Daily Sports Headlines December 23, 2022
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MMA 2022 awards: The best fighter, finish, prospect and more
The year started with Francis Ngannou, the hardest puncher in UFC history, using wrestling and grappling — of all things — to beat rival Ciryl Gane, due to a torn knee. It continued with a grudge match between former best friends Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal that later allegedly continued outside the Octagon. Charles Oliveira lost his UFC lightweight title on the scale in May. Glover Teixeira and Jiří Procházka had one of the best fights ever in June. Amanda Nunes got her title back from Julianna Peña a month later, a pay-per-view card after Alexander Volkanovski cemented himself as historically excellent.
The sport of mixed martial arts is never dull, and 2022 was a perfect example of that.
In the span of four months, three of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world weren’t just beaten, but finished.
Then, August hit and all hell broke loose. Leon Edwards knocked out Kamaru Usman, the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, with less than a minute left to win the UFC welterweight title. In October, Islam Makhachev essentially walked through Oliveira, another pound-for-pound elite fighter, to win the vacant lightweight belt. And a month later, Alex Pereira, who owned two wins over 185-pound king Israel Adesanya in kickboxing, beat Adesanya again, this time in MMA via fifth-round knockout in November to win the UFC middleweight title.
Making sense of the historic logjam in the NBA’s Western Conference
As the NBA prepares to take center stage on Christmas Day, there’s something missing in the Western Conference: a team with at least 20 wins.
This time a year ago, both the eventual champion Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns had 26 wins entering their Christmas showdown, and even the Utah Jazz were off to a 22-9 start.
This season, the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies share the top spot in the West with 19-11 records. The New Orleans Pelicans — tied for the conference lead as recently as Dec. 14 — have dropped back to third after four consecutive losses.
Daniel Yule wins Madonna di Campiglio night slalom for 3rd time
MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy — When it comes to the World Cup slalom on the steep and icy Canalone Miramonti course, Daniel Yule is a specialist.
The Swiss skier won the night race for the third time Thursday, surging up from fourth place after the opening run with a flawless second trip down.
Yule matched Alberto Tomba and Henrik Kristoffersen in second place on the all-time wins list for the Italian race, trailing only Ingemar Stenmark’s five victories.
Three of Yule’s five career wins have come in Campiglio, having also finished atop the podium in 2018 and 2020.
Loic Meillard, who was second in the opening run, straddled a gate midway down in his second run.
Olympic champion Clement Noel also straddled in the second run.
Johannes Strolz, the Austrian who took silver in last season’s Olympic slalom and gold in combined, was unfortunate to go out in the second run when he skied over a loose pole from a gate that was rolling down the hill.
Who will win today’s BBL match between Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers?
Melbourne Stars (STA) and Perth Scorchers (SCO) will square off in the 12th match of the Big Bash League 2022, at the Junction Oval in Melbourne. Both the teams have put up some decent performances so far, and are placed in the upper half of the points table. Both teams won a game and lost the other out of the two played. While the Stars are placed third, the Scorchers take fourth place.
Melbourne Stars played the curtain raiser against Sydney Thunder but lost the game by one wicket. They bounced back stronger to win their next fixture against Hobart Hurricanes, and are backed with a victory. Defending champions Perth Scorchers won their series opener against Sydney Sixers, but lost their next game to Hobart Hurricanes, which ended in a thriller.
India vs Bangladesh 2nd test:
India in trouble as Virat Kohli departs.
Skipper KL Rahul’s wretched form with the bat continued as Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam set alarm bells ringing with three top-order wickets to leave India at an uncomfortable 86 for 3 at lunch on the day two of the second Test. The seasoned Virat Kohli (18 batting) was at the crease in company of Rishabh Pant (12 batting) with another 142 runs required for a first innings lead. Get live cricket score updates of 2nd Test match between India and Bangladesh.
Experienced left-arm spinner Taijul Islam took out India’s top three, giving Bangladesh the edge as the first session on day two of the second Test in Dhaka came to a close. At lunch, India were 86/3 in 36 overs and trailed Bangladesh by 141 runs, with Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant unbeaten on 18 and 12 respectively.
Celebrity chef Salt Bae, who crashed Argentina’s world cup celebrations, under FIFA investigation
After Argentina defeated France in the FIFA World Cup 2022 final in Qatar, celebrity chef Salt Bae was spotted holding and caressing the trophy. He eagerly posed for pictures with shocked Argentina players, including a puzzled and irate Lionel Messi. Now, FIFA is looking into how Bae obtained “undue access” to the field.
