Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Earlier today (Fri., Jan. 5, 2024), news broke that lineal UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou was heading back to the Riyadh Arena in Saudi Arabia, this time to face former Heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua. Once again, “The Predator” has secured one of the biggest names in boxing, though it will delay his MMA return until later than expected in 2024.
The combat sports world is going wild over the new match up, but what about the bookies? Unsurprisingly, early betting odds have Joshua as a significant favorite. At the time of writing, BetOnline.ag lists Joshua as a -500 favorite, with Ngannou coming in as a +325 underdog.
While those are certainly wide odds, Ngannou’s performance last year opposite Tyson Fury did earn him some respect, as he entered his bout versus “The Gypsy King” as a 10-1 underdog. Though he didn’t quite score the upset win, a knockdown and subsequent split-decision loss really proved that Ngannou could compete with the best in the ring.
We’ll find out March 9 if he can do it again.
Insomnia
Belal Muhammad heading to Dagestan ahead of his alleged UFC 300 title shot vs. Leon Edwards certainly seems like a tip of the hand in regards to his game plan.
Sean O’Malley continues the beef with Ilia Topuria:
Couple things here.
1st. Teenagers places ? No understando
2nd. Let’s make a bet on PPV numbers.
100k cash whoever’s PPV is bigger. If you don’t have 100k that’s fine you can do 4 payments of 25k.
3rd. Conor doesn’t know who you are. https://t.co/V7e2gC7Q5D— Sean O’Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) January 4, 2024
This thread of funny MMA offense gave me a good chuckle, it’s worth clicking through.
Nick Diaz vs Robbie Lawler II
Nick was coming of a very long layoff and starts the fight with a wild two touch kick, striking fear in Robbie’s heart. pic.twitter.com/1SounLYYlI
— Yazko (@YazkoMotashobi) January 4, 2024
Ciryl Gane vs Francis Ngannou
While getting controlled on the ground by a Francis, Gane tries to poke Francis with his french wand which resulted in Francis punching it making as flat as an Ipod pic.twitter.com/2RwrF23NW7
— Yazko (@YazkoMotashobi) January 4, 2024
Liam Harrison is always getting violent on pads.
Liam Harrison feeling better than ever and there’s only one fight he’s willing to put his himself and his body through the wringer for…Seksan
( : @LiamBadco/ Instagram) pic.twitter.com/xnlHLFb4OP
— COMBAT SPORTS TODAY (@CSTodayNews) January 5, 2024
Takeru reacts to Rodtang’s injury, subsequent withdrawal, and replacement by Superlek ahead of his One Championship debut.
My opponent for my ONE debut at January 28th Rotang has been canceled and changed to Superlek and I’m going to fight for the one championship world title.
I have been preparing to fight Rotang for a long time and sacrificed many things for this fight so I was shocked and… pic.twitter.com/SvpjyQk8c5— 武尊 takeru (@takerusegawa) January 5, 2024
For being an elite top control fighter, Khabib’s bottom game was incredible in the few instances it made an appearance.
Bantamweight banger alert!
The amount of weird Twitter nerds upset at Tom Aspinall for wanting a chance at fighting for undisputed gold is shocking.
I’m just trying to be the best and fight the best people. I know that’s hard for a lot of people to get their head around. Don’t be so triggered guys
— Tom Aspinall (@AspinallMMA) January 5, 2024
Do you like or dislike Dan Hooker’s recent physical transformation?
Slips, rips, and KO clips
It’s not hard to imagine how an elbow at this angle cut create gnarly cuts and stop fights.
Love a media member with professional fighting experience.
Beautiful body shots set up a perfect right hand connection:
Random Land
Insane tetris skills.
Midnight Music: Alt. country, 1965
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.