Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Having successfully recovered from a long battle with COVID-19 and returned to the Octagon in stellar fashion vs. Li Jingliang just a couple weeks ago at UFC 267 (HIGHLIGHTS!), “Borz” is once again the talk of the town. Not long after his victory, Chimaev called out roughly half of the Welterweight division, chasing potential opponents from Nate Diaz to Gilbert Burns.
The Russian wolf is hungry for more than just UFC competition, however. Earlier today, Chimaev posted on Twitter an interest in boxing the Paul brothers, claiming he’d take them both out in a single night. He also included a picture with Logan Paul as evidence that he has trained with them previously.
Boxing’s “Problem Child” Jake Paul is currently booked vs. Tommy Fury as the main event of a SHOWTIME PPV on December 18th. However, Paul still had time to shut down Chimaev’s callout, advising the Chechen to worry about his own finances first.
“Listen Kumquat,” Paul replied. “You are just another UFC fighter pretending you can box. Sit down, shut up and pray you get paid fairly.”
Chimaev responded with a Khabib quote and photoshop, but I have to say, this would-be match up already seems dead in the water. After all, both Paul brothers are booked up, and Chimaev is busy trying to conquer the Welterweight division.
Insomnia
Trevor Wittman’s athletes went 3-0 on the main card of UFC 268, and this insight into his coaching is very interesting.
Angela Hill is resuming her previous role as the go-to woman when a Strawweight fight falls apart.
Two examples that prove Russian fighters with an iffy understanding of English are the best trash talkers in the sport:
Who does Chito @chitoveraUFC think he is?! Nobody can show such things to Frankie. I put your finger up your ass soon boy!
— Timur Valiev (@timurvaliev_df) November 7, 2021
Is this the first of many fights featuring international fighters to be canned due to new COVID-19 regulations?
Per sources, Tanner Boser vs. Sergey Pavlovich will no longer happen at the #UFC event on Dec. 4 due to travel issues.
— Nolan King (@mma_kings) November 9, 2021
Is the author of this DM a Redditor, MMA Twitter user, or MMAmania reader? Likely all three!
Valentina Shevchenko is a badass, but does anyone else find it weird how UFC is flipping the writing all over the place for her title defenses?
Slips, rips, and KO clips
I don’t know who this is, but I am reminded of Tim Boetsch’s redneck Judo.
Throwback Heavyweight greatness:
Another throwback of a rather different variety; there’s nothing like grainy old fight footage from some random gymnasium.
Random Land
A bit of good came out of social media for once.
The Tik Tok hand signal referenced in this story is from the Toronto-based Canadian Women’s Foundation (!!) and it helped save at 16-year-old girl in Kentucky who was reported missing for two days: https://t.co/wAhPDFqgYk
— Nadine Yousif (@nadineyousif_) November 8, 2021
Midnight Music: A final Mom pick for this trip (she’s a serious Brandon Flowers fan):
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.