Midnight Mania! Michael Chiesa calls the ‘toughest fight’ Colby Covington

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Michael Chiesa had a great performance in his second main event earlier today, smothering Neil Magny for most of the five rounds. “The Maverick” was really dominant on that mat, as his grappling skill extended his winning streak to four, putting him in a very solid position at 170 pounds.

Chiesa took the opportunity to call former interim champion Colby Covington into the cage. At the post-fight press conference, Chiesa elaborated why she chose “Chaos” and her response was intriguing.

“He’s the most difficult fight for me,” said Chiesa (transcript via MMAJunkie). “Stylistically, that guy was supposed to beat me any Sunday. From the physical point of view, from the point of view of mental warfare, there are not many boxes that you can check that favor this fight. But how can I say that I want to be a champion if I don’t want to fight the best? Sometimes the best guys are the ones who are the most difficult for you stylistically.

“So, when I look at the top five, I think it’s the most difficult fight for me, so let’s see what happens. If I fall short, I fall short. But I want to be the best, so I have to fight the best. So this is the guy, and with me saying that I want to have the year that I should have last year, it seemed appropriate to just call the same guy, to see how everything will unfold. “

It is definitely a courageous approach by Chiesa, who would probably struggle to drag Covington to the mat on her terms. However, a win would likely give him a shot at the title, so the payoff is definitely next to the risk.

At the moment, the UFC plans to face Covington against former friend / current enemy Jorge Masvidal. This fight has struggled to materialize in the past, however, maybe Chiesa will get her wish.

Insomnia

Conor McGregor traveling by yacht to Ilha da Luta is the “Notorious” peak.

Still on the topic of Irish, he is open to a possible rematch with Max Holloway! That would also be quite a rematch.

Valentina Shevchenko against the heavy bag looks remarkably similar to most of her title defenses.

Jessica Eye … is not popular, even among her colleagues.

Did Aljamain Sterling miss anyone in his top five fighters on the bantamweight list? Frankie Edgar has an argument.

Well, Neil Magny’s night didn’t go exactly as planned, but he got a drop in the third round, which means he joined a really cool group.

Slips, rips and KO clips

JUICE! Have you ever seen a man with this big star?

Speaking of big, athletic men, this is one of the fastest high kicks I’ve ever seen!

The entire clip is wild, but that double leg of the upper obstacle is especially scary.

Random Land

The best use of a toothpick since Benson Henderson!

Midnight Music: I spent my time writing today listening to Spotify’s Essential Folk playlist, so here’s a track from that mix.

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