Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.
- Joe Rogan questions whether Jon Jones made Gable Steveson too confident: ‘You start thinking you’re the next guy’: Jones really thought he had the golden ticket to be seen as an elite coach in addition to all his other accomplishments. Rough turn of events …
- Raoni Barcelos loss ‘wasn’t a knockout’ at UFC Vegas 121 — ‘It was a traumatic brain injury’: Glover Teixeira, as Barcelos’ cornerman, probably has access to more accurate medical info than the rest of us.
- Valentina Shevchenko’s legendary title reign ends with a whimper at UFC 332: I understand late-career “Bullet” fights have not been extraordinarily fun to watch, but Shevchenko’s continued success in her late 30s has been really remarkable, and it’s a shame to see injury strip it away.
Insomnia
Alexander Hernandez opens up about his cancelled bout with Michael Johnson, which was investigated by the FBI. Crazy!
Tomorrow, he’ll face Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 332 in a fight that hopefully won’t be canceled!
Before her title fight tomorrow night, take a second to review the most famous win of Wang Cong’s career:
Should this be happening on the sport’s biggest stage? Probably not.
This clip of Alexandre Topuria trading body blows with a fan brings us to the anecdote of the week: I suddenly get black eyes way more frequently while training 1/50th as often as when I was a professional fighter. My face skin is considerably less durable than it used to be. Body (and face) conditioning is a real thing!
Alright, this is pretty funny!
Angela Hill presents an effective history lesson on why you should ALWAYS throw that illegal strike!
Sergei Pavlovich is looking both dense and fast!
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Being able to throw a nasty 1-2 while tired is often all it takes.
Turn up your volume and listen to the THUNK of that liver kick!
Now turn your volume back down and enjoy some refereeing that would make Mario Yamasaki proud.
Random Land
Count me among those who did not realize sharks could be this old.
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Midnight Music: Country rock, 2024
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
