Midnight Mania! Ian Garry draws Neil Magny as UFC 292 replacement foe

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Earlier on Wednesday, news broke that Geoff Neal was injured and forced to withdraw from his planned UFC 292 contest opposite Ian Garry. It’s a major blow to the pay-per-view (PPV) event, which is scheduled to go down next weekend (Sat., Aug. 19, 2023) from Boston, Massachusetts, a pivotal Welterweight contest between ranked contenders fueled by bad blood.

Predictably, Garry wasn’t impressed with the pullout. “Geoff Neal has bitched out,” Garry tweeted-and-deleted (via MMAJunkie). “I’m still showing up in Boston ain’t no one stopping me …”

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

Later in the day, Garry dropped the video featured above. Putting on my internet detective monocle, it seems pretty clear to me (and just about everyone in the entire social media sphere) that Garry believes longtime Welterweight contender Neil Magny is going to fill in for the injured Neal on just 10 day’s worth of notice!

That’s a big ask of any Welterweight, but Magny is proven in this regard. He’s willingly jumped on difficult short-notice opportunities time and time again, so stepping up against “The Future” would not be new territory. Adding fuel to the flames is Magny himself, who posted a picture signing a new contract.

MMA Junkie later confirmed the bout was signed for UFC 292.

Insomnia

MORE RUMOR MILL: Bellator 300 will be the final Bellator event under current ownership? Some people seem to think so ...

This should be a fun Lightweight scrap.

I’m not a Paul brothers or WWE fan, but I’m still impressed by this clip.

This lukewarm attempt at trash talk from Sean O’Malley has a bunch of people shocked at a professional fighter sleeping for nine plus hours. Very common if not outright mandatory! Sleep equals recovery.

Speaking of recovery, Chris Curtis should probably book a Cryotherapy session or something.

BJ Penn is keeping social media interesting.

SWEEP!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

This is an important reminder for the untrained to run away if you find yourself in a street fight and the guy starts throwing low kicks. It’s probably not going to go well!

Absolutely zero choke defense on display here.

Back-and-forth chaos ends with a brutal elbow!

Random Land

Mountain lion faces off with a bear!

Midnight Music: RIP Robbie Robertson.

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