Midnight Mania! Dana White: I’m Not Paying Snoop Dogg $2 Million

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

West Coast hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg has established an odd career for himself. It’s been nearly 30 years since his appearances on The Chronic and his debut masterpiece, Doggystyle, yet the rapper remains involved in … everything! The Snoop D-O-Double G has his hands in various films, a stage play, and will famously hop on a track with anyone who sends him a few grand.

Somehow, Snoop Dogg has also integrated himself into the world of combat sports. He has provided commentary for the UFC in the past, and most recently, the Californian worked on Triller Fight Club’s commentary team for the Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren event. Admittedly, not all reactions to Snoop Dogg’s goofy commentary are positive, but he remains in the fighting mix.

At the Paul vs. Askren event, Snoop Dogg publicly stated on several occasions that he had placed $2 million on Jake Paul, and he seemed to imply that half of that money was a direct bet with UFC President Dana White. Now, White has denied to Yahoo Sports that this bet ever existed.

“I can tell you this: I don’t owe Snoop $2 million. I never bet … let me make it clear right here to everybody: I have never made an illegal bet, ever,” White said (via MMAJunkie). “I did not make an illegal bet on Saturday night. I did not bet $2 million with Snoop or anybody.

“Javier Mendez called me right after I did the Mike Tyson podcast – he’s the head coach at AKA – and he said these guys at Triller, they want to take that bet. ‘They want to bet you $2 million.’ I said, ‘It’s f*cking illegal,’” White said. “First of all, I’m not gonna make an illegal bet, No. 1. And No. 2, why would I bet them $1 million or $2 million when I could do it legally in Las Vegas and get 2-to-1 (odds)?”

On one hand, it makes sense that White would pursue the best odds for his bet. At the same time, White did publicly claim he was willing to throw down $1 million on Askren, and he has a fairly notorious reputation as a gambler. This is a man who has lost seven figures on a fight bet before and reportedly switched UFC venues after Palms Casino reduced his credit line, so nothing mentioned here is outside the realm of possibility.

What say you Maniacs, is White just saving face (and avoiding Johnny Law) or was the bet truly a figment of Snoop’s smoky imagination?

Insomnia

A couple interesting things to keep in mind here: 1) Corey Anderson was on an Ultimate Fighter contract for a while (they’re bad) and 2) his UFC resume definitely elevated his profile for Bellator. All the same, congrats to “Overtime” for getting paid!

Does Darren Till have a new opponent?

Justin Gaethje and Conor McGregor feuding over gloves is a new one.

Okay, this is a ballsy callout from Sean O’Malley. Pedro Munhoz has a cement chin and rips calf kicks …

I don’t remember this happening, but it’s amazing.

The caption via Google Translate, “Fedor Emelianenko: Fights with Alistair Overeem and Junior Dos Santos? Yes, they are interesting to me. I have two fights under the Bellator contract. And we’ll see. I hope the body is ready. And so, the years are felt, the injuries come out. Well, by the fall, God willing, we will be ready.”

Dustin Poirier, Manny Pacquiao, and Justin Wren teaming up for charity is heart-warming.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

This clip did not play out how I thought it would.

Rarely does a shot from this far out work well, but Duyshobay showed some really neat technique in how he finished the anaconda choke.

This feels like a fight clip from 2007.

Random Land

Repitition!

Midnight Music: I grew up on Depeche Mode.

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.