Welcome to Midnight Mania!
At 46 years of age, Tito Ortiz has lived an eventful life. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight kingpin has fought all over the world for various promotions, but he’s long remained “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” starting his Punishment Athletics brand from “Surf City.”
Last year, Ortiz chose to become a public servant for Huntington Beach, scoring enough votes to become a City Council member and Mayor pro tempore. Unfortunately, Ortiz quickly became embroiled in scandals relating to masks and COVID-19 conspiracies, as well as a pesky accusation of fraud.
As a result, Ortiz forfeited his council position, citing libel and character assassination. Freed of his political duties, Ortiz returns to more familiar (though still foreign) terrain: the boxing ring, where he’ll face Anderson Silva this Saturday (Sept. 11, 2021) at the Triller pay-per-view (PPV) boxing event.
However, with former President Donald Trump on the mic for the event, is there a chance Ortiz’s political spark could find itself reignited? Ortiz shut those chances down, declaring himself “too honest” for the occupation.
“One-hundred percent my political is over,” Ortiz told MMA Junkie. “I’m too honest. I’m too much of an honest man and I have to look in the mirror at night and tell my kids the things I believe in and I can’t tell them one thing and do another. I’m not here to scratch somebody’s back just so they can scratch mine. I’m here to do the right thing and live in America with freedom and pride and integrity that we have in this country.”
A nation weeps.
As for his immediate future, Ortiz is eagerly awaiting the potential recall of California governor Gavin Newsom, and he plans to return to the MMA arena following this boxing match.
The Return Of Shameless Self-Promotion
BOOM! Y’all made it happen, breaking the record at a current 83 names on the banner! Thank you again, and reminder that tomorrow morning, I’m sending over the full list of names to my banner guy. There’s always a chance I can sneak more on over the weekend before final print, but again, no guarantees unfortunately.
Remember: $5 or more gets your name/screen name/nickname on the fight banner, and it enters you into a raffle to win the banner itself. Payment options include venmo: AndyLRichardson (1572), PayPal, or the latest GoFundMe page. Complete details are HERE!
And, for those that don’t care for my fight career and its associated e-begging, all the coming Midnight Manias will have the same amount of content as usual. Simply skip this section each night and it’s like nothing happened!
Insomnia
Sincere condolences to the family and friends of longtime UFC makeup artist Suzy Friton. Dozens and dozens of UFC staff and fighters alike shared memories today — her presence will clearly be missed.
There was some confusion about Kyoji Horiguchi and whether or not he was a free agent earlier today. As it turns out, Horiguchi will compete for Bellator, but he’s still signed to RIZIN too? It’s a bit murky, but expect him to fight for both shows!
Kyoji Horiguchi has signed with Bellator, Scott Coker announced on Twitter.
Despite signing with Bellator, Horiguchi will remain the Rizin bantamweight champion and the plan is for him to still fight in Japan on occasion (via @marc_raimondi) pic.twitter.com/Kaz3e64O1f
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 10, 2021
Photoshopping one’s self into the Paddy Pimblett cut is the new MMA meme.
Bully bimlett …there’s no remember the show today but I’m bringing back my Instagram gameshow at 5 pm central time come win some cash pic.twitter.com/Ix6BUeX6M3
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) September 9, 2021
I’m as big as jiu-jitsu fan as anyone, but yeah, my bet is on the snake!
How are we feeling about Vitor Belfort vs. Evander Holyfield?
Yeah, getting punched by Canelo just sounds like a bad time.
Trevor Wittman and Justin Gaethje are an excellent coach-fighter duo.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Anecdote of the week: In December 2009, I did my first BJJ tournament after a grand total of four lessons of jiu-jitsu practice at my original gym, Hassett’s Jiu-Jitsu. As it goes, I waited a few hours for my chance to compete, only to realize that there was no one really there for an undersized 13 year old to wrestle … other than the similarly aged girl who had been shouting instructions to all her team mates for the last three hours.
Long story short: she kicked my ass! Fortunately, Amanda Leve is now an accomplished black belt and recently turned pro fighter, which perhaps saves me some street cred.
It doesn’t get much more badass than winning three fights in a single night.
Hurts him then turns up the heat:
Random Land
I will confess to having cereal on the brain, and a new food destination next time I’m in Las Vegas.
Midnight Music: A classic piece of ‘90s alternative rock!
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.