NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MAY 09: Khamzat Chimaev of Russia prepares to face Sean Strickland in the UFC middleweight championship fight during the UFC 328 event at Prudential Center on May 09, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) Welcome to Midnight Mania! Let’s start the night off by taking a look back over the three biggest stories of Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. Video: Former WWE star Jack Swagger sheds tears of blood after second straight Power Slap loss: There just have to be better ways to make a living. Jack Swagger was popular! Sean Sharaf calls Gable Steveson a ‘rapist’ to his face: ‘That’s why everyone is booing him’ | UFC 331: Things will likely go terribly for him tomorrow night, but I walk away from UFC 331 as a Sharaf fan regardless. UFC White House official: Justin Gaethje’s gloves were checked ‘by multiple inspectors’: Sorry Ilia, but I think there’s an abundance of evidence that Gaethje just has dense fists and shins. Insomnia To the surprise of nobody, Khamzat Chimaev was able to quickly dispatch Gilbert Burns on the RAF mats, winning via second-round tech fall. How about a jiu-jitsu match?!? View this post on Instagram Khamzat Chimaev Beats Gilbert Burns via Tech Fall #RAF13 pic.twitter.com/lL1kLRHGVZ — The Schmo (@TheSchmo312) September 19, 2026 The ongoing negotiations between Paulo Costa and the UFC are growing uglier by the day! Its incredible CRAZY how Hunter won’t give me a regular, standard three -round fight; he insists on keeping it with me. He saying nobody is available till , maybe next year. Can you believe on this bullshit? lol. if you’re an LHW in @ufc roaster and want to fight, let’s bring… — Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) September 18, 2026 I’m not going to take 5 rounds for the price of 3. That would be stupid—it’s definitely stupid; anyone who does that is an idiot. — Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) September 18, 2026 I was already sold on Giga Chikadze vs. Joanderson Brito being a banger, but a bit of bad blood never hurts! Giga Chikadze and Joanderson Brito nearly got into a fight backstage after the weigh-ins today 😳 (via adjarabetcom/IG) pic.twitter.com/0kudab73GL — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 18, 2026 As I type this, my teammate Namiki Kawahara is setting up a hotpot in our hotel room ahead of his fight tomorrow evening. Some aspects of fighting never change! Pantoja cooks his food in the hotel room bathroom. 😅 🗣“The UFC make the whole diet for us but I prefer eat food from my wife because feed my soul and it's comfortable you know.” 📽 Via (@ufc)🔹️ pic.twitter.com/HL1fKBxyNY — FightLuck (@FightluckBet) September 18, 2026 I immediately identified this clip as one of two people, but I guessed wrong (answer below the final sentence of this article). The double jab. pic.twitter.com/Oa4iU56xwU — Phantom Punch Breakdowns (@9h6st21_mma) September 17, 2026 Me and like three other people were really impressed by Tommy Gannt last weekend at Noche UFC 4. It was largely miserable to watch but still high-level stuff! Gannt takes a weave grip on the legs to stop Klose from turning as he passes guard, holding him in place while he secures back mount pic.twitter.com/asBbAkUlWC — MixingMartialArts (@RyanAWagMMA) September 13, 2026 Hype FC is allegedly scamming The Fighting Nerds for big bucks. Prates saying Hype FC scammed him out of 5k after not paying him the 15k they had agreed on for him to go to an event and that they still owe Jean Silva 180k USD. Also warning fighters to be careful getting involved with them. https://t.co/tRcTFvNKit pic.twitter.com/cZuQ7ByQbF — 💔 (@uhvaimorre) September 14, 2026 Slips, rips, and KO clips That’s a nasty knockout for an amateur fight. Holy shit! Scary nasty Ko at #NFC192 pic.twitter.com/BMMg94Xt6O — FriedMMA (@MerrabiMedia) September 18, 2026 30 seconds is a long sprint, let alone for men this big. My favorite match of the tournament so far. Churanoumi vs Fujiryoga was a great technical back and forth. pic.twitter.com/Da9iy5mMKe — Miguel Class (@MigClass) September 18, 2026 Igor did several things correctly while defending this choke, but dos Santos did well to hang on and keep squeezing throughout the scramble. What a beautiful anaconda choke by Felipe "Lipe Detona" dos Santos #BisonKombat9 pic.twitter.com/qjd68pmYjE — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) August 22, 2026 Random Land A fun Tito clip to accompany this interesting quiz. Where are ya’ll living? Tito Ortiz talks politics: "Either you're red or you're blue and of course your liberals in the middle."#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/PXRDbKC3dN — Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) September 16, 2026 New political identity quiz just dropped 👀https://t.co/F8NfrQ35Kt — tré easton (@treeaston) September 17, 2026 Get involved with Mania community in The Feed! Midnight Music: Synth pop, 2011 Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way. *I thought it was Alexander Volkanovski, but the double jab clip was GSP!