Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Thursday, April 16, 2026.
- ‘Call me!’ Vengeful Ronda Rousey trying to lure Paddy Pimblett to Netflix MMA as UFC war intensifies: I hope MVP is interested in MMA beyond this one event; I like the shakeup.
- UFC legend among top execs fired from ONE Championship as roster purge continues: On the flip side, I don’t think anyone over at Endeavor is worried about One developing into a threat … or lasting another two years.
- Kayla Harrison reacts to Ronda Rousey’s tirade: ‘Fight me den!’: I like the straight-to-the-point nature of this response, but I don’t feel it’s an adequate comeback for all of Rousey’s various shots fired.
Insomnia
The quick recap of this story is that Arman Tsarukyan bet $40k that Ryan Garcia couldn’t drop his buddy with a body shot, won that bet, and now claims Garcia is refusing to pay him. Garcia, conversely, argues that Tsarukyan lied about his buddy’s combat experience and claims he’s the one getting scammed. Now, they’re trying to box/fight each other.
Is any of it real?
In the modern live stream era … who knows.
I spent a majority of this clip wondering who was throwing whom.
Cody Durden wants another short-notice shot at Allan Nascimento, who unfortunately will most likely NOT be fighting at UFC Winnipeg.
Joel Alvarez and Benoit Saint Denis were supposed to fight last year, but now they’re training partners in France.
Maybe Jack Della Maddalena couldn’t escape from Islam Makhachev’s grasp, but Craig Jones still knows his stuff.
Paulo Costa does not look small standing next to the current Light Heavyweight champion of the world.
Congratulations to Jiri Prochazka and his longtime partner.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Lead leg body kick, reload, left hook is a great combination, and it surely helps that the liver kick landed with such an audible thud.
That’s a rough way to lose an undefeated record.
Thanks to Russian combat sports, we now know that rappers are better at fighting than football players.
Random Land
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Midnight Music:
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
