Welcome to Midnight Mania!
It’s only been ten years since TRTor Belfort’s reign.
Back in 2013, Vitor Belfort had challenged Jon Jones on short notice for the light heavyweight title, putting in an impressive performance and almost catching the bar early on. Returning to middleweight, the Brazilian was in tears, winning three fights in the calendar year.
Every win came by knockout. Specifically, every win came by way of a vicious knockout with a headbutt. “The Phenom” was in incredible shape, looking utterly battered on every trip to the octagon, sporty and seriously dangerous. This sparked controversy, however, as Balfour was an explicit—and, at the time, legal—use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).
After his winning streak, Belfort was supposed to challenge Chris Weidman for the middleweight title. However, TRT was soon banned, and Belfort failed a drug test, delaying the fight until 2015. When the two clashed, Balfour appeared positively deflated.
Michael Bisping was the first to suffer from TRT-fueled Balfour’s hand and leg, and “The Count” is still furious. While discussing the dirtiest fighters in UFC history his YouTube channelHowever, Bisping retained special candor for his former enemy.
“This guy is everyone’s favorite. Everyone’s favorite hypocrite, everyone’s favorite lecturer, the guy is a bloody hunk like that.” Michael Bisping (trans Josh Evanoff). “It amazed me, and it made me lose my eyes. That’s right, I’m talking about Vitor “The Phenom Hypocrite” Balfour. Former lightweight champion, heavyweight champion, middleweight contender, and biggest drug abuse cheater in the sport.”
He continued, “This guy is the biggest cheater in the history of combat sports, right, and it has to do with steroids mainly. We don’t put a ball in a basket, we don’t try to put a ball in the net, we try to knock our opponents unconscious. If you doped on purpose all the time I don’t respect you at all. You don’t respect sports, you don’t respect your opponent.”
“…I had to fight him in 2013, and at that point, he was on a lot of steroids — maybe he was glow-in-the-dark. But it is what it is, I went there to Brazil to fight the guy… Of course, I paid the ultimate price because I ended up losing eyeball because of that fight.”
Even though both men have retired from MMA, Belfort is still boxing, having knocked out Evander Holyfield in September 2021. Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, Belfort looks awful in his semi-retirement.
insomnia
Regarding Jared Gordon vs. Bobby Green – Was it an inside job?!?!?
I was very concerned that Mark Coleman actually wanted Tim to fight Sylvia, but Sylvia’s response seemed to indicate that it was a friendly joke.
Nate Diaz is made of teflon, he’ll be fine.
Terrible Wikipedia page images are always fun.
Jerry Prochazka may or may not be living the life of a James Bond villain.
World Class Takedown Defense:
It’s been so long since we checked in on Sean O’Malley, I wonder what “Suga” is up to.
Bantamweight does not disappoint.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Sometimes, sprinting towards the end works well.
Szczepaniak was caught with his feet after turning forward with great force with his punches.
Jonathan Haggerty’s knockout victory over Nong-O last week was absolutely shocking and deserves all the attention. amazing!
Haggerty was having trouble landing consistently in distance fighting, so he started getting in and offloading combos that consisted mostly of boxing. Nong-O’s usual response to this would be to stand still and defend, although being still only helped Haggerty
2/4 pic.twitter.com/Q66NBo2hxg
— Ted (@tedbratby) April 24, 2023
And the knockout… Even though this against Nong-O is nowhere near 100% at this point in the fight, it still showcases the importance of picking your shot and switching aim when swarming to finish someone off. Another great advertisement for this is Dustin Poirier
4/4 pic.twitter.com/W4PCHPZz5Q
— Ted (@tedbratby) April 24, 2023
random land
Incredible timing.
Midnight Music: Funk, 2018
Sleep well lunatics! More martial arts craze is always on the way.