Midnight Mania! Khamzat responds to Burns: ‘I will take your soul’ in five-round fight

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Gilbert Burns represents the first taste of adversity Khamzat Chimaev has suffered inside the Octagon, and it was no small dose. Burns hurt the Chechen fighter on several occasions, bloodied him up, and sent him to the canvas in the second round. He also did well in denying several takedown attempts, a first of Chimaev opponents.

“Borz” overcame that adversity, of course, winning a three-round decision on the strength of his own punches and volume (watch highlights). Still, one might expect he wouldn’t be eager for another showdown vs. Burns, seeing as 15-minute brawls are a lot more wearing than instant strangulations.

Well, Burns has called for an eventual rematch, specifically one booked for five rounds, and Chimaev isn’t the least bit intimidated. Replying earlier today on Instagram, Chimaev wrote, “In 5 rounds I will take your soul see you soon boy” and then tagging “Durinho.”

At the moment, Chimaev’s path forward is clear. He’s likely to face Colby Covington next and is favored to defeat “Chaos,” setting up a potential title showdown vs. Kamaru Usman. If, however, Chimaev were to come up short in either fight, or Burns were to string together a couple wins after Chimaev takes gold, the stars would be aligned for their rematch.

Sign me up for five rounds of Chimaev vs. Burns madness!

Insomnia

Verdict MMA is an online source for fans to submit their own scorecards, and Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan is the closest title fight in their history. Like it or not, that’s no robbery!

Teofimo Lopez shows off his jump rope skill:

Merab Dvalishvili wants the Yan smoke.

Chase Sherman has been released for a second time after a 1-3 run. Think “Vanilla Gorilla” returns to bare knuckle?

This should be a very fun fight between top-ranked Flyweight contenders.

Another quality fight booking, this one at 185 lbs. Think Chris Curtis can keep his unlikely winning streak going versus the jiu-jitsu master?

Everyone gets rocked/dropped/touched eventually on a long enough timeline.

Nick Diaz once said, “Where I come from, people like that get slapped.”

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Here’s a right hand from a really odd angle, almost something of a shovel hook?

Just picked him up and put him down.

A single minute of historic boxing action:

Random Land

I don’t believe I’ve posted a funny cat video in quite some time.

Midnight Music: Punk rock, 1984

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