Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Sadly, Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Orlando Sanchez has been pronounced dead at age 40 by Flograppling. He died on December 15.
Sanchez is a well-established jiu-jitsu competitor. In 2015, he won the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) +99kg division, which is the pinnacle of no-gi jiu-jitsu. Additionally, he was a Brazilian national champion and throughout his career he has won victories over legendary names such as Dean Lister, Leandro Lo and Vinny Magalhaes. “The Cuban Tree Stomp” was well known for his powerful grappling style.
BJJ Heroes lists their record in the elite competition as 13-9.
For MMA fans, Sanchez is best known for a brief feud with tomorrow night’s UFC Vegas 66 headliner Sean Strickland. While the duo practiced together, Sanchez applied a shoulder lock that Strickland deemed dirty. Strickland pushed him back and threw a few punches, but Sanchez was adamant he was just teaching Strickland a technical lesson, not trying to hurt him. The duo reportedly trained together soon after, so maybe it wasn’t such a big deal after all.
Rest in peace.
Insomnia
Champion or not, there is a lot of love for Magomed Ankalaev in Dagestan.
Merab Dvalishvili celebrates in Jamaica.
The combat logic is different.
Celebrating arguably the top three chins in the UFC right now. Who else ranks very well?
Drew Dober was knocked down for the first time in his UFC career this year in his 18th appearance for the promotion.
There are currently 3 fighters in the UFC with 20+ appearances who have never been knocked down or stopped by strikes. I find that really impressive. pic.twitter.com/5VM6Gy7Zph
— Andy Hickey MMA (@AndyHickeyMMA) December 16, 2022
Billy Quarantillo publishes an unsurprising medical diagnosis.
Reminder: Being an MMA fighter usually doesn’t come cheap.
30,000 management and coaching fees paid today. We all hate losing large sums of money, but I always remind people that I would never be here without the support of these people. Never get so big that you stop wanting to pay the people who fought for you.
— Chris Curtis The Action Man (@Actionman513) December 16, 2022
Be sure to check out Midnight Mania next Monday for highlights from this matchmaking masterpiece.
This is the best MMA meme I’ve seen in a while. Crystal against Crystal!
Featherweight banger alert!
Slips, tears and KO clips
It’s always a little surprising to me that you don’t see more knee-to-body stoppages in MMA. This strike can be so debilitating when it lands correctly!
Store face down…
I never thought I’d see a YouTuber beat Alex Emelianenko, but here we are.
Random terrain
Still MMA, but I feel like it matters.
Midnight Music: Los Angeles rapper Ab-Soul’s latest album is out today!
Sleep well fools! More martial arts madness is always on the way.
#Midnight #Mania #ADCC #champion #Strickland #Frenemy #Orlando #Sanchez #dead
