Midnight Mania! Michael Chandler not going back to NY after stool jerked from underneath him

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Michael Chandler didn’t have the best weekend, losing his lightweight belt to Brent Primus after a doctor’s stoppage for leg injury, though he’s determined to see the bright side of his situation. New York, however, should not expect him back anytime soon.

After doing him like this, can you blame Chandler?

Chandler had this to say on the ”The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani:

Yeah, I know his name, I’m not gonna say it. He’s an awesome guy ... he was my guy. New York Athletic Commission, he was the guy ... he walks out with you, he’s basically in charge of making sure I don’t get myself in trouble, is in charge of the drug tests, everything, the whole way.... He brought the stool up, he put the stool down, I stand up, I guess he thought we were going to continue. He pulled the stool out, and it’s gone viral. It’s made the Chive, it’s had millions and millions of views at my expense.

He went on to describe the incident.

No, I was laughing at it, man. The night of the fight, I was sitting there ... people are ruthless. You guys are ruthless. You just had a man go out there and fight in front of millions and millions of people, walking around like a baby deer that just got birthed into a field, walking around on the stanky leg, and people are posting these videos of that runway model with her ankles, and people posting videos of me getting dropped on my butt ... it looks bad on the sport, honestly. I could care less ... but it’s bad for the sport. It looks really bad.

Chandler went on to describe how he thought the fight should have gone on despite a leg injury that left his leg numb and unresponsive to his brain’s commands. He was convinced he would have made a comeback victory and said he should have gone full Karate Kid in the cage. Ariel Helwani suggested that the decision to stop the fight came as a result of this moment -- that, seeing him fall to the canvas, the officials thought he couldn’t stand, and called the bout off. Chandler said he hoped that wasn’t the reason, and is looking forward to his rematch.

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Insomnia

It was a pretty crazy event all told -- a pretty crazy weekend in mixed martial arts (MMA), including the UFC madness:

This is incredibly sad, especially when Felice Herrig has overcome significant anxiety to bring her A-game in her past two fights.

This double knockdown was truly insane!

Let’s not forget this controversy over the Chiesa-Lee finish. Dana White ripped Mario Yamasaki a new one over it on Instagram:

Cub Swanson with the relevant questions ...

Own your shit, I guess.

Don’t eat before watching this.

It has to be a good feeling when Conor McGregor tweets out congratulations to his millions of followers ...

Speaking of McGregor, his coaches say he is just weeks away from being ready for Mayweather. With training like this, I’m definitely sold.

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Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

An Olympic boxer sparred Cyborg and it was another fascinating glimpse of the skill gap between MMA boxing and professional boxing.

This was a great matchup. Lima surprised me with a win over a Top 10 welterweight in Lorenz Larkin.

Boxer Heather Hardy won her Bellator debut ...

Remembering Fedor’s Pride days!

Another legend that found himself even more faded was the corporeal ghost of B.J. Penn.

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Podcasts and Video

“The MMA Hour,” including the Chandler interview:

The Monday Morning Analyst:

The CME podcast:

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Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter @Vorpality for all the worst takes on MMA and politics.