Former Jon Jones foes collide! Anthony Smith returns opposite Dominick Reyes at UFC 310

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Veteran Light Heavyweight contenders are now scheduled to collide, as former title challengers Anthony Smith and Dominick Reyes are booked to throw down at UFC 310 on December 10, 2024.

That breaking news is courtesy of MMAmania’s very own Alex Behunin.

A former title challenger, Smith currently stands at No. 12 in the Light Heavyweight ranks after his fairly recent loss to Middleweight’s Roman Dolidze. “Lionheart” tried to turn a short-notice opportunity into 205-pound momentum, but it backfired in the form of an ugly defeat. Though he scored a major upset in his previous bout opposite Vitor Petrino (watch here), Smith publicly discussed retirement after his last defeat, as his path to the title was becoming increasingly complicated after growing losses to ranked fighters — now we know that he’ll return to action at least one more!

Reyes knows something about bouncing back from adversity. Though he currently stands at the No. 14 spot, Reyes was once an undefeated hotshot prospect who very nearly dethroned Jon Jones. After that controversial decision loss, Reyes lost three more in a row and suffered serious health issues. It wasn’t until June 2024 that “The Devastator” finally bounced back by knocking out Dustin Jacoby in the very first round.

It remains to be seen if he can keep that momentum rolling opposite Smith.

Insomnia

I guess failing a drug test and abusing eye pokes equals out in the end, and therefore Chris Weidman is the rightful winner after all? What a journey.

Yana Santos is already riding a three-fight losing streak heading into UFC Vegas 95, she definitely should not accept this fight.

Hmm what did he mean by this?

I cannot wait for somebody to put two fingertips on the mat only to get destroyed by a knee.

What’s fun about Merab Dvalishvili is he has a proven track record of doing silly stuff like this even when the cameras are not around.

Got a little carried away …

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Beautiful takedown feint into spinning elbow, the Jon Jones special.

I am reminded of when a Stefan Struve jump knee didn’t go so well back in the day — it’s not good to get punched with zero connection to the floor!

Embarrassing.

Random Land

UFC went into decline as soon as Steven Seagal stopped hanging around.

Midnight Music: Hardcore hip-hop, 1993

I don’t know that many besides me will care or remember, but a decade ago today (Aug. 9, 2014), I made my amateur MMA debut. HERE is the article for the interested and the grainy video can be seen below:

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