Midnight Mania! Anthony Johnson slams ‘lazy’ Paulo Costa scale fail

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The following story isn’t quite the irony bomb I first expected, but it’s still a bit silly.

Paulo Costa’s antics at the scale certainly deserve a ton of criticism. The Brazilian appears to be intentionally making a mockery of the whole process, shifting a Middleweight fight up 20 pounds at the latest possible moments. The main event could easily have been cancelled and is only happening because Marvin Vettori is game as hell, and UFC needs its main event if anyone is going to tune into this card. Skip ahead a bit, and there’s a whole bunch of justified criticism/mockery of Costa from various pundits and athletes.

In short, the Brazilian deserves the heat. But ... does Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, one of the most notorious weight cutters in the sport’s history, have room to publicly judge? It depends if the details matter to you. Bellator’s Johnson took to his Instagram story to slam Costa, not off missing weight necessarily, but specifically taking issue with Costa’s refusal to even try to make weight.

“I missed weight 3 times while fighting for UFC,” Johnson wrote (via MMAJunkie). “Even if I knew it would be a struggle I’d still try and make the weight and not be a b—h and try to do catch(weight) outta the blue cuz I was lazy. Costa wants the fame and glory without putting in the work. Bash me all you want but even I didn’t make up excuses or cop out.

“If he fights 205 just stay there. That way there’s no more excuses and nobody will see how lazy he is. Trust me going up in weight is much better and makes life easier.”

One way or another, Vettori and Costa face off in less than 24 hours.

Insomnia

This has certainly been one of the most eventful weigh-in weeks in recent memory.

Gordon Ryan is absurdly slick.

Madman Dan Hooker calls for the full 25 minutes for his short-notice bout vs. Islam Makhachev.

A body shot challenge featuring Teofimo Lopez and Thor Bjornssen! Someone call Francis Ngannou and make this extra interesting.

SOUND THE ALARMS: Mike Perry is moving his head!

Sean O’Malley may not seem to care who he fights next, but he’s at least a bit irritated with Dominick Cruz.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

From my perspective, there’s almost no chance this hold was choking Do Boxe, it was squeezing the back of his neck. Looks like an unpleasant neck crank though!

The “ghost” escape from side control to d’arce choke is one of my favorite transitions, and it’s landed at least once inside the Octagon (Mitch Clark vs. Al Iaquinta).

Single-minded thigh destruction:

Random Land

Not for sensitive stomachs ...

Midnight Music: I dug this melancholic and strange track from Swedish post-punk group Viagra Boys.

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