Midnight Mania! Dana White responds to Nate Diaz ‘He may never fight again’

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight we’ve got Dana White commenting on Nate Diaz’s rant today, the UFC finally unveiling a tournament to crown it’s inaugural women’s flyweight champion, Ronda Rousey going down in her TV role for Blindspot, Tim Elliot going full Archer in Bangkok, knockouts, podcasts, and much more.

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Insomnia

The UFC president offered comments on Nate Diaz’s tirade today on a special edition of the MMA Hour. While dismissing Nate’s claims that Conor won the rematch at UFC 202 because that’s what was best for the company, Dana White does think it’s possible Nick and Nate Diaz won’t ever fight again. They made a lot of money, according to White, and don’t need, or seem to have the desire, to compete.

“We offer those guys fights all the time... I don’t think they want to fight.”

Good for them. Many pay their dues in blood in this sport. Few get to reap multi-million dollar paydays as a result. While I will always be entertained by a Diaz fight, part of me is happy at the idea that someone made it in this sport, and actually knew when to get out.

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Bobs and Weaves

They are finally doing it. The UFC announced today that the next season of the Ultimate Fighter will be a tournament to crown the inaugural women’s flyweight champion. Women currently on the roster will be invited to try out.

While nearly all of us are sick of the Ultimate Fighter format by now, the flyweight division has been a long time coming. Unlike the women’s featherweight division, flyweight is closer to the average weight and size for women, offering a much deeper talent pool. Many fighters on the roster have expressed interest in this weight class. Lauren Murphy told Ariel Helwani that she will be trying out. Joanne Calderwood is the only female fighter with a UFC win at flyweight, having defeated Valerie Letourneau in the only 125-lb women’s fight thus far.

Upcoming bantamweight title challenger Valentina Shevchenko will be a likely contender at women’s flyweight, and her old Muay Thai nemesis, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, has already made plans to be the first multi-division women’s champion by the end of 2017. Could the two meet for a fourth time under MMA rules, for a belt?

This nixes the existing plans for the UFC to hold tryouts for men’s middleweight. The tournament will be exclusively focused on the new women’s division at 125 pounds.

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Slips, Rips, and Clips

Ronda Rousey is taking all the L’s lately, even in scripted fights on TV.

Jake Ellenberger rejects the voices of the critics.

Dominick Cruz gets to hang with all the cool actors these days.

Cub Swanson is into martial arts as self improvement.

Tim Elliot is into tattoos in Bangkok. To each their own.

Deontay Wilder called out Anthony Joshua after Joshua’s thrilling win over Wladimir Klitschko. It’s one of many great fights available for heavyweight’s rising star.

Also, I would not be pointing to this KO as my signature. Those windmill swings at the end were... not great.

Cruz offers his takes on Garbrandt-Dillashaw.

The UFC officially announced several fights today for UFC 213- Pettis-Miller, Lawler-Cerrone, and Werdum-Overeem 3. Those are all awesome matchups.

Disgraceful.

Lomachenko at work

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Podcasts and Video

Fight Nerds reacts to news of the UFC’s new division on MMAMania.com’s own Youtube channel. (subscribe here)

Heavy Hands

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Quick Hits

• TUF: Redemption Episode 3 recap
• Schwan Humes broke down Jessica Aguilar vs. Cortney Casey on the undercard of UFC 211. He specializes in breaking down the women’s strawweight division matchups from a technical perspective.
• Floyd Mayweather is saying Conor McGregor might beat him, maybe the smartest thing he could say to promote this wildly unequal boxing match
• Tyron Woodley mocked Demian Maia for taking the Masvidal fight. If Maia does manage to beat Masvidal at UFC 211, he’s surely up to challenge Woodley for the belt this summer.

Stay woke, Maniacs!

Follow me on Twitter @Vorpality