 main event in Perth, Australia.

Watch the UFC 305 hype trailer below.

Tensions have been high between du Plessis and Adesanya for years, with the two butting heads over cultural differences while du Plessis was chasing Adesanya at the top. Before the two could fight, Adesanya lost his title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, and Strickland subsequently dropped the belt to du Plessis at UFC 297.

Now, the path is clear for the grudge match to be resolved.

Du Plessis seeks the first defense of his middleweight title after taking it from Strickland via a narrow split decision. The South African star is 7-0 in his UFC career.

Adesanya has not fought since this past September after losing to Strickland in lopsided fashion. He has had two reigns with the middleweight title, successfully defending it five times and winning it a second time with an incredible knockout of longtime rival Alex Pereira at UFC 287.

In the co-main event, recent flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg fights top contender Kai Kara-France.

UFC 305 takes place at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on Aug. 17 and airs exclusively on ESPN+ pay-per-view.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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