Midnight Mania! Weigh-In Drama, young Nunes fan has creepy message for Rousey, Nurmagomedov sounds off

Welcome to Midnight Mania! One day more, and we will have the year-end extravaganza that is UFC 207. I cannot wait. Today we’ve got the drama from the weigh-ins, a creepy message for Rousey from a young Nunes fan, Nunes’ weird lion mask, and a few of the RIZIN highlights you might have missed from late last night.

This is good photojournalism.

Videos of the face-off:

On the same day we got the weirdness that was RIZIN, it is nice to see the UFC seemingly loosening the vice grip on non-Reebok apparel. Let the fighters show their personalities.

Ronda’s social media game is one point

... But its got nothing on this cute-turned-creepy video of a little girl telling Nunes Ronda is going down. Watch till the end.

Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt continued their feud today right through the weigh-ins. The next time we see them, they will be locked in a cage together.

They collided earlier in the day, at the actual weigh-ins. Or more correctly, Cruz’s teammate Jeremy Stephens (who the fook is that guy) got into it.

That was not exactly the way Jeremy Stephens told it.

Apparently the confrontation was fueled by a misunderstanding... about a scarf?

It was also fueled by yesterday’s confrontation on-camera, where Cody stormed out and tried to get at Cruz in the next room. The Embedded episode revealed that Stephens was also involved in that confrontation.

The segment with Cruz, Garbrandt and Stephens starts at 6:50:

Here’s the video of the actual weigh-ins:

Dana’s view:

Another view:

I cannot wait.

This was not the only weigh-in drama. Johnny Hendricks once again failed to make weight. This has been an awful year for him.

He and Magny were, well, not chilling together. The sauna looks anything but chilly, or pleasant.

Oh, the brutal interwebs.

Ah, what could have been...

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RIZIN

First of all, a full replay is still available of the event here

And you can watch the main event finish, Cro Cop TKOing King Mo Lawal, here

But I’ve got a little bit of the weirdness right here.

First off, Baruto is a gift.

He will be fighting Cro Cop on New Year’s Eve. DO NOT MISS THAT.

Rin Nakai is a weird fighter, but she is pretty athletic, clearly.

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Bobs and Weaves

Max is the new Mr. Clean

Gadelha is throwing up the weights these days

This dude has one leg but that’s far from making him an easy target.

Yeah... not gonna mess with that dude.

Nice knockout combination from an all-time great.

I’m a huge fan of both fan artwork and the beautiful destruction Swanson and Choi executed in the cage at UFC 206.

Speaking of art, this old photoshoot went pretty far for artistic effect:

Khabib Nurmagomedov is not going to accept any BS from the UFC. He wants Tony Ferguson, period the end.

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Podcasts and Audio-Visual Content

The MMA Vivisection with Connor Ruebusch and Phil Mackenzie, two of my favorite technical analysts:

MMA Mania’s livechat with Flyin’ Brian J and Wesley Riddle, giving out year-end awards

UFC Embedded Episode 5:

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Quick Hits

• Dana is saying Nick Diaz turned down a fight at welterweight... which probably means he asked for more money
• I am on board with more or less all the criticism directed Edmond Tarverdyan’s way, but this excellent retrospective analysis gives him his due
• This Fighter-on-Fighter breakdown of Amanda Nunes is very helpful reading before tomorrow night’s PPV
• This breakdown by Dr. Patrick Wyman covers every fight on the card tomorrow night

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Randomland

This is the ultimate gotcha moment.

Save this bad boy for the next time someone tries you.

Hahahaha is the only reaction to this.

There’s always someone stronger in the gym.

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Stay woke, Maniacs.