Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
- Bye! Anthony Joshua aligns with Eddie Hearn, agrees to ‘pull the plug’ on Tyson Fury fight to spite Dana White: You have to respect the loyalty.
- Dana White to announce Alex Pereira’s next fight on … Nina Drama’s UFC 332 stream?!: I do my best to keep Nina Drama content out of my column, so apologies in advance if I end up having to cover this fight announcement.
- Paddy Pimblett calls for ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ season with Ilia Topuria: ‘A very interesting six weeks’: There’s a reason UFC doesn’t book TUF between active fighters anymore: it’s a huge waste of time.
Insomnia
Given his financial situation, I’d say there’s roughly zero chance Sean Sharaf actually retires after the biggest win of his career/life.
Vitor Petrino calls out Curtis Blaydes, which is not a matchup I’ve ever thought about. It’s a fresh Heavyweight booking though, so why not?
Ilia Topuria back in the gym and looking healthy:
Bangfest alert! Melquizael Costa will take on Jared Gordon at UFC 334 in his return to 155 pounds.
Sounds like the people of Salt Lake City aren’t necessarily rushing to buy UFC 332 tickets.
Aljamain Sterling feels like he doesn’t get the respect he deserves from most fight fans. A lot of young fans don’t appreciate Jose Aldo enough, either.
Use 20 minutes of your time to watch the great Fedor Emelianenko turning his opponents to paste with ground strikes — you won’t regret it.
Absolute weirdo.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Something about this fight feels very 2010 to me.
Accurate stereotype or not: fighters from Central Asia love spinning kicks?
I wonder why nobody on the regional scene wants to fight accomplished professional kickboxers?
Random Land
Ring repair.
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Midnight Music: Rock, 1959
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
