bats Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Amanda Nunes, one of the greatest to ever punch a human being in the face for money
Legends come in all shapes and sizes and if people are too closed-minded to accept that fact, then they can miss truly special talent. Dana White’s closed-mindedness almost caused sports fans to miss out on one of the greatest fighters of her generation — Amanda Nunes....

Someone let Conor McGregor off his leash and he put a mascot in the hospital
The Miami Heat took a double L in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets. Denver hit ‘em with a potential knockout blow, winning both games in Miami to take a 3-1 lead in the series. Adding insult to injury, Heat mascot “Burnie” got burned during halftime when he squared up at midcourt ...

ONE Championship wants United States expansion to start off with a bang
Chatri Sityodtong wants you to know there’s an alternative in the combat sports world. With the American fighting scene dominated by mixed martial arts, boxing, and professional wrestling, a new show in town needs to disrupt the market in order to plant its flag in the ground. Sityodtong, the founde...

Breaking the jaw, breaking the jaw
Boxing is a shell of its former self. Under the right circumstances, it can break through sports purgatory and be genuinely exciting. Enter two undefeated fighters in Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia, with one of the duo no longer having an unblemished record after this weekend’s catchweight bout. Bey...

<i>Power Slap </i>sucks so<i> </i>we've conceived 10 'combat sports' shows we'd rather watch
Have you watched Power Slap: Road to the Title on TBS? Highly recommended for torturing prisoners of war. It’s awful and I wrote about just how infuriating the show is at length. Something about the mind-numbing act of unprotected slaps to the face did get me thinking of combat sports that would do ...

Dana White’s <em>Power Slap</em> is the worst thing I’ve ever seen
Power Slap: Road to the Title is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. The new “hit” show on TBS that airs at the coveted 10 p.m. ET time slot on Wednesdays is so bad that it puts viewers in the shoes of the participants, because you feel like you’re getting a concussion watching it. As a lifelong fan o...

UFC's Dana White admits publicly hitting wife on NYE
The best way to avoid apologizing for hitting a woman is to never do it in the first place. Guess that never went through UFC President Dana White’s brain on New Year’s Eve, when he was seen getting into a physical altercation with his wife, Anna, at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Eyewitness...

Lotta goals in the desert - World Cup Daily Diary: Day 8
There may have been more exciting games or more dramatic endings in this tournament, but there hasn’t been one with more intrigue combined with a higher quality of play than this one. Argentina was staring at the abyss, much like Germany was today, giving the game something of a snuff-film air, and ...

The USMNT needs a striker in Qatar — can Jesus Ferreira be the answer?
It’s been the longest-standing position battle for the United States men’s national team. It’s been basically a forever chase to find a stable striker. The No. 9 spot has been taken by dozens of Americans, with no real claim to the throne. Brian McBride? Jozy Altidore? Joe-Max Moore? All had tempora...

World Cup 2022 Preview — Group F: Old man take a look at my defense, I’m a lot like you
“BELGIUM’S LAST CHANCE!” You’ve heard or seen this already. They are Europe’s big waste of the last decade. There has been no bigger collection of talent than what Belgium has sported for the last four major tournaments, and a 3rd place in Russia is all they’ve had to show for it. Either this is whe...

Man throws hard seltzer at Ted Cruz during Astros WS parade, world asks, ‘Was it worth it?’
Sen. Ted Cruz popped his head out of its dwelling, and as with most moles, some bystander tried whacking it with a mallet. During the Houston Astros World Series parade, Cruz thought it would be a good idea to give drunk people a moving target and hopped on the back of a Hummer to once again bask in...

Card subject to change
The Ultimate Fighting Championship isn’t having a banner week with plenty of drama and changes surrounding Saturday’s UFC 279 PPV, mostly caused by headlining welterweight Khamzat Chimaev. The Swedish fighter couldn’t wait until he entered the octagon to throw hands, first getting into a verbal alte...

Dana White upset because people paid attention to something he said
Typical Dana White. He gets asked a question, or is reminded of something that he doesn’t like, and he throws an adult temper tantrum. He yells, curses a mile a minute, and defiantly points his finger like Rafael Palmeiro in front of Congress. All to convince you that he is right because he is the U...

Canelo Alvarez appears to be open to a heavyweight fight, but he probably shouldn’t
Canelo Álvarez has always been up for a challenge throughout his career. By the time he took on Floyd Mayweather in 2013, he had 43 fights under his belt at just 23-years-old. He has won titles at light middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight. On Saturday, Álvarez will ...

Bellator’s Yaroslav Amosov withdraws from bout, will defend Ukraine instead
The Ukrainian people aren’t losing one of their resistance fighters to protect themselves from Russia’s needless war against their country. Bellator Ukrainian welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov already has a fight on his hands and won’t defend his championship as scheduled on May 13....

Jake Paul and Phil Mickelson go to battle for their sports
Golf and boxing — could two sports be more different? Both have been around for centuries, but on the opposite sides of the class spectrum — golf historically (and, some may argue, presently) reserved for the “gentlemen” of society, an extremely exclusive hobby that has long prided itself on its dec...

Tommy Fury is pulling out of his fight against Jake Paul, but the replacement is one helluva second option
Getting that middle finger tattoo may pay off in the long run for Tyron Woodley, because he got the fight that he wanted. Tommy Fury has pulled out of his Dec. 18 pay-per-view bout against Jake Paul. Fury, the former Love Island UK star, sent out a statement through his promoter, Frank Warren, annou...

Kamaru Usman needs to ignore Dana White’s advice about Canelo Álvarez, especially if he’s not going to pay the champ more money
The week of UFC 268, ESPN’s Max Kellerman interviewed UFC Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman to preview his then-upcoming championship defense against Colby Covington — whom he beat for the second time on Saturday — but then Kellerman asked Usman what was next after UFC 268. Kellerman made logical s...

Grant Hill left in awe watching daughter Myla win her MMA debut
Former NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer Grant Hill comes from a family of athletes and entertainers, and one more has been added to that great legacy. Myla Hill recently made her amateur MMA debut, impressively defeating Jenna Loza via submission in the first round....

Deontay Wilder took the high road… but it made everything less fun
It took him almost a week, but Deontay Wilder finally did it: he congratulated WBC Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury on defending the title in their third fight against each other. Wilder released a statement on Instagram loaded with athletic cliches about overcoming adversity, but in the last sentenc...