Midnight Mania! ADCC Champion And Strickland Frenemy Orlando Sanchez Dead At 40

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

In unfortunate news, Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Orlando Sanchez has been reported dead at 40 years of age by Flograppling. He passed away on December 15th.

Sanchez is a well-established jiu-jitsu competitor. In 2015, he won the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) +99kg division, which is the peak of no-gi jiu-jitsu. In addition, he was a Brazilian National Champion, and across his career picked up wins over legendary names like Dean Lister, Leandro Lo, and Vinny Magalhaes. “The Cuban Tree Stomp” was well-known for his powerful style of grappling.

BJJ Heroes lists his record in elite competition as 13-9.

For MMA fans, Sanchez is best known for a brief feud with tomorrow night’s UFC Vegas 66 headliner Sean Strickland. While the duo were training together, Sanchez applied a shoulder lock that Strickland deemed dirty. Strickland pushed him away and threw a couple strikes, but Sanchez was adamant he was merely teaching Strickland a technical lesson, not trying to hurt him. The duo were reportedly training together not long afterward, so perhaps it wasn’t so serious an issue after all.

Rest in peace.

Insomnia

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Fight logic is different.

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There’s currently 3 fighters in the UFC with 20+ appearances that have never been knocked down or stopped by strikes. I find that seriously impressive. pic.twitter.com/5VM6Gy7Zph

— Andy Hickey MMA (@AndyHickeyMMA) December 16, 2022

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30k In management and coaches fees getting paid out today. We all hate losing chunks of money but I always remind people, I would never be here without the support of these people. Never get so big that you stop wanting to pay the people who fought for you.

— Chris Curtis The Action Man (@Actionman513) December 16, 2022

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Featherweight banger alert!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

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Put away face down …

I never thought I would see a YouTuber beating up Alex Emelianenko, but here we are.