Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Like it or not, Joe Rogan has become a force in US politics.
The former Fear Factor host and current UFC color commentator (some of the time) gets paid handsomely to host one of the most viewed podcasts on the planet, he Joe Rogan Experience (JRE). Everyone from Mike Tyson to Neil deGrasse Tyson has appeared on the show, which has featured more and more political figures in recent years. President Donald Trump made history by appearing on JRE in October while still running for election in a whopping three-hour interview.
Despite some prior bad blood.
Kamala Harris’ campaign wanted the former Vice President to appear on JRE as well in an effort to connect with Rogan’s audience. Rogan and Harris were in talks, but it never actually happened, and people have been speculating why in the months since the 2024 election concluded.
We finally have an answer: Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway! Per Rogan himself, a scheduling conflict between Harris’ availability and Rogan’s desire to see the UFC 308 main event ended up ruining the planned appearance.
“They wanted to do it that Saturday, the day after Trump,” Rogan explained. “I’ll do it, but it has to be at 8:30 AM. The reason why was I had a podcast already scheduled that was a live UFC podcast.”
He continued, “We had committed to doing this, I can’t just say no guys, we can’t do this awesome thing because I have to interview Kamala Harris. I’m an MMA commentator, this is part of my job. I said I’ll do it, it just has to be 8:30 in the morning because I have to be done when the fights start. That’s reasonable.
“So that was Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway. For UFC fans, that was a huge fight, a gigantic fight. Max Holloway had just beat Justin Gaethje in the knockout of all time, and Ilia Topuria is one of the absolute best fighters on planet Earth. If not number one pound-for-pound, certainly number two. He’s in the Top Five of the absolute best athletes in any weight class, so this was a clash of the titans … I’m not gonna miss that!”
Unfortunately, it never came together despite Rogan’s willingness to work around that live scheduling. On the bright side, Rogan and company tuned into to a legendary knockout that certainly lived up to the hype!
Insomnia
I see no world in which this Welterweight booking doesn’t end in a gnarly knockout, back-and-forth slugfest, or some combination of the two.
Manel Kape agrees to facing streaking Charles Johnson after Brandon Royval’s injury. He also adds to the list of hilariously absurd “Starboy” quotes …
4 weeks for the fight worth the place for the belt, the chills, nausea and panic are already starting to take effect on the body of the little puppy Brandon Royval. I won’t be surprised if he runs away from this fight.#ufcfightnight#starboy
— マネル・ケイプ موسى Manel Kape (@ManelKape) February 5, 2025
Kevin Lee’s training partner who dropped him (watch here) responds to the controversy and is unhappy with the video leaking.
MMA Fighter who KO’d Kevin Lee in viral video (Mirali Huseynov) is upset that the video got leaked
“It was not my point to hit him hard. Flying knee coming, what should I do?”
“He [Kevin Lee] is my favorite partner, we always work hard” pic.twitter.com/wTGIQIxH6p
— ACD MMA (@acdmma_) February 5, 2025
On one hand, I feel bad that Sean Strickland gets made fun of for his abusive childhood pretty often. On the other, he’s pretty much opened the door for such comments with his own nonsense, so …
Speaking of …
Yet another fighter unhappy with One Championship.
Dmitry Menshikov, a lightweight contender and teammate of Artem Vakhitov, has initiated legal action against ONE Championship, alleging the organization failed to meet its contractual obligations. pic.twitter.com/H2d95NkjTC
— Timothy Wheaton MMA (@TimWheatonMMA) February 4, 2025
Tito Ortiz tried to advertise UFC Saudi Arabia, but his bar wasn’t even open during the hours it aired! Outstanding.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
An incredible blast from the past of Mr. Drew Dober.
Two left hooks, two knockdowns, one winner …
The guy in black really thought he was Michael Page.
Random Land
Seems like a bad sign.
Midnight Music: Post-rock, 1999
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
