Midnight Mania! Joe Rogan returns to commentary at UFC 272

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

At the last minute, it was announced the Joe Rogan wouldn’t be commentating at UFC 271. It’s not often that a pay-per-view (PPV) event is held without Rogan at the mic, and initially the reported reason was a “scheduling conflict.” Dana White refuted that claim, however, stating that Rogan could have been in attendance and chose not to work the show.

Likely, Rogan was letting recent controversies — be it accused COVID-19 misinformation or previous usage of a certain racial slur — die down. Fortunately for fans of the comedian, the heat has seemingly eased up after several apologies, and so Rogan is back on the commentary line up in his usual role of color commentary per MMAJunkie.

Joining him at the commentary table will be Jon Anik in play-by-play and Michael Bisping for additional color commentary. Daniel Cormier, meanwhile, was initially planning to commentate, but he’s taking a break after the recent death of his mother.

LIVE! Watch UFC 293 PPV On ESPN+ Here!

MASSIVE MIDDLEWEIGHT MATCH! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) makes its highly anticipated return to Sydney, Australia, for the first time in five years on Sat., Sept. 9, 2023, with a 185-pound world title fight inside Qudos Bank Arena. In the ESPN+-streamed pay-per-view (PPV) main event, Middleweight roost-ruler, Israel Adesanya, plans to silence No. 5-seeded contender, Sean Strickland. In UFC 293’s hard-hitting Heavyweight co-main event, No-6-ranked fan favorite, Tai Tuivasa, locks horns with towering Russian, Alexander Volkov (No. 8).

Don’t miss a single second of EPIC face-punching action!

• STREAM UFC 293

Insomnia

In case anyone was concerned, Bryce Mitchell is still getting his camo trunks Reebok, Venum, or otherwise!

I would hope Colby Covington got a great deal upfront, otherwise this is a major financial L for “Chaos.” Not many non-champions headlining UFC pay-per-views ...

Brian Kelleher will not be giving his take on Genki Sudo’s “We Are All One” classic flag.

A great moment in UFC Heavyweight history:

Islam Makhachev denies being the reason that the proposed Rafael dos Anjos match up fell apart (again). From the outside looking in, Makhachev (or likely, his management) could’ve just sat quietly and waited for his well-earned title shot, but now his situation is iffy.

The Light Heavyweight division is more fun with Tyson Pedro back!

Feel free to speculate wildly on this meaningless, old sparring footage between our UFC 272 main event duo.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

I would have to argue this street fighter telegraphed the uppercut then came through with a hook. Smart!

Knees on knees!

Kevin Holland’s win over Ronaldo Souza is one of the most insane finishes in UFC history.

Random Land

I find every single one of these plant timelapse videos neat.

Midnight Music: Had a submission/request in the inbox tonight!

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