Midnight Mania: Francis In One? ‘Contract Pending ...’

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

One of the bigger stories in the first half of 2023 remains where Francis Ngannou will end up since departing UFC for greener pastures. In recent interviews, Ngannou has repeatedly mentioned that his plan is to box first — with the most likely candidate being Deontay Wilder at the moment — and then return to the cage. The two likely landing spots are Professional Fighter’s League and One Championship.

Now, there may be a hint that he’s landing in Singapore on Amazon Prime. John Hutchinson is the boxing coach at Tiger Muay Thai, and he works with One champion Anatoly Malykhin (12-0). The vicious knockout artist is favored to unify the Heavyweight crown opposite Arjan Bhullar in the summer, and afterward, Hutchinson believes he’ll face “The Predator.”

Contract pending.

“When that little soft bum Arjan comes out of hiding,” Hutchinson wrote. “We promise it will be over very fast in a powerful blink of a eye. Making room faster than ever for the real fight to happen. @Francisngannou you should of stayed where your at when you had the chance. Your about to face the biggest challenge @anmalykhin … Contract pending let’s see who’s the undisputed king is …”

Despite claims that Ngannou made a terrible mistake in leaving UFC, it seems as if he may be closing to lining up multiple high-profile fights. Perhaps his fight purse requests weren’t so unreasonable after all!

Insomnia

Sean Strickland never misses a chance to talk trash to anyone.

Did Dana White seem angrier than usual last week to anyone else?

From 5-1-1 to start her UFC run to the current five-fight losing streak, it’s been a rough couple years for Cynthia Calvillo.

❌ Fighter removed: Cynthia Calvillo

— UFC Roster Watch (@UFCRosterWatch) April 12, 2023

This is nice work.

Jon Anik saw an opportunity to roast Colby Covington and did not back down.

I can say from experience that Song Yadong is the second fastest fighter I’ve ever seen in person after Cody Garbrandt, but he’s like 10-15 pounds heavier.

Read this multiple times and let it sink in.

In their last 3 fights the winner was the one on his way to lose the fight and delivered.
This shows you how the outcome of the fight relies on many many variant factors and that there is no such thing as an easy fight at the highest level and that’s what makes combat sport great

— ฟิลลิป พอโชลเลอร์ (@ASAP_Pipa) April 9, 2023

Slips, rips, and KO clips

This slow-motion replay of Rob Font knockout out Adrian Yanez is both a great display of Font’s boxing talent and showcase of how MMA is a game of inches!

What a nasty left hook!

More left hooks!