Midnight Mania! Stockton Slap, Bare Knuckle Edition?

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Nate Diaz’s victory over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 last weekend (HIGHLIGHTS) earned the Stockton slugger his freedom. Diaz ended the final fight of his UFC contract on a high-note despite all initial expectations, entering free agency as a hugely valuable commodity. Quite simply, he’s one of the sport’s biggest stars, and that’s true inside or outside of the Octagon.

Despite his claims otherwise, a lot of fight fans expected Diaz to cross over into the boxing ring and square off with YouTube superstar Jake Paul. That may not be an elite boxing match up, but it would rake in some serious cash! Alternatively, Diaz could fight MMA under his own promotion’s banners or field what would likely be huge paychecks from Bellator, One Championship, or RIZIN.

Another option has now emerged: bare knuckle boxing. Diaz is a known brawler with sharp hands and an iron chin, so his style would fit Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) well. Appropriately, BKFC president David Feldman is interested, and seeing as he once offered Mike Tyson $20 million, he has the funding to potentially make it happen.

“I can’t tell you whether he’s coming or not, but I can tell you that we want him here at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, and we’re going to do everything we can do to get him a bare-knuckle fight,” Feldman said on The Bare Knuckle Show (via Cole Shelton), and he targets Mike Perry as a potential opponent.

“I think that the fans would absolutely love to see, both have the same type of personality, both just guys that keep fighting, Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry would be a fan’s dream fight,” he added.

“Platinum” Perry himself, who continues to exceed expectations inside the bare knuckle ring, also called for the match up. Posting a video of himself lighting a blunt, Perry called out to Diaz, “Nate, where you at dog? Let’s fire up!”

Stay tuned to see Diaz’s next move … whenever he decides what direction that may be.

Insomnia

An excellent example of the age old adage: f—k around and find out!

Islam Makhachev offers his prediction for his upcoming title fight versus Charles Oliveira.

Dana White vs. Brendan Schaub is the real rivalry this sports needs to make it to the next level.

Some rare footage of an opponent keeping up with Khamzat Chimaev’s takedowns! I’d still like to see Chimaev fight someone like Colby Covington or even Derek Brunson and see what happens.

Ikram Aliskerov is the only man whose proven he can withstand the takedown pressure of Khamzat Chimaev. #DWCS

Here’s a display of masterclass takedown defense during their bout in Brave CF: pic.twitter.com/EZiLvKgDLE

— Mumps Khabib (@DeepOceanEagle) September 14, 2022

Some brave fool accepted a fight with Guram Kutateladze! Looking forward to seeing “The Georgian Viking” back in action.

Twitter content this good is surely going to put me out of this writing job.

Real ones know Bobby Green has been part of the Diaz camp for ages.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

It’s worth revisiting Demetrious Johnson’s latest win, as “Mighty Mouse” yet again scored a tremendous and technical finish. He sure does that pretty often for a fighter people labeled “boring.”

Semi-sanctioned street fight or attempted homicide?

Click over to the second clip to see the finish!