Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Conor McGregor is in the midst of a reputational free fall.
It certainly feels like a huge part of his troubles revolve around inactivity. When McGregor was actively competing, his wild rants and generally erratic nature were a bit more forgivable. On the sidelines, McGregor is only able to create headlines by dropping slurs or teasing various fights that definitely won’t happen. History has demonstrated that being in a training camp helps keep McGregor on the straight and narrow … or at least whatever his version of that is. Perhaps if he gets a date booked for his UFC return, there would be fewer tweet-and-delete rampages and more training videos.
Despite the potential benefits, UFC analyst Chael Sonnen is concerned that McGregor is no longer in condition to compete. He believes that McGregor has been gone for too long, and we may have reached the point that it’s no longer safe for him to compete at all. Sonnen simply doesn’t trust McGregor’s ability to defend himself anymore.
“He simply is not going to do MMA, nor should he, but he also shouldn’t do any form of combat,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel (via Fernando Quiles). “It would not be safe for him to go into UFC Fight Pass Invitational, it would not be safe for Conor to go into a grappling match. It would not be safe for him to go into a boxing match, it would not be safe for him to go into an MMA match if the number one and golden rule is to protect yourself at all times.
“There is nobody under contract, not a top 10 guy, there is nobody under contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship that Conor could protect himself against at all times. There is nobody under contract at bare-knuckle boxing where Conor could protect himself at all times.”
McGregor has lost three of his last four bouts, and all defeats came via finish (including a broken leg). Living hard at 36 years of age, we may be quickly approaching a point where McGregor is unrecognizable whenever he does finally return to action.
Insomnia
Middleweight is apparently the place to be if only able to see with one eye. Genuinely cool stuff!
Shara Bullet opens up to Michael Bisping, revealing how the former champ inspired him to keep fighting despite his own eye condition:
“When I saw what you were able to achieve with your condition…you were a huge motivation for me to even be in the sport”
@bisping pic.twitter.com/AoUSdluSMR
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) January 29, 2025
In case you need a reason to lose faith in humanity.
Update:
Bryce Mitchell has now gained 16.3K+ followers on X since yesterday AM.
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) January 31, 2025
… Faith restored, thanks Korean Superboy!
This is the week of class in MMA.
Sean Strickland reacts to Belal Muhammad saying he’d move up to 185 to fight him:
“Belal, do me a favour, shut the f*** up. Go get on a boat, go back to f***ing Palestine, go pick up a rock and go do something.”
@TheSchmo312pic.twitter.com/nzXluohkzd
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) January 30, 2025
Israel Adesanya is so good at playing the hip feint and shoulder feint to close distance and actually punt people in the belly.
The pairing of the lead shoulder and rear hip feint is a staple of City Kickboxing, and Adesanya has been a stellar user of it throughout his MMA career. pic.twitter.com/kkWheBbn76
— Feño (@fenoxsky) January 31, 2025
Petr Yan repping 335-pounds (I’m reasonably sure) on the trap bar:
Jiri Prochazka has his eyes set on a third “Poatan” fight … for better or worse.
Somebody is going to die if GFL matches Chad Mendes up with the wrong senior citizen.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Car jitsu got even more stupid.
Mike Richman never fought for the belt, but he did build quite a highlight reel during his time in the Bellator cage.
At first, I was confused by the “counter shot” caption. A moment later, it all made sense …
Random Land
College football is apparently an incredible source for names.
Midnight Music: RIP to the great Marianne Faithfull.
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
