Midnight Mania! Jake Paul And PFL In Negotiations With Ngannou

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Jake Paul and Francis Ngannou have more in common than one might first think.

Currently, Ngannou is very arguably the biggest free agent in combat sports, a status he achieved by fighting out his UFC contract in the hopes of a high-profile boxing match. Just before Ngannou officially scored his own freedom, Paul stepped away from his status as another massive free agent by signing a massive deal with Professional Fighter’s League (PFL) as the host of his own eventual MMA debut.

Prior to all that, Paul and Ngannou have aligned with one another on issues like fighter pay and athlete healthcare. They’ve discussed a potential fighter union, and there aren’t many other fighters capable of headlining boxing and MMA pay-per-view (PPV) events. Hell, they might both end up fighting members of the Fury family!

Is this all the perfect background for a business partnership? Paul revealed this team, PFL, and Ngannou are all in talks about working together, and he believes it could be a great fit for “The Predator.”

“Hopefully [Ngannou signs with PFL], I think that’s the best thing for him.” Jake Paul said on The MMA Hour (via Josh Evanoff). “Honestly. I don’t think there’s a better place for him than the PFL. Working with those guys, working with my team, there’s massive things we can do.”

He continued, “So, we’ve been in talks and he knows what we have to offer. And, we’ll respect and appreciate him no matter what. But, we’re here and ready to work.”

This weekend, Jake Paul will finally square off against Tommy Fury in the main event of the ESPN+ and FITE+ pay-per-view (PPV) boxing event this Sunday (Feb. 26, 2023) from Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. Ngannou, meanwhile, is pursuing elite boxers like Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, and Anthony Joshua, but his MMA plans remain uncertain.

Insomnia

Gunnar Nelson vs. Bryan Barberena? This really feels like a match up straight from 2017.

I don’t really believe Ciryl Gane’s laziness story either. Lazy Heavyweights can’t go five rounds!

Click through for an entire thread of clips and descriptions of Tatiana Suarez’s wrestling prowess! Her return to action may be the biggest story of UFC Vegas 70.

so Tatiana drops back down for a single leg, and this time, punches her knees together to immobilize it
She then reaches for Grasso’s opposite leg and pops her head out, scooting it to the other side and finishing the takedown
Now, she looks like a coherent striker and has shown pic.twitter.com/RtkxBrCYaV

— (@DiamondElbows) February 20, 2023

I’ll offer an early prediction: Anthony Hernandez is going to put an absolute pace on Edmen Shahbazyan.

This is a fun matchup. Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Anthony Hernandez is agreed for May 20. Edmen looked good in a KO win in December. Hernandez has won three in a row and signed a new UFC contract in addition to this fight. Who you got? pic.twitter.com/7jnKjPtg5r

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) February 22, 2023

Another fight announcement for good measure, this one a pivotal striker vs. grappler clash at 115 lbs.

Megan Olivi always gets into frame!

“The eyes, chico, they never lie!”

Slips, rips, and KO clips

This has to be one of the ten craziest moments in UFC Heavyweight history. The Alistair Overeem UFC title shot hype train got DERAILED in such a heated way.

10 years ago this month: Antonio Silva knocks out Alistair Overeem in Round 3 of their grudge match. It was the fight that earned Bigfoot Silva a UFC heavyweight title shot against Cain Velasquez. Sadly, Bigfoot went 1-10, 1 NC since beating Overeem pic.twitter.com/TJx9HeyAtl

— Shakiel Mahjouri (@Shak_Fu) February 21, 2023

It’s been a little while since we’ve had a highlight reel of knockouts:

This is a really strange final sequence, with the ref only sort of calling a knockdown, which then produced another knockdown.