Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025.

1. Bitter Ronda Rousey mocks UFC fans for (still) worshipping Khabib — ‘It’s really sad’: I don’t know if it’s UFC fans specifically or just the internet generally, but I do agree fight fans are very quick to disregard the accomplishments of greats from past eras.
2. Justin Gaethje explains why he barely wrestles in MMA despite NCAA D1 experience: Gaethje’s approach to MMA has more than paid off for him in bonuses and fame … and would he have done any better trying to double leg Khabib or Charles Oliviera? Probably not.
3. Mayweather vs. Pacquiao rematch talks underway for 2026 ’official fight‘ on Netflix: I’m sure I’ll be obligated to write about this matchup if it does indeed materialize, but it’s hard to care about this rematch all these years later.

Insomnia

There’s a lot of pushback this week against UFC Vegas 110’s Themba Gorimbo ahead of his bout versus Jeremiah Wells. Fans are accusing Gorimbo of bailing on his promise to build wells in his home village in Zimbabwe and pocketing the money, and Gorimbo’s deleted Instagram page isn’t helping the matter. I also remember a lot of Zimbabwean people online were happy when he lost to Vicente Luque … quite a bit of controversy surrounding “The Answer.”

Ali Abdelaziz being litigated out of the sport would be an amazing improvement.

Ouch …

Yushin Okami always was one of the fittest guys at 185-pounds.

Do you think Henry Cejudo is able to end his UFC career on a win, or is Payton Talbott to much at this stage of the game?

When he isn’t trying to promote himself into a payday, Jorge Masvidal has good takes and knows the game well.

Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen is one of my favorite fights of the decade — really slick stuff from both men.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Gustavo Lopez is no joke (he only lost to Merab and Adrian Yanez in the UFC). Quality win for Younousov!

Impressive to throw with this much power in the fourth round:

You gotta at least try to slam him …

Random Land

Who is your mediocre athlete of choice? In terms of literal athletic ability, I’ll always ride for Demian Maia. If we’re talking mediocre/non-elite fighting ability, I always wanted old man Aleksei Oleinik to go on a title run even though it obviously wasn’t going to happen.

Midnight Music: Rockabilly, 1956

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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