Midnight Mania! Conor, Floyd begin training camps despite ongoing negotiation

Welcome, to Midnight Mania! Tonight, we’ve got some updates on McGregweather, Aaron Pico getting medicine balls slammed into his ribs, a sweet Cormier-Jones fight poster, a couple angles on the Paul Daley- Michael Page scuffle, knockouts, submissions, sumo, and much, much more.

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Day One

The much-ballyhooed boxing match between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather is very far from being finalized. While Conor has allegedly agreed to the UFC’s terms, Mayweather has not, and that is a much bigger obstacle.

However, the fighters involved have begun to train for the bout. Conor posted a picture of himself in athletic gear with the caption, “Day 1”. He will be facing mountainous odds and what can mildly be described as a cavernous gap in boxing skill, but the carrot of a gleaming pile of cash for him at the end of the journey.

Jeff Mayweather, Floyd’s uncle, says Floyd is also back in the gym, training with someone (not Kevin Lee) Jeff claims is a UFC fighter. How a UFC fighter will help Mayweather prepare for a boxing match is unclear. Jeff, who previously went on record saying the UFC wanted 80% of McGregor’s purse (which Dana White raged about, but never actually denied) says if the fight happens, it will be made pretty quickly, as the parties involved are targeting a September or October date.

McGregor, of course, is a recent father as well. His girlfriend Dee Devlin may find herself shouldering most of the parenting duties as Conor focuses on this possible boxing match.

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Insomnia

What the bruised rib is Aaron Pico doing?

Tim Kennedy is not as open minded as Stipe Miocic

The UFC has added eight fighters over the past three months

Gegard Mousasi is still at a contract impasse with the Ultimate Fighting Championship

Nina Ansaroff and Amanda Nunes are upset about this video from TMZ, with quotes regarding teammate Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

They want to make sure the respect for Joanna still came across, and that their words were not construed as a callout.

Her spouse Amanda Nunes backs her up on that.

Updates regarding the Garbrandt-Dillashaw situation. Dana White loves the idea of DJ-TJ

What a fight poster.

Accurate.

Meanwhile, some fighters want any fight at all.

Chase “The Vanilla Gorilla” Sherman is upping his social media game after his bonus-winning UFC 211 KO.

In some fights the fans are the ones sleeping by the end. See full Bellator 179 results here

Paul Daley ran up on Michael “Venom” Page and they got in each other’s faces after Rory McDonald tapped Daley in the second round.

This shot is a little better

Rory, meanwhile, is focused on a future fight of his own, for the Bellator welterweight title.

That’s one way to have a faceoff. Invicta FC 23 goes down tomorrow night!

Anyone remember this?

The UFC athlete retreat has Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon, who bloodied each other twice in combat, sitting at a table together like old friends. In many ways MMA is a really cool sport.

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Slips, Rips, and Sumo Clips

Oh yeah.

I hate referees who let this just happen in front of them.

This is weird to watch, but if you look closely he eats a punch while ducking forward. At first glance it just looks like he misses and falls on his face.

Guillotine!

Ouch

Nothing quite like Sumo.

Every combat sport is a little more bizarre in Japan though.

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Random Land

The Seed Vault, the safeguard of the planet’s plant biodiversity, is now threatened by global warming and nearly flooded

Stay woke, Maniacs!

Follow me on Twitter @Vorpality or else