Midnight Mania! Dana claims new ESPN deal will be ‘amazing’ for fans, but is he right?

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Dana White is insistent that the deal with ESPN to stream pay-per-views (PPV) events solely through ESPN+ is great for the company, the fighters, and most of all, the fans.

“People will get nervous about this streaming thing. I hate to break it to you guys, but streaming is where everything is going. So, if you have Netflix, if you have Hulu, if you have any of this stuff at home, that’s basically what ESPN+ is. You get it the same exact way as Netflix and these other streaming services.”

White sat down with Megan Olivi and gave his spin on the deal, saying that ESPN is perfectly aligned with their goals. He also said UFC is now one of the top four sports in the United States. He is correct about one thing: ESPN is promoting fighters in a way FOX never did. UFC has struggled to promote individual fighters in the past besides a handful of its top-tier talent. ESPN is giving those fighters an unprecedented chance to shine.

Whether he is right about streaming and the PPV events is an entirely different question. Many fans are still watching cable. To buy a PPV, one will need a subscription to ESPN+ (free trail here), raising the barrier to entry for casual fans. People won’t be flipping through their cable on Saturday night and decide to buy a PPV — they will need to already be subscribers. Moreover, with many fights still airing on ESPN, one can’t even cut out cable entirely as a hardcore fan, which would be a nice option.

However, as White said, many of the details haven’t been worked out yet. If ESPN+ really is able to put together bundle deals to save on PPV costs throughout the year, the deal could still have upside. One interesting wrinkle is that we won’t get independent PPV estimates any more; those relied-on connections journalists have with cable provider insiders. White and ESPN will have tighter control over that information, so we may not know about the true impact of this deal for a long time.

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Insomnia

Yes, this IS evil.

This was helpful from “Big” John McCarthy to explain the Danny Roberts fiasco. The fight should not have been called, he was out of that armbar when the referee stopped it.

No, one knockout — no matter how awesome — does not earn a title shot, especially when Demian Maia outwrestled you fairly recently and the champion is Kamaru Usman.

Masvidal has the correct take here on Ben Askren.

Conor McGregor had some choice words for Max Holloway after Holloway destroyed him with a tweet-storm, and Holloway loved it. Apologies to “Cowboy,” but this is the fight to make if Holloway wins at UFC 236.

“Gamebred” doing great with this 10-year challenge ...

The upswell of support for Tony Ferguson has been great to see, and it was encouraging to hear him say he’s getting the help he needs.

Everyone has probably seen this a few times by now, but just a reminder that Jorge Masvidal is really about that life.

He might not have a choice, given he ran from them to fight in London after they told him he couldn’t fight (details).

Mirror’s Edge stuff!

Putting a rib back??

A ... cheesedonkey. Okay. I’ve never heard that technique name before. I want to try it, though.

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Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

This is one of those all-time classic knockouts. Masvidal is so good at punching in combination, he lands two more on the way down and then another on the ground for good measure.

Muay Thai is such a unique species of violence. You don’t see this kind of exchange in boxing or even MMA.

It seems like judo offers an endless supply of these:

Sometimes double underhooks work!

Sometimes, they don’t.

Just when you think it’s two bulls one turns into a matador ...

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Random Land

Heartwarming!

Leg-warming!

It’s good to know Messi is out there doing his thing still, being the best ever ...

Sleep well, Maniacs! A better tomorrow is always possible. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality