Midnight Roundup! UFC fighter's brain surgery, Sean Strickland's eye injury, Dricus du Plessis gets political, and more

With the MMA world still reeling in the aftermath of UFC 297, Sean Strickland has come out and revealed how badly his eye was injured during the fight with Dricus du Plessis. The latter recently took a heated political stance during a live interview, but it is nothing compared to his American rival.

Catch up on the most exciting news updates with Sportskeeda's Midnight Roundup.

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UFC fighter to undergo brain surgery, promotion won't cover insurance

Josiah Harrell, who was scheduled to make his promotional debut at UFC 290 against Jack Della Maddalena, has been diagnosed with a rare brain disease, Moyamoya. It is a chronic cerebrovascular condition that attacks the blood vessels in the brain and can eventually trigger aneurysms, seizures, and strokes.

After setting up a GoFundMe for $80,000 three months ago, the fighter is now going to undergo surgery, according to MMA Junkie. As for why the UFC won't cover his medical expenses, Harell told a fan on Instagram:

"Last time I heard their insurance denied me since I was born with the disease instead of getting it from a fight. Win some, you lose some."

Read more on Josiah Harrell's condition here.

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Sean Strickland posts close-up photo of eye injury

Sean Strickland recently cited bad vision for his loss to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297. In an Instagram post, he stated:

"I didn't take the coward's way out and tell the doctor I couldn't see and got a no contest. The only reason why you took a round from me is because I couldn't see.. I won that fight, the world knows I won that fight. The belt they gave you will never make you a champion, enjoy. They had to stitch through muscle to get it closed."

He attached a close-up image of his stitched eye and a clip of du Plessis' head hitting his face to drive his point home.

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Dricus du Plessis claims the South African government is worse than the U.S.

Dricus du Plessis is not as politically vocal as his recent opponent Sean Strickland, but he still has opinions which he shared in an interview with Nina-Marie Daniele. Asked to speak about his government by Daniele, the South African said:

"I would say our government is as far ahead in being the worst government in the world."

When Daniele drew a parallel with the U.S. government, du Plessis said:

"It's not at all like your government. You can't even comprehend... Our government is the most corrupt government in the world, I'm 100% certain of that."

Watch the segment below:

Fans were divided about du Plessis' comments but most praised him for speaking up about the matter.

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Dricus du Plessis on P4P list

His political affiliations aside, Dricus du Plessis has debuted on the official P4P list at No. 8 in the latest ranking updates following UFC 297. Meanwhile, Sean Strickland drops a spot below Israel Adesanya on pound-for-pound rankings but remains above him at middleweight.

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Ilia Topuria has fighting words for Alexander Volkanovski

After Alexander Volkanovski sent a four-word warning to Ilia Topuria about "coming for that zero", the Georgian-Spanish fighter retorted with a wordy comeback.

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Brendan Schaub confuses Raquel Pennington with Amber Heard's friend

Like many others did when the news first came out, Brendan Schaub recently confused UFC's Raquel Pennington with Amber Heard's friend who shares the same name.

After the latter testified in the much-publicized Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial, her namesake from the MMA world came under fire in a case of mistaken identity. It seems like Schaub fell for the same faux pas in a recent chat with Joe Rogan and others.

Pennington previously addressed the matter, including revealing hateful DMs that she received because of the confusion.

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Midnight Recap!

Watch Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane, 'The Predator's' last fight in the UFC that took place exactly two years ago: