Midnight Mania! Dana White put “Cowboy” Cerrone in time out after Masvidal KO

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight we’ve got “Cowboy” Cerrone admitting Dana White made him take a break after the loss to Masvidal, Aljamain Sterling calling out John Dodson and everyone else, Tony Ferguson choking things, sweet knockouts and slick submissions from tonight’s fights, including a KO of the year candidate, and much more.

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Insomnia

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone is officially booked to fight Robbie Lawler at UFC 213 in July. That’s a heck of a fight, six months after Cerrone suffered a second-round knockout at the precise hands of Jorge Masvidal- but according to Cerrone, he would have been back in the cage by now, if it weren’t for Dana White.

"I would have fought sooner, but [UFC president Dana White] put me in timeout for a while," Cerrone told ESPN's Five Rounds podcast.

"After the [Masvidal loss], he said, 'You're in timeout.' I asked if I could call him for a fight and he said, 'No.' I said, 'Come on. ' He said, 'No.'"

It is well known Cerrone likes his fights back-to-back-to-back. He shed some light on his frequent fighting habits to ESPN:

"There's no thrill like a fight in the world," Cerrone said. "It's the scariest roller-coaster ride of emotions, excitement and fun you can have. And I make a s---load of money doing it, so I get to go on a spending spree afterwards."

The knockout loss to Masvidal is just something he accepts as part of the gig- but says he doesn’t remember it happening.

"Getting a win at home would have been awesome, but sometimes you've got to take an ass-whupping, I guess," Cerrone said.

"When the doctor tried to look at me and make sure I was OK -- told me to take three steps forward or he'd stop the fight -- I don't remember any of that s---. So, yeah. It is what it is."

The fight with Lawler has the potential to put either one of them back in the title conversation. Cerrone has worked hard for his place at welterweight, and he knows what this fight means

"I think I'm one of the only fighters in the world to get his ass whupped and get a No. 1 contender fight, right?" Cerrone laughed. "We'll see."

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Bobs and Weaves

Tony Ferguson chokes things.

Dennis Bermudez hitting pads with Ryan LaFlare

Aljamain Sterling calls John Dodson a “lil Goomba” and an “Amish bug”... whatever an Amish bug is. This was part of a tweetstorm targeting the whole bantamweight top fifteen. These are just three of his tweets.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk makes fun of Paige VanZant?

Angela Hill makes fun of Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Watch Joanna destroy Angela’s teammate Jessica Penne:

Benson Henderson and Duane Finley have a new podcast, and it has nothing to do with MMA- they talk comic books, sci fi, and a whole lot more.

This quote from Diaz is gold. Is Ferguson the guy on a lunch table yet? Diaz doesn’t think so.

‘El Pantera’ insists he is bringing MMA to a new level ahead of his fight with Frankie Edgar at UFC 211.

FYI.

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In Boxing News

No UFC fights this weekend, but Canelo and Chavez Jr. are about to have a Cinco de Mayo throwdown tomorrow night. See the full weigh-in highlights here

Mayweather on his way to the strip club with those ones?

Also in boxing, Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev are headed for a rematch in June

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Slips, Rips, and Knockout Clips

This spinning kick knockout is awesome. Sean O’Malley is one to watch.

The full sequence is even better.

The main event of LFA 11:

Muay Xtreme continues to deliver the small-gloves violence.

Awesome piece of Jiu Jitsu work right here.

Philip J. Fry... I mean Phil De Fries... was one of Stipe’s early career victims, too.

Timing an uppercut is one of the most special moments in striking sports.

This hurts like a baseball bat to the ribs.

Head kick KOs are just as beautiful.

Slick sweep to a choke, the kind you see often in regional MMA and not so often on the highest levels.

Really nice martial arts use seen here in a road rage incident — both striking and grappling on display.

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Quick Hits

• Ryan Harkness dives into UFC 211, by the numbers
• Canelo vs. Chavez preview by Patrick Stumberg
• Karim Zidan asks why Putin’s closest ally watches over Russian boxing
• A Chinese soda tycoon has offered ten million Yuen- more than a million USD- to any traditional martial artist who can beat this MMA fighter. That’s some straight up Ip Man shit.

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Stay woke, Maniacs!