Bantamweight Twitter woke up hungry today, Shinya Aoki started a fight with a doctor over playing dead in a choke, and Sean Strickland has thoughts about France. Here’s everything worth your scroll, biggest to smallest.
Petr Yan
Petr Yan, who’s on the UFC 333 card, told MMA Fighting that Song Yadong is “more deserving” of a title shot than Sean O’Malley. Then he went full farmhand: “They gave [O’Malley] two free fights against the champ. They raised this chicken to lay eggs for so long, and now they’re trying to squeeze as many eggs out as possible.” That’s the best insult of the week, because it calls O’Malley a cash cow (cash chicken?) and roasts the UFC for milking him in the same breath. Yan’s English pressers are always half chess, half tavern brawl, and this one landed clean.
Sean O’Malley
Suga didn’t answer the chicken line directly. He posted “PETE VS MORAB WHO YOU GOT AT UFC 333?” on X, which is a very O’Malley way to say he’s watching. That spelling of Morab is either a typo or a little needle, and I know which one I’m betting on. Asking the fans to pick a winner in a fight you’re circling is the oldest heel trick in the book, and I respect it.
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Tim Welch
Tim Welch jumped in on the Yan clip with his own read: “Sugs style is alot more tricky for Pete, it makes sense why he would prefer Song.” Translation: Welch thinks Yan is picking the opponent he’d rather see in the title picture, and he’s dressing it up as fairness. It’s a fair counterpunch, and it turns Yan’s who-deserves-it argument into a who’s-he-scared-of argument, which is a much more fun fight to watch online.
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Shinya Aoki
Now the grappling nerds get their turn. A judo medical safety account that says it helped analyze chokes and loss of consciousness across 7,426 matches from the 2015 to 2021 World Judo Championships argued that faking unconsciousness to escape a choke is dangerous. Their point: it could teach referees and opponents to hesitate on releasing athletes who are actually out, and nobody should promote it as clever strategy. Aoki quoted it with “いやいや。これも技術のうち。” which roughly means no, no, this is part of the technique too. Of course Aoki is defending the dark arts. The man has built a whole career on making opponents regret trusting him on the mat.
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Itsuki Hirata
Itsuki Hirata saw the Aoki discourse and decided to stay out of it, very loudly. She posted “青木さんがSNSパトロールしてるので お口ミッフィーにしておきます！” which translates to Aoki is patrolling social media, so she’s keeping a Miffy mouth (the little X-shaped mouth on the cartoon bunny). That’s the funniest no comment I’ve seen all year. When the guy patrolling the timeline is Shinya Aoki, zipping it is the smart play.
Kyoji Horiguchi
Kyoji Horiguchi is one month out from his next fight at UFC Qatar on Saturday, November 21 local time, per the UFC Japan account he quoted. He wrote “試合まで残り1ヶ月！！！ 練習も順調です。やったります！” saying training is going smoothly and he’s ready to get it done. Three exclamation points from Horiguchi is basically a Conor press conference. Short, happy, zero drama, and I’m counting down.
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Jake Shields
Jake Shields claims the UFC cut Farid Basharat, whom he called an undefeated phenom, and he floated two theories on X: “Was it because he was it because he’s Muslim or not flashy enough?” Both theories are Shields’ own speculation. He capped it with “Today’s UFC would drop Floyd Mayweather,” which is a funny line and a real complaint some fans have about the promotion chasing highlights over wins. Expect plenty of replies.
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Sean Strickland
Strickland closes us out with zero relevance to the bantamweight title and total commitment to the bit. He posted a childhood-versus-adulthood take on France, going from wanting lunch by the Eiffel Tower to “You couldn’t pay me to go to that shit hole,” and then asked “What happened?” The French tourism board did not respond, and I’m guessing nobody booking a Paris card has Strickland at the top of the poster list. UFC Qatar is November 21, and Horiguchi says he’s ready.
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