Posts

Udinese are currently in 11th place in the Serie A standings and have been inconsistent so far this season. The home side edged Monza to an important 2-1 victory last week and will look to achieve a similar result in this fixture. Fiorentina, on the other hand, are in ninth place in the league table at the moment and have been fairly impressive this year. La Viola held Napoli to a 0-0 stalemate in their previous game and will need to take it up a notch this week....

French riot police charged and used tear gas to disperse rowdy English soccer fans on Wednesday night. Police said about 50 people were hurt during Wednesday, 16 of whom were hospitalised. “UEFA regrets the skirmishes which occurred in Lille last night. Police forces made several arrests and were quick to restore order and keep the situation under control,” UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, said in a statement. It made no reference to any action it might take....

However, the beautiful game was not built upon financial gain, cash or greed, but on dreams of ambition, success and glory. These are the values that may defy China’s efforts to tempt the very best away from the European game, as competing in the world’s biggest club competition, the UEFA Champions League, is one prize that even China cannot buy. Already the likes of Oscar, Hulk, Alex Teixeira, Ramires, Alex Witsel, Alexandre Pato, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Jackson Martinez, Carlos Tevez, Gervinho, Paulinho and many more familiar names that have competed on the top European stage have been attracted to the Far East, and with the Chinese transfer window open for a further month, more are expected to follow as hard cash remains on offer....

The three remaining sides — Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus — have refused to be reintegrated to UEFA and face further punishment. The plot to form a new Super League fell apart just days after the announcement of its creation, with the majority of teams pulling out following threats from football associations and fan protests. What has been said? Despite renouncing the plan, the nine reintegrated teams — Arsenal, AC Milan, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Inter, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham — will lose 5 percent of the revenue they would have received from UEFA for one season....

In an incident, that caused quite a stir, a song with racially offensive lyrics was played over the speakers of the stadium where the match between England and Norway took place. The music was followed, ironically, by an anti-racism message from Europe’s governing body. The UEFA are enquiring into the racism related issue that happened at the Ha Moshava Stadium in Petah Tikva, Israel. “There was a misunderstanding regarding instructions to the local DJ about acceptable lyrics inside the stadium,” said a UEFA statement....

Not only the results, but the matches have also shed some light on the performance of players. Jasper Cillessen was amazing in the game against Germany. Although he is a bench player at Barcelona, the 29-year-old has shown the quality to start at a big club. Matthijs De Ligt displayed the qualities of a world-class centre-back, thus making him a hot prospect for the next transfer window. Let us hope that this set of games offers us some amazing action....

“I’ve been competing in this sport for a very long time. This is my 19th fight in the UFC. I have been thoroughly tested many times and have never had a positive drug test,” Silva said via Soares. “I have not taken any performance-enhancing drugs. My stance on drugs is, and will always be, the same. I’m an advocate for a clean sport. I’m consulting with my advisors right now to explore all of my options and intend to fight this allegation and clear my name....

The always-hot Brazilian crowd were treated to 13 fights, with all of them ranging from solid to fantastic, and saw some highlight reel finishes to boot. Naturally, it didn’t all go down without a hitch, but what UFC show does? Here are the best and worst moments from Saturday’s show. #1 Best: So much violence! The UFC’s method of matchmaking, pitting fighters of a similar skill level against one another, is brilliant when it comes to finding out exactly who’s the best fighter, but often the lack of squash matches means we’re not always treated to hot finishes....

Can ‘The Gorilla’ be the one to unseat the champion, who’s reigned atop the 170lbs division since his July 2016 knockout of Robbie Lawler? It won’t be easy but I believe Till has some major advantages that he can capitalise on to defeat Woodley and claim the title. Here are 4 of them. #1: He can apply the pressure to Woodley For all of his great moments in the UFC – his knockouts of Josh Koscheck and Robbie Lawler for instance – one hallmark of Tyron Woodley’s career in the Octagon has been a clear weakness that shone through in both of his losses there – as well as in his two fights with Stephen Thompson....

But as things go in the crazy world of MMA, the mind starts to wander when you don’t constantly see a fighter competing. Holloway ran into some unfortunate luck for a good chunk of 2018. First, he had the leg injury that forced him out of UFC 222. Then, when he was going to move up in weight to challenge lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, the New York State Athletic Commission pulled him due to a weight-cutting issue the day before the fight....

The co-main event features Tyron Woodley defending his welterweight title against Kamaru Usman. Jones (23-1, one no-contest) will step back in after easily dispatching Alexander Gustafsson in their rematch 63 days ago at UFC 232. Before that fight, Jones had only competed five times since September 2013. He was arrested in 2015 after being involved in a hit-and-run accident involving a pregnant woman and fleeing the scene. He also failed two drug tests, with the latter failure netting him a 15-month suspension....

Jon Jones decided to play with fire against 7-to-1 underdog Thiago Santos and nearly saw his UFC light heavyweight title go to the challenger when he escaped with a split decision victory. Jones deployed a peculiar strategy that saw him stay away from his strengths in an effort to beat Santos at his own game of striking. He never once attempted a takedown and refused to attack the Brazilian’s damaged leg....

With two highly anticipated fights – Paulo Costa vs. Yoel Romero and Nate Diaz vs. Anthony Pettis – to look forward to prior to the main event, as well as the presence of contenders like Raphael Assuncao and Derek Brunson and prospects like Sodiq Yusuff and Manny Bermudez, this should be awesome. Here are the predicted outcomes for UFC 241: Cormier vs. Miocic II. #1 Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic Despite the fact that the pay-per-view it headlined – UFC 226 – did a less-than-stellar buyrate in the end, the original fight between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic just over a year ago was one of 2018’s biggest and most memorable moments....

Perhaps. UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov’s reign of terror continued as he steamrolled interim titlist Dustin Poirier to become the undisputed king of the lightweight division with a third-round submission in the main event of UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi. Nurmagomedov improved to 28-0 with yet another dominant performance as he utilized his wrestling and grappling to suffocate Poirier throughout the championship showdown. After a minute of the fighters feeling each other out, “The Eagle” closed the distance and dragged the battle to the canvas....

On its official website, the promotion confirmed that UFC 250 is set for June 6th in a yet to be decided location. The event was originally scheduled to take place on May 9 at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil. However, due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the event was postponed. The main-event hasn’t been decided yet but a bunch of undercard fights has been announced. Given the to-be-decided nature of the location, it looks like UFC is once again going to feature a card with no audience, which makes it safe to say that this idea is more of a trend than a one-off....

Actor Chris Pratt is one of the many public figures who are massive combat sports fans. The Guardians of the Galaxy star hailed ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ as the ‘GOAT’ and ‘pound for pound best.’ He also lauded UFC 268 as the “greatest night of fights in a long, long time.” Chris Pratt is a well-known MMA fan and has a bit of an amateur wrestling background himself. He was placed fifth in a high school state wrestling tournament while studying at Lake Stevens High School....

The AKA head coach recently appeared on The Schmozone podcast to discuss numerous topics. During the podcast, Mendez reiterated his belief that Nurmagomedov would have been successful in multiple weight classes, including the 205 lbs division. He said: Watch Javier Mendez on The Schmozone podcast below: Javier Mendez even exampled BJ Penn’s success in higher weight classes. ‘The Prodigy’ fought in every weight class from featherweight to middleweight during his pro MMA career....

The UFC has now taken the Featherweight title away from Conor McGregor, however. While he remains the undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion, the undisputed UFC Featherweight Championship has gone back to Jose Aldo, who had cemented his status as the interim champion after his defeat at the hands of McGregor. Aldo had defeated Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. The news was announced on the broadcast of UFC Fight Night. Here’s the video, posted by UFC Europe confirming that McGregor has given up the featherweight belt:...

Hooker owns the Combat Academy gym in Auckland, New Zealand. In early September, the UFC lightweight and his coach Eugene Bareman were warned by Auckland police not to train at the gym because that would violate the city’s Alert Level 4 restrictions. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Dan Hooker said: Hooker said people recently called the police and made false claims about him not complying with the lockdown rules....

December 14th Just last week McGregor caused a stir in the MMA community when he posted this tweet in the aftermath of Justin Gaethje’s win over Donald Cerrone at UFC FIght Night 158… The tweet was a clear statement from McGregor, who is no stranger to using social media to strengthen his hand at the negotiation table. Unfortunately for Conor, the UFC already has a card scheduled on December 14th in Las Vegas....