Midnight Mania! Mayweather scolds McGregor - ‘Stop blowing smoke up everyone’s ass and sign the paper’

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight, we’ve got Floyd Mayweather calling Conor McGregor’s bluff, the weirdest UFC 209 video you will ever see, Mayhem Miller throwing a television into his pool, Dennis Bermudez and Tonya Evinger doing the mystery jelly bean challenge, some awesome knockouts, podcasts and much more.

---

Insomnia

At this point I’ve wasted a ridiculous amount of time on a fight that is still entirely speculative. Floyd Mayweather isn’t at all sure it will happen, either. But he’s done playing games with Conor McGregor. If McGregor is his own boss, as he claims, he should just sign the bout agreement.

It’s a brilliant bit of reverse psychology because so much of McGregor’s persona revolves around him being the one who calls the shots. Of course, the situation is more complicated than that. McGregor’s payday from a Mayweather fight would be exponentially more than he could make in any one UFC fight, but his long-term future still likely lies with the worlds largest MMA promotion. Playing hardball with the brass on a one-time check is a gamble, and working with them to co-promote is sticky, not least because the UFC are incredibly tight-fisted compared with the world of boxing.

---

Bobs and Weaves

The bizarre video guy is back again. I don’t really have words for this, but somehow I find it entertaining regardless.

Jason “Mayhem” Miller isn’t happy with his TV. Maybe it has something to do with the 1984-esque Smart TV debacle in the news lately. Yeah, almost definitely that.

Apparently Daniel Cormier isn’t happy with this poster. Grabaka Hitman is right: It clearly takes advantage of subconscious left-wing Trump-era anxiety over Russia. Not only that, but Iranian-born Gegard Mousasi pitted against “All American” Chris Weidman is a clear appeal to right-wing fears. Way to play all sides, UFC promo team.

MMA fighters Dennis Bermudez, Tonya Evinger and Colton Smith take the mystery jelly bean challenge:

Rashad Evans may not have won his debut at Middleweight, but he isn’t going anywhere.

Still how I feel about this:

---

Slips, Rips and KO Clips

From Champions.co, comes this absolutely insane spinning flying knockout in a Taekwondo vs. Muay Thai match:

I haven’t watched Eddie Alvarez fight Kawajiri, but maybe I need to boot up Fight Pass and watch the whole thing now:

Nasty submission:

I love this weird knockout:

Rear-hand counters are so beautiful.

Nothing like just ducking under a punch. Shades of Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey here.

---

Quick Hits

• Ronda Rousey spent today, the “Day without a Woman”, in silent protest against Donald Trump.
• Tony Ferguson is furious, and rightfully so, after UFC paid him less than half his show money for showing up at UFC 209. There was just no winning for Ferguson in this one, after UFC offered to cut his pay to fight Michael Johnson on the card.
• Mackenzie Dern vows not to repeat Ronda Rousey’s mistakes.
• Michael Bisping almost came to blows with Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Eddie Bravo.

---

Podcasts and Video

Heavy Hands:

MMA Ratings:

Karim Zidan joins Press Row with Jordan Breen.

The Belfort-Gastelum breakdown with MMAmania.com’s Flyin’ Brian J:

Stay woke, Maniacs!