Midnight Mania: Taking Down Topuria? ‘It’s Impossible’

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 28: Ilia Topuria of Spain enters the Octagon in the UFC lightweight championship bout during the UFC 317 event at T-Mobile Arena on June 28, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Monday, June 1, 2026.

1. Holly Holm reacts to controversial majority decision loss against Stephanie Han: ‘I feel it in my heart, I won’: I didn’t watch this fight, but the reaction online seemed fairly unanimous that Holm was robbed. Anyone disagree?
2. UFC vet who fought everyone from Alex Pereira’s coach to World’s Strongest Man dead at 45: RIP Jay Silva. 45 is too young.
3. BJ Penn ‘not suicidal’ after shrink finds ‘Prodigy’ mentally fit to stand trial — ‘No one can call me crazy now!’: BJ Penn getting some kind of court-assigned psychiatry might actually be the best possible ending to his current trajectory. Things are not looking great for the Hawaiian legend …

Insomnia​

I hope Ilia Topuria is able to fight frequently after the UFC White House — there’s nobody better right now.

Merab Dvalishvili can’t take down Ilia Topuria in training and says it’s ‘impossible’

“Ilia is so good, I wasn’t able to take him down. It’s impossible to take Ilia down, he has great takedown defence.”

(via @MerabDvalishvil) pic.twitter.com/OrnUZgM4Mk

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) May 31, 2026

Angela Hill is going to be a Top 15 Strawweight until she’s 50.

Angela Hill beating up Xiong Jingnan with an underhook & collar tie

Underhook/collar tie is often more stable than a double collar tie, since your hook keeps you connected and tight on one side, while the collar tie frames, creating space to strike.

The DCT leaves space for… pic.twitter.com/OUBKDDpazt

— MixingMartialArts (@RyanAWagMMA) May 31, 2026

A new Colby Covington nickname just dropped.

Colby Covington on Ian Garry

“That’s Corner McGregor, you know why we call him Corner McGregor right? Because he sits in the corner while his wife gets dogged out by the nutritionist, who is her ex husband”

via @Jaidencableepic.twitter.com/NwzZKzKN7a

— Dovy (@DovySimuMMA) June 1, 2026

Banger alert! I favor Erceg slightly here, as he tends to match up well with wrestlers.

Steve Erceg will take on Ramazan Temirov at #UFCAbuDhabi on July 25th.

[first rep. @realkevink] pic.twitter.com/9Bojse51Ye

— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) June 1, 2026

Melquizael Costa announces his move to 155-pounds. How do we think “The Dalmatian” does at Lightweight?

It was a good run in this category, but my body can't handle cutting 22 kilos for each fight anymore.
Let’s go Lightweight @arielhelwani@UFCBrasil@mmahoje

— “” (@MelkCostaCauthy) June 1, 2026

Georges St. Pierre weighs in on the man vs. animal debate:

Even with all my training, I couldn’t beat an alpha chimpanzee in a fight. Nature is on another level.

— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre) May 31, 2026

A full recap of the UFC releases in 2026 … Jailton Almeida really would be a welcome addition to the barren Light Heavyweight roster right now.

UFC Departures in 2026 – June 1st Update

Cuts (30)
HWJailton Almeida (22-5, 8-3 UFC)
LHWRaffael Cerqueira (11-4, 0-4 UFC)
LHWTuco Tokkos (11-6, 1-3 UFC)
MWJosé Medina (11-7, 0-4 UFC)
MWAntonio Trócoli (12-7, 0-4 UFC)
WWAdam Fugitt (10-6, 2-4 UFC)
WWPhil Rowe…

— The Matchmaker (@MMA__Matchmaker) May 31, 2026

Slips, rips, and KO clips​

Thomas drew out the wide swing with pressure and then fired right down the middle.

KJ Thomas knocks out Jesus Castillo in 12 seconds #FuryFC120pic.twitter.com/ZE1qOUuJ5f

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 31, 2026

Club-and-sub is a common enough way to win … but not via armbar!

Naprosto crazy kolo nahoru dolů
Barbir nakonec ukončil Iliče na armbar v 1.kole. Divočina#FNC31pic.twitter.com/4SLRc7HHZu

— Pavel Trbušek (@PTrbusek) May 30, 2026

Knowing when to abandon a leg lock is extremely important.

Woah, sub curiosa do Arthur Silva(4-2) para alcançar a vitória no ACESSO MMA 13. pic.twitter.com/2pWsSABOXj

— Leo (@ludlud312) May 30, 2026

Random Land​

The (unexpected?) texture of a seal.


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Midnight Music: Folk, 1977


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

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