Midnight Mania! UFC releases Luis Pena, but not Jon Jones, for domestic violence arrest

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Domestic violence allegations have been on the front page of MMA news far too often in the last few weeks. Obviously, it’s always wise to think carefully before jumping to conclusions, but having a pair of UFC Hall of Famers arrested for domestic violence charges within weeks of one another, well, it’s not a great look to say the least.

Ultimate Fighter (TUF) contestant Luis Pena found himself in hot water for similar charges, allegedly striking two women “with a closed fist,” the first being his girlfriend. As a result of the details released, ESPN has confirmed that Pena has been released from the UFC. Pena leaves the roster with a 5-3 record inside the Octagon.

Following the conclusion of tonight’s “Contender Series” bouts, UFC President Dana White was asked about Pena’s situation and whether or not the thought process behind his release could be applied to Jon Jones. White explained that the details in Pena’s case were particularly bad, but he was sure to mention that anyone could be fired for such an offense.

“Well, this was a bad case. We knew that he had problems before that we were trying to help him with, and yeah, this is a nasty one,” White began, before being questioned about Jones specifically. “Something like that [getting released] could happen to anyone. It could happen to anyone.”

At the moment, details regarding the Jones’ arrest are still a bit unclear, but stay tuned for further updates.

Insomnia

Now this may come as a shock, but there are a whole bunch of fighters volunteering to punch Sean Strickland in the face!

Another day, another likely-to-be-excellent Bantamweight fight booking:

You ever just look at a post on social media and think to yourself, “This is bizarre behavior.”

The return of guess the fighter!

An interesting list of match ups we missed out on, but I would argue that Fedor Emelianenko’s famed missed opponent was Randy Couture, not Brock Lesnar.

Block and return fire!

I was never a huge Melvin Guillard fan back in the day, but it’s real hard not to feel bad for him and other veterans in his position. Perhaps bare knuckle boxing is not the best retirement plan.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

About as nasty a left hook knockout as you’re ever likely to see.

Circling into the spin makes for a painful connection ...

Liam Harrison chopped into another leg over the weekend.

Random Land

This bird is the stuff of nightmares.

Midnight Music: Earlier today, I checked out Frank Zappa’s album Apostrophe (‘) in full for the first time. It both was very weird and jammed very hard; wouldn’t expect much else!

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