Andrew RichardsonTue, December 2, 2025 at 4:59 AM UTC·3 min readWelcome to Midnight Mania!
Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Monday, Dec. 1, 2025.
Battle of the Beasts: Sam Alvey defends Karate Combat title against scary knockout artist Robelis Despaigne on Dec. 5: On paper, Alvey should get smashed here. Fortunately, Alvey can’t read! In all seriousness, the resurgence of the “Smile’n” one has been quite impressive and surprising.
Companies producing Conor McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout post $9 million in losses: How does everyone like Forged Irish Stout? I’ve yet to try it.
Report: Ronda Rousey ‘in active negotiations’ for Katie Taylor super fight, ‘has drawn the interest of Netflix’: The only way this will be remotely interesting is if they swap MMA and boxing every other round. Regardless, I am doubtful.
Insomnia
I’m not particularly sold on this training clip being “real,” but Jaqueline Cavalcante says otherwise so … thoughts?
Weight cutting is just bunches of fun.
Part of the reason Pantoja’s right body kick worked so well here is that Kai Asakura was withdrawing his lead leg every time, putting him in southpaw stance. Suddenly, Pantoja was just blasting right kicks into the open side, easy-peasy.
Congratulations to Jiri!
Don’t forget to vote!
If Movsar Evloev is unavailable for whatever reason, then Lerone Murphy vs. Aljamain Sterling is a great backup plan.
If you missed the RAF 3 highlights … I’ve been in Chad Mendes’ signature cement mixer once or twice, and it’s awful. Impressive that Chandler resisted the spin!
Slips, rips, and KO clips
I think you gotta go uppercut if dealing with a helmeted opponent, otherwise you’re just asking for busted knuckles.
How often do you see this kind of power in an overhand right in women’s MMA?
Reaching low for a high kick never ends well.
Random Land
A wild legal case in Korea (click through for full thread):
Midnight Music: Hip-hop, 1993
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
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