Welcome to Midnight Mania!
As he so often does following important Lightweight/Welterweight fights, Nate Diaz recently emerged from his self-inflicted coma to talk himself back into some fights! The Stockton bad boy set his sights on Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira, specifically targeting those fights at 170 lbs.
It may not make any sense, but “The Diamond” is open to it.
However, Diaz has also thrown some trash talk in the direction of Jake Paul, who is currently set to box Ben Askren in April. Speaking with Ariel Helwani, Diaz elaborated that while he’s not yet interested in fighting Paul himself, he believes it will happen “at some point for sure.”
“He was just talking some serious fighting words to Conor. When I said something it was because he was saying stuff to Conor and those are some real fighting words for a guy who is signed to fight in a real fight,” Diaz said (transcription via BJPenn.com). “You are challenging us to a boxing match with real fighting words. No one is going to speak, even Conor doesn’t want to give him any clout.
“Someone needs to tell this guy to shut up, I wasn’t trying to have anybody’s back. But, you are talking fighting words, it doesn’t make no sense when people do that,” Diaz continued. “It is like people talking like that and challenging somebody to a basketball (game). Boxing is just boxing it is only one-piece of a fight. So, someone is going to f**k you up if you don’t watch it.”
Diaz is currently unbooked, and he’s only chasing high-profile fights. Who would you like to see as Diaz’s return opponent?
Insomnia
A somewhat lost piece of news from this weekend, but Chris Leben retired again (hopefully for good). “The Crippler” had some pretty awesome moments across his career, but winning twice in a couple weeks with a last-second triangle choke has to be my favorite.
Fans may not love it, but Kamaru Usman is ridiculously dominant.
223 fighters in UFC history have spent at least 1 hour grappling.
Only 2 of the 223 have held control positions for over 97% of their grappling time:
Khabib Nurmagomedov – 97.40%
Kamaru Usman – 97.36%#UFC258 @AliAbdelaziz00 @USMAN84kg— MMA By The Numbers (@NumbersMMA) February 9, 2021
Kevin Holland vs. Dillon Danis is not the 2021 beef I expected.
Matt Brown is a warrior poet.
Here’s an entire thread of new Tito Ortiz clips:
This call is from someone that’s known Tito since he was 12. If you watch just one video in this thread, this should be the one. pic.twitter.com/K6j0Q06WoX
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) February 4, 2021
The flow wrestling clips that come out between Michael Chandler and Kamaru Usman are a joy to watch.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Throwback “Krazy Horse” moment:
You cannot step across the front of an opponent who has an excellent body lock and not expected to be slammed.
Push an opponent towards the fence, line up the spin kick:
Random Land
Shark vs. Barracuda!
Midnight Music: A classic came on the radio!
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.