Midnight Mania! Strickland Saves Drowning Swimmer (Who He Told To Jump)

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MAY 09: Sean Strickland reacts after the UFC middleweight championship fight against Khamzat Chimaev of Russia during the UFC 328 event at Prudential Center on May 09, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC)

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Wednesday, July 29, 2026.

Conor McGregor blames fog machine, dry ice for UFC 329 injury: ‘It’s a No Contest now’ : I am pleased to report that I predict deez tings in the article I wrote an hour after the fight ended — very funny!

Jake Paul now in charge of PFL following ‘landmark merger’ with MVP, teases MMA debut : Though I remain skeptical, one has to admit that Paul actually debuting would be a major moment for PFL.

Video: UFC’s King Green shows up at Adrien Broner’s gym, beats crap out of boxing protege : My favorite part of this was Broner talking tough yet opting not to lace up a pair of gloves.

Insomnia

Sean Strickland bullying his buddy into doing a cliff jump and then saving him from drowning in the freezing water is a perfect encapsulation of “Tarzan.”

Sean Strickland just saved a man from drowning after convincing him to jump off a cliff pic.twitter.com/eMzrWW2jsw

— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) July 30, 2026

Neat mix of BJJ and wrestling in this scramble:

Bryce Meredith stuffs Michael Cyr's head between his legs and rolls him with a chestwrap, then scissors his head and controls an arm to keep him flat while coming on top From there he takes a kimura on the trapped arm, transitions to a darce as he rolls out, then takes his back pic.twitter.com/DQFEy61OWc

— MixingMartialArts (@RyanAWagMMA) July 29, 2026

Dricus du Plessis is quietly one of the smartest cookies in MMA … which makes his awful game plan versus Khamzat even more frustrating.

Dricus Du Plessis speaks about how he learns and takes techniques from each of his opponents, and specifically PRAISES the uppercut that Israel Adesanya used due to how effective it was during their fight at UFC 305 👀🔥 “Israel Adesanya does this uppercut that I just in the… pic.twitter.com/6Ta3U7g4HW

— Title Fight (@TitleFightMedia) July 30, 2026

Welterweight fireworks alert!

Puna Soriano vs. Daniil Donchenko #UFCParis https://t.co/HGuq6v3kcI pic.twitter.com/3vN0UB2RuA

— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) July 30, 2026

A year ago, I would’ve picked Daniel Rodriguez over Uros Medic. Now? I’m more hesitant …

Daniel Rodriguez explains what a Tijuana prison diet looks like “It was super unhealthy, it was all chips and noodles and s**t. The lack of protein took a toll on my body. I was in a situation where my cell mate was a big dog so we had a lot of snacks but it was nothing healthy” pic.twitter.com/84FWLpBqXs

— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) July 29, 2026

Teaming up with the smallest guy/girl is a genuine strategy to help avoid further injury when returning to the mats.

🇰🇿 Shavkat Rakhmonov training with UFC flyweight Asu Almabayev pic.twitter.com/hXMN6w6SNn

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) July 28, 2026

Demetrious Johnson deserved the W in his second fight with Cejudo … but he definitely lost this one!

Miguel Torres with one of the cleanest butterfly sweeps you’ll ever see against Demetrious Johnson. pic.twitter.com/xZeu6uIJQ5

— RJ Clifford (@RJcliffordMMA) July 30, 2026

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Nasty right hand on the break of a clinch! Holley-Sotomi has a future in MMA if he wants it.

🚨BRUTAL KO at the Commonwealth Games as Orlando Holley-Sotomi of Wales knocks out Refiloe Thai in their 70kg Quarter Final pic.twitter.com/v5X2Cz9sWV

— Tokkerū (@ATokkers5) July 29, 2026

Superman punch as a way to set up marching punches is an interesting concept.

Superman punch finish by Rymond Wenendeya at Anza Contenders 8 in Kenya. That's a Superman 1-2 pic.twitter.com/XeaR8fQajQ

— Matysek (@Matysek88) July 30, 2026

There’s an art to throwing naked kicks, and some fighters don’t get it.

They're calling it the most MMA way to get flatlined in history pic.twitter.com/Rdic3Z1z75

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) July 23, 2026

Random Land

Understandable.

JUST IN: Hiker walks 10 miles down Montana’s tallest mountain after impaling himself on a pole, hoping to avoid a costly helicopter evacuation.

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) July 28, 2026

“rub some dirt on it” pic.twitter.com/vUcLvNcIcj

— Nick Carr (@ItsReallyNick) July 28, 2026

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Midnight Music: Indie, 1990

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

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →