Highlights! Clay Collard shuts out Jeremy Stephens in “Fight Of The Year” contender

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Jeremy Stephens vs. Clay Collard completely lived up to expectations. The first main event of the 2022 Professional Fighter’s League (PFL) season delivered the goods, as Stephens and Collard threw down for a bloody 15 minutes.

Neither man wasted any time, landing big shots from the first bell. Between trading right hands, Collard made it a priority to work the body and dig some low kicks, attrition work that seemed to pay off as the fight wore on. Outside of the rare wrestling moment, the two brawled for the entirety of the first five minutes.

“Lil Heathen” started the second round string by stunning Collard, but “Cassius” answered with a takedown and some heavy punches of his own. Really, the momentum stayed in neither man’s corner for long, as they both landed at a tremendous rate. The chaos continued into the third round with the action remaining high until the closing seconds of the fight.

Ultimately, all three judges awarded Collard the win by way of 30-27 scorecards, but the official results don’t tell the whole story. Check out the video highlights below courtesy of PFL:

As a result of this victory, Collard begins the 2022 season with three points in the Lightweight standing.

Six Weeks Of Self-Promotion

It’s somehow been over six months since my last fight, and I’m once again booked to compete, this time at Urijah Faber’s A-1 Combat promotion in Sacramento, California on May 28.

As with all my pro fights, I raise funds to cover camp costs/actually make a profit via the fight banner. $5 or more gets your name/screen name/nickname on the fight banner, and it enters you into a raffle to win the banner itself. Payment options include venmo: AndyLRichardson (1572), PayPal, or the latest GoFundMe page. Complete details are HERE!

I hugely appreciate the MMAMania community support (financial or otherwise) for both my writing and fighting careers. Thank you!

Insomnia

Happy 4-20!

Paulo Costa volunteers to replace Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori, and honestly, I’d watch that again.

Chase Sherman’s second UFC run ended just about a week ago, but his third stint began this week after Tanner Boser withdrew from UFC Vegas 52 earlier this week!

Sean O’Malley is prepared for two opponents at the same time.

Most of these clips have been in this column at one point or another, but Tyson Fury’s head movement is cool enough to deserve multiple viewings.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Missing a left hook and and knowing you’re about to get blasted by a counter right is a bad, bad feeling.

Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier is a majorly badass fight. Those dudes traded SHOTS in the first round.

The classic Karate counter, an intercepting right hand, is so clean when timed perfectly.

Random Land

An emergency landing right by the beach!

Midnight Music: Black Midi is such a great young band, like a noisier Talking Heads.

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