Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Just moments ago, Ray Cooper III secured entry to the Professional Fighter’s League (PFL) tournament finals for the third time. The defending PFL Welterweight kingpin squared off with a well-established name in the MMA world in Rory MacDonald, but he ended up dominating the Canadian.
Early on, it was MacDonald who intended to impose a grappling-based game plan, wrapping up the clinch and driving his foe to fence. However, Cooper showed off his strength in reversing position and quickly scoring his own takedown. From bottom position, MacDonald could do little more then hang on, doing his best to mitigate damage while remaining trapped in guard.
Even as MacDonald tried to avoid his foe’s wrestling later in the fight and force a kickboxing bout, Cooper’s takedowns would not be denied. His top control wasn’t the most devastating, but the Hawaiian landed some solid left hands en route to the decision win.
Check out the highlights below:
As a result of his victory, Cooper will meet Magomed Magomedkerimov in the finals of the Welterweight bracket. Magomedkerimov picked up the decision nod over Sadibou Sy in the co-main event, and he has a history with Cooper. The Russian submitted Cooper via guillotine choke in the 2018 PFL finals and is unbeaten since 2018, so there’s a lot on the line when the two meet once again — even aside from $1 million!
Insomnia
Justin Gaethje predicts how the Lightweight division unfolds, but he’s still assuming Dustin Poirier isn’t going to chase further money fights.
I quite liked this highlight of fighters escaping from deep submission attempts.
This column has featured lots of shin and body conditioning, but let’s mix it up!
Brandon Moreno puts out the Pacquiao challenge, and Mike Perry answers.
Haven’t posted any fake martial arts in a while …
Slips, rips, and KO clips
I have yet to watch an entire Karate Combat event, but yeah, I can see the appeal!
When a man shoots for a double leg takedown in a boxing match, the fight is rarely going well for him.
I had a request for additional Saenchai clips — of course.
Random Land
Neat!
Midnight Music: Alright, so this is admittedly going to be an extremely strange one with an long story behind it. Skip to the comments now if you do not care or have no interest in experimental music.
I first saw Lingua Ignota (real name Kristin Hayter) perform in 2018 as the opener for Daughters, a very intense noise rock band who put on a hell of a show. Hayter didn’t exactly steal the night, but she was damn memorable. While playing several different instruments and vocalizing, extraordinarily eerie, Soundtracks For The Blind-esque instrumentals filtered through the room. To complete the performance, Hayter herself wondered the crowd, swinging around a light fixture and sobbing freely.
It felt as much like an art piece as musical performance. I didn’t know what to make of it then and still don’t three years later. At any rate, her latest album Sinner Get Ready released, and it’s bizarre and otherworldly.
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.