Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Ever since Anthony Johnson retired in the cage following his 2017 loss to Daniel Cormier at UFC 210, there has been speculation about his potential return. He’s teased a return several times in the three years since, both at Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight. At one point, Johnson also transitioned to power lifting and ballooned up to a terrifying 285 lbs. of muscle.
In 2020, “Rumble” has been particularly adamant about making a return. However, after talking about potential opponents, UFC President Dana White recently explained that Johnson “sort of disappeared again,” shattering the hopes of fans who love ridiculous knockouts.
Fortunately, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto revealed today that Johnson was back in the USADA testing pool, and that his return was planned in the Light Heavyweight division.
Since all fight fans would happily watch “Rumble” crack heads at any weight class, the USADA news is definitely more significant. It’s a major step that Johnson is serious about returning! Typically, an athlete that is not a debuting fighter must spend six months getting randomly tested before they are able to compete again. However, there have been exceptions made in the past, so it is conceivable that Johnson could fight before February.
Either way, it’s an exciting development, though it does time poorly with Jon Jones abandoning the Light Heavyweight division. That fight nearly happened so many times!
Insomnia
Daniel Cormier reflects on his final trip to the Octagon:
A small update on Sean O’Malley’s injury. In truth, a broken bone would likely result in a cleaner recovery than a ligament tear, so this isn’t necessarily the greatest news.
Update on Sean O’Malley from a source close to him:
“X-ray on his ankle/lower leg came back OK. No fractures but MRI is needed (once swelling goes down) to look for ligament & tendon tears. They will scan knee too. Can’t have a MRI until swelling subsided.”
No timetable yet.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 17, 2020
Gina Carano throws some shade at UFC and the Reebok deal!
Oof.
Dominick Reyes’ response to Jon Jones’ brief retirement/potential Heavyweight move:
Worth repeating: it’s super cool that the UFC Heavyweight champion of the world is also a firefighter.
Yoel Romero is a legend for pulling this off opposite Paulo Costa immediately after being dropped by a perfect left hook.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Spinning attacks can backfire even if they land!
Overhand and uppercut are a deadly combination.
Daraek barely even showed the initial kick, it was more of a jump knee feint into a left high kick. Really neat!
Daraek with a knockout of the year contender, taking out Nautis Bartoska with a perfectly executed jumping switch kick in round one. pic.twitter.com/8n14ovPUp2
— Beyond Kickboxing (@Beyond_Kick) August 15, 2020
Random Land
Improvise, adapt, break toes.
Midnight Music: Well, I was listening to a playlist and liked this song enough to post it. I Googled it to get a bit of background info to pass on, but instead found this interesting article about how Sullivan disappeared off the face of the Earth in the 1975 while driving from LA to Nashville.
Until confirmed otherwise, I like the aliens angle.
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
