Midnight Mania! Nick Diaz ‘doesn’t know why’ he’s fighting Robbie Lawler, would prefer Kamaru Usman fight

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Nick Diaz fight weeks are always interesting. Will the elder Diaz brother make it to all of his scheduled media appearances? Not this time. Hell, Diaz doesn’t appear all that committed to even making it to the fight, based on the last-second change from Welterweight to 185 lbs. (even if Dana argues it will somehow make the fight better).

There’s still time for a marijuana drug test failure, which is the Diaz bingo card equivalent of the free space.

Speaking with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Diaz offered his usual stream-of-consciousness style of rant regarding his upcoming match up vs. Robbie Lawler. In short, Diaz doesn’t quite understand why he’s rematching “Ruthless” when there are bigger fish to fry.

“I think I’ll beat Usman,” Diaz explained. “I have a better shot at beating Usman than I do Lawler, just because I ... I already beat Lawler! This doesn’t make sense, for me to go in there and fight Robbie Lawler. I don’t know why I’m doing this. This should not happen. Whoever set this up is an idiot. I don’t know why I’m doing this, why this happened — I should be fighting Kamaru Usman, and that’s it!”

Apparently, Diaz is “in title contention” with a victory on Saturday night, so perhaps Diaz is merely planting the seed for a future showdown vs. “The Nigerian Nightmare?” Diaz should be kept well away from the Welterweight king — particularly since he’s fighting at Middleweight? — but money talks, and even now, few move the needle further than Nick Diaz.

LIVE! Watch UFC 295 PPV On ESPN+ Here!

TWO TITLES UP FOR GRABS! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) makes its highly anticipated return to Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sat., Nov. 11, 2023, with a re-worked pay-per-view (PPV) main card. In the ESPN+-streamed main event, former 205-pound roost-ruler, Jiri Prochazka, will lock horns with ex-Middleweight kingpin, Alex Pereira, for the promotion’s vacant Light Heavyweight title. In UFC 295’s co-main event, top-ranked Heavyweight contenders, Sergei Pavlovich (No. 2) and Tom Aspinall (No. 4), will collide for the interim strap after division champion, Jon Jones, was injured with a torn pectoral muscle and forced to withdraw (video).

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Insomnia

To add insult to injury, Dillon Danis was apparently getting choked out prior to getting arrested — not ideal for a BJJ black belt!

This is the first evidence I’ve ever seen that Georges St. Pierre is not amazingly good at everything.

UFC 266 has lost a solid Middleweight match up between Karl Roberson and Nick Maximov.

A pair of legends training together:

Does Jon Jones’ goal of being as gigantic as possible strike anyone else as a terrible idea?

Birthday body shots are a time honored tradition in the combat sports world!

A bunch of clips of Alexander Volkanovski just charging through people on the rugby pitch!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

A 15-year-old Liam Harrison throws down precisely as one would expect:

Confession: I still have not learned how to make buggy chokes work. They look cool though!

A giant pull counter ends this bout in an instant:

Random Land

Roughly 100% it’s all edited, but still pretty neat!

Midnight Music: Watched Boogie Nights earlier tonight, and in addition to being a great film, it has an excellent soundtrack!

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.