Welcome to Midnight Mania!
The upcoming UFC St. Louis fight card just received a major boost.
Ranked Welterweight contender Joaquin Buckley hails from “Mound City,” and he’s been telling anyone who will listen that he wants a part of the UFC St. Louis card, which is scheduled for Sat. May 11, 2024. Specifically, he was requesting a main event opportunity, but instead UFC CEO Dana White announced he’ll get a co-main slot against Nursulton Ruziboev.
It’s a bit of a funny match up, one that’s only happening because Buckley crashed the UFC 300 press conference just a couple weeks ago to demand his St. Louis opportunity. The monkey paw curled!
On one hand, Buckley gets to fight in his hometown like he wanted. At the same time, Buckley is riding a solid win streak and coming off the best win of his career over Vicente Luque (watch here), and his reward is a dangerous, relatively unknown finisher who stands NINE inches taller than him! Buckley dropped down to Welterweight because the height and reach advantages of his opposition were too severe … and now he’s going to fight a 6’5” longtime Middleweight riding a 10-fight finish streak.
Is it a little bit of revenge from the UFC CEO? Really, that depends on the outcome. If Buckley is victorious, he continues his march up the ladder, adds to the highlight reel, and earns an extra paycheck in front of his fans. If he loses, his Welterweight momentum goes up in smoke.
As for Ruziboev, he’s 2-0 in the Octagon thus far, scoring two quick knockout wins. He’s earned a step up in competition, but it’s interesting that he’ll drop to Welterweight for the opportunity. He hasn’t fought at 170-pounds since January 2021 and seems big for Middleweight, so weigh-in day will be interesting as well.
Who ya’ got?!?
Insomnia
How many injuries can one take before calling it a career? Dominick Cruz is a gamer but is the juice worth the squeeze at this point?
Just spoke with “The King of Rio” Jose Aldo, who confirmed that Dominick Cruz was initially supposed to be his opponent at UFC 301.
Aldo had heard that Cruz had an issue during his camp that forced him to withdraw, which led to the booking against Jonathan Martinez.
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) April 24, 2024
Khabib Nurmagomedov is a proven team player if nothing else.
Zubaira Tukhugov talks about the time Khabib Nurmagomedov almost broke his contract for the Dustin Poirier fight:
“The [UFC] also promised to put me on the Abu Dhabi card with Khabib and Islam, but Dana White said they had no room for me on that card.
But Khabib was like “ok, I… pic.twitter.com/5RvipXqzuW
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 24, 2024
An MMA fight feels like a wedding or a funeral depending entirely on the outcome.
Anthony Smith, loser of three of his last four, thinks champion Alex Pereira wants to fight him for some reason.
Anthony Smith says he would “step in the fire” with Alex Pereira and thinks they’d both jump on the opportunity to fight each other.
“If I can put myself in a position where like, ‘Oh holy s***, here we are on a little bit of a streak’… I think both of us would jump on that… pic.twitter.com/wmN774b5Zx
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 24, 2024
Arman Tsarukyan deserves a full camp for his well-earned title shot.
That’s just not truth. The truth is that you want to fight me on short notice to have an extra advantage. It won’t happen again though. When was the last time you fought 2 times in 6 weeks? @MAKHACHEVMMA https://t.co/c7wTudvyRL
— Arman Tsarukyan UFC (@ArmanUfc) April 24, 2024
The Max Holloway effect is going global.
My biggest takeaway from all my wrestling training: never stop moving.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
I wrongly assumed based on his crouched stance that the man in blue trunks was about to eat the knee …
Shot the choke arm deep and committed to the gator roll very quickly!
Establish the low kick then go high — as classic as classic gets.
Random Land
I laughed out loud.
Midnight Music: Rock, 1982
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
