Midnight Mania! Bobby Green credits Daniel Cormier for recent turnaround

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

If you had asked me a year ago my opinion on Bobby Green, it wouldn’t have been a great one. He had a penchant for taunting and trying to no-sell punches that frustrated many, seemingly caught up in informing the crowd his opponent hadn’t hurt him, even when they had. Perhaps it’s only my perception, but he seemed too focused on being cool, preoccupied with what people were thinking, seeing himself from a fan’s eye. He would spend his time in the cage trying to show us he hadn’t been hurt instead of actually, you know, fighting.

To hear him tell it, part of his malaise did come from listening too much to us, the fans, from reading the comments. Cormier helped turn that around by challenging Green, saying the energy he had brought to his fights wasn’t there any more. That got Green thinking. Via MMAJunkie.com:

“I was like, ‘Interesting,’” Green (23-8-1 MMA, 4-3-1 UFC), who fights Erik Koch (14-5 MMA, 4-4 UFC) at UFC on FOX 27, told MMAjunkie. “One thing I learned was that I started paying attention to the comments and hearing what the world thinks. And I learned that you shouldn’t read the comments.”

“I was like, ‘Daniel, I’m going to do this, just for you telling me that. I’m going to kick it back into another gear.’”

His last fight, the Fight of the Night against Lando Vannata, dispelled any bad taste I had in my mouth. Bobby Green is a fun fighter. There wasn’t any of that taunting or no-selling, no attempt to do anything other than bring the fight. And bring the fight he did; Vannata knocked him down in the first, but he battled back to a highly entertaining and rare draw. His skills are high-level; now, the consistent output is there too.

Another ingredient of the turnaround has been new coaching staff.

“My old coach, I think he wanted to motivate me with fear: ‘This is going to be the biggest fight, it’s going to be the hardest fight you’ve ever had,’” Green said. “My current coach is just like: ‘Hey, this is a glorified striking match. It’s another walk in the park you do all the time. This guy, you’re supposed to walk through him.’ And now, I have that mindset: I’m going to walk through him.”

The new fearless mindset has contributed to the violent beauty Green wants to bring to the cage:

“My show is like a concert, like a comedy show, a rap show and a fight all rolled into one,” he said. “I used to call my style poetry in motion. It’s just poetry that you’re seeing. Give you something deep that’s impactful. I like to leave the audience with my heart.”

Insomnia

I love me some slick pad work

This is worrying to me because I’ve sparred, and there isn’t really a way to know how that affects you- but we know it can, and does. (I would blame all my issues on that, but the issues were here first)

Houston Muay Thai! I’ve trained there, great striking gym. Also, love the Clayton Bigsby shirt on Derrick Lewis.

This reply to Jon Jones, evidently in the gym ready to train, was on point

Combat sports this weekend

Slips, Rips, and Spin Kick Clips

Out like a light

I might watch pro wrestling if it was Muay Thai.

A good sweep is incredibly underrated as a street-worthy tactic.

The slow motion is startling because his chin moves with a quickness as the punch connects

Good Reads

• This story about Kendall Grove losing his father strikes deeper than most
• Ngannou is ready for a break, a vacation, following his UFC 220 title loss to Stipe Miocic. Let’s hope he comes back recharged and ready to apply the lessons he learned.

Random Land

The comment I’m stealing on this one is “real life Michael Scott”

I have a rule about political content in this column- it has to be funny no matter whose side you are on. This passes that test- I don’t really put much stock in the Russia investigation, but this is amusing.

Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality