Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025.
- Merry Cut-Mas! UFC releases four fighters in latest roster purge, including ‘Slava Claus’: I cannot argue any of these cuts, but it’s a bit of a bummer that Borshchev was cut after taking his final UFC fight on like five day’s notice.
- Middleweight madness: Two huge fights added to UFC 326 in March: Why are Reinier de Ridder and Paulo Costa fighting on the same event not against one another? Silly sport.
- Ex-UFC fighter who bet entire purse on himself (and lost) tests positive for cocaine: She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie — cocaine.
Insomnia
Jake Paul has been consistent about threatening to sue anyone who claims
his fights are fixed, and Deontay Wilder is no exception. If Paul makes it to round four on Friday, I’ll suddenly have my suspicions …
This column loves and supports an active champion who doesn’t talk about changing weight classes.
I saw several posts online questioning if Ariel Helwani is “exploiting” Death Sentence by failing to inject some reality into a clearly delusional and unwell person. It’s an interesting question, but I would argue that in combat sports, exploitation is a structural pillar that can’t really be avoided.
Some reactions to PFL champ Movlid Khaybulaev’s drug test failure for EPO. A lot of people (including Conor McGregor in a deleted tweet) are coming at Team Khabib over this latest drug testing stir …
Being a combat sports fan will have you paying extra attention to the international oil trade.
I would love to be a fly on the wall for a Fares Ziam vs. Justin Gaethje sparring session.
A bit of good news and a Cool Cain photo:
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Highly touted prospect Elshod Anvarov looks composed and powerful in his pro debut.
There will never be another Prince Naseem.
Both in and out of the Octagon, 2026 was the year of the spinning elbow.
Random Land
Did you watch Welcome To Derry? As an It reader, I enjoyed it, but this makeup process is cool regardless.
Midnight Music: Punk, 1977
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
