{"id":165018,"date":"2025-09-24T04:11:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T04:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/165018\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T04:11:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T04:11:06","slug":"ufc-knockout-artist-sidelined-for-two-years-before-unexpected-release-they-just-kept-me-on-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/165018\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC knockout artist sidelined for two years before unexpected release: \u2018They just kept me on hold\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Welcome to Midnight Mania!<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Let\u2019s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">We\u2019re only hearing one side of the story here, but keeping a fighter sidelined for ages with no plans to book him is rough. Prime years are short in this sport, and Hakeem Dawodu definitely lost out on some paydays by waiting around.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">As mentioned above, \u201cRocky\u201d is still a gifted striker! A comeback would be pretty cool to see.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ryan Garcia goes after Shakur Steveson! Think we\u2019ll ever get a match up between the two?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">By recreating a PRIDE-style poster, The Smashing Machine team has done better work than any UFC poster in years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Some slick movement here from Tom Aspinall, who never allowed his opponent to settle into top position.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ben Askren\u2019s recovery continues to be incredible to watch. \u201cFunky\u201d looks so much more like himself!<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">At 44 years of age, Georges St. Pierre hasn\u2019t lost a step.<\/p>\n<p>Slips, rips, and KO clips<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Rocky Marciano was one of the meanest punchers in boxing history. Also, it\u2019s fascinating to see the old school quick counter and willingness to let a boxer get absolutely pummeled here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">How did the opening double not break a few ribs?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">How long until we see Paddy Lesnar inside the Octagon?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cGet a load of this guy!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Midnight Music: Psych rock, 1969<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to Midnight Mania! Let\u2019s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,43768,785,85,1396,61417],"class_list":{"0":"post-165018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","12":"tag-midnight-mania","13":"tag-mma","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-ufc-news","16":"tag-ufc-roster-cuts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}