Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Let’s start the night off by taking look back over the three biggest stories of Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
- Stolen valor: Former UFC fighter Tim Kennedy admits to lying about military award: I hopped off the Tim Kennedy train several years ago around the “PTSD is for pussies” rant.
- Turki Alalshikh has ‘surprise’ for Shakur Stevenson against William Zepeda — ‘A ring that shrinks as the fight goes on’: I hope Zepeda is able to really test Stevenson, but I’m not optimistic.
- Regrets? Alexander Volkanovski reveals lingering concussion contributed to scary Ilia Topuria knockout – ‘I should have had a break’: Volkanovski is a smart guy, but fighting while still suffering concussion syndromes is never a great call.
Insomnia
One Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong with a lengthy post claiming that One is doing just fine financially and the Amazon deal is continuing on, but they’re under attack from malicious parties, false narratives, and deepfake AI. The entire thing is too long to be included here, but it can still be viewed on Chatri’s Facebook right HERE!
I hope One continues to exist, but I also hope they actually give their MMA fighters a platform to compete.
‼️ Chatri releases a long statement on Facebook responding to all the news regarding ONE’s financial problems and the Amazon Prime deal
▫️There have been PR attacks by malicious parties to spread false narratives using misleading/untrue information.
▫️The US Amazon Prime… pic.twitter.com/NtToaGRRMt— Tetsuya (@TetsuyaMT789) July 9, 2025
Charles Oliveira has fought a who’s who of Featherweight and Lightweight sluggers, and he says Ilia Topuria hits harder than all of ‘em. Hard to argue with his results!
In addition to the other four fighters released today, Felipe Lima was cut after losing to an elite contender and two top prospects. Rough!
Lone’er Kavanagh: 2-0 UFC
Andre Lima: 4-0 UFC
Victor Altamirano: 2-4 UFC
Manel Kape: 6-3 UFCTwo losses against undefeated fighters, & a loss against the number 7 ranked contender in the world gets you cut at flyweight? The young man is just 24. He deserved another chance IMHO https://t.co/pUnMeFVHDu pic.twitter.com/gAuqpLNDT8
— Liam Picks Fights (@LiamPicksFights) July 9, 2025
Some boxing matches to keep an eye on in the coming days:
Major Fights Over the Next 10 Days:
– Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano 3
– Baumgardner vs Miranda
– Shakur Stevenson vs Zepeda
– Berlanga vs Sheeraz
– Usyk vs Dubois II
– Pacquiao vs Barrios
– Bam Rodriguez vs Cafu— Boxing Kingdom (@BoxingKingdom14) July 9, 2025
Veteran fight! Elizeu Zaleski has looked a bit sharper lately, but the odds of a Neil Magny clinch clinic are always solid.
Daniel Cormier got his truck back!
Slips, rips, and KO clips
It’s a wild era when knocking out Justin Tafa — even in impressive, quick fashion — is enough to score a main event slot opposite a Top 10 Heavyweight.
A spinning backfist set up by raw aggression.
Boxing history and greatness on display.
Random Land
Which sports legend are you taking in this (theoretical) head-to-head showdown?
“Who would win in a ‘eat 1 hot dog, then run 100 meters’, Joey Chestnut or Usain Bolt?” is yet another incredibly easy call that is causing a lot of discourse.
Chestnut is coming out of that hotdog portion with like a 20 second lead at least, Usain Bolt gets smoked.
— delaniac (@ChadNotChud) July 7, 2025
Midnight Music: Punk rock, 1980
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