Messi apparently attempted to avoid the unwanted attention, but the Turkish businessman – whose real name is Nusret Gokce – grabbed Leo’s arm twice. He was also observed chewing on another player’s medal while being pictured alongside Lisandro Martinez and Angel Di Maria.
Men can compete in artistic swimming at Paris Olympics
Men can compete in Olympic artistic swimming for the first time at the 2024 Paris Games, World Aquatics said on Thursday.
Approval from the International Olympic Committee means a maximum of two men can be selected among eight athletes in the team event that is due to include 10 nations.
Adding men to the sport once known as synchronized swimming will leave rhythmic gymnastics as the last women-only event on the Summer Games program.
“The inclusion of men in Olympic artistic swimming was once considered the impossible dream,” May said, citing the “perseverance and the help and support of so many.”
At the 2022 worlds in Budapest, the mixed duet was won by Italians Giorgio Minisini and Lucrezia Ruggiero in a 13-nation contest.
Backstage Details On Why There Is No Live WWE Raw On The Day After Christmas
Fightful Select has revealed some backstage details regarding why there will not be a live “WWE Raw” episode on December 26, but instead, there will be a “Best Of” special.
One source indicated to Fightful that the reason was “likely to give production workers some additional time off,” while another source confirmed that while talent will be still on the road working live events on the day after Christmas, the shows will require far fewer production personnel. Entire departments don’t even have to work at the day.
A top talent reportedly told Fightful that WWE not having any live television tapings from December 20 through December 28 is a good move, though they wish that the wrestlers themselves could have a little more holiday time off. The top talent also noted that they will get paid well for working holiday dates.
The next live WWE broadcast is December 30, when 16-time former world champion John Cena will be making his in-ring return on the final “SmackDown” of the year at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Ben Stokes and Sam Curran will be among the top players in the IPL 2023 auction today.
Having only released five players, Capitals looks like a settled team ahead of the auctions. It has a significant INR 19.45 crore left to rope in five players and can afford to target some big names. Among them could be Ben Stokes, Sam Curran and Jason Holder. But, considering the Rishabh Pant-led side is stacked with bowling firepower, Delhi could look towards investing more aggressively on batters who float in the middle-order, which is slightly light with an out-of-form Pant, inconsistent Rovman Powell and Sarfaraz Khan. Capitals would also consider a specialist finisher with Rilee Rossouw and Nicholas Pooran emerging as front-runners for that role. Like most teams, Capitals will also need a cover for captain and wicketkeeper Pant and could look at getting back K.S. Bharat, who was bought by the franchise for INR 2 crore at the last auction, at a lower price.
Manchester City knocked defending champions Liverpool out of the Carabao Cup but James Milner’s injury will be of greater concern to Jurgen Klopp.
Never mind the World Cup, the Carabao Cup is where it’s really at.
After a break of 40 days, domestic football returned with a bang at the Etihad Stadium, as Manchester City edged out Liverpool, their great rivals, 3-2 to secure a spot in the quarter-finals.
Nathan Ake’s header tipped a thrilling contest the way of Pep Guardiola’s men, on a night when Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne all shone.
Haaland fired City into an early lead with his 24th goal of the season, only for Fabio Carvalho to draw Liverpool level.
Riyad Mahrez restored the home side’s advantage early in the second half, but Salah equalised within a minute for 2-2.
New Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in charge Najam Sethi straightaway sprang into action by making his stance on India and Pakistan bilateral cricketing ties clear. Sethi, who took charge of PCB on Thursday after Ramiz Raja was removed. Sethi has been appointed as head of the 14-member committee which will be responsible to run the cricketing affairs in Pakistan for the next four months.
Governments in both countries have to be consulted when it comes to bilateral and other cricket relations between Pakistan and India,” Sethi told reporters in Lahore.
The BCCI and PCB have been at loggerheads ever since ACC chairman and BCCI secretary Jay Shah said India won’t travel to Pakistan for next year’s Asia Cup and that the tournament will be shifted to a neutral venue. In a sharp retaliation, Raja had threatened to pull out of the ODI World Cup scheduled to take place in India in the latter half of 2023.
3-time Olympic champion Lyu Xiaojun tests positive for EPO
Three-time Olympic weightlifting champion Lyu Xiaojun of China has tested positive in a doping case, the International Testing Agency said Thursday.
The ITA said Lyu tested positive for EPO, an endurance boosting hormone banned in sports, on Oct. 30 while he was training.
The Chinese star is provisionally suspended while a disciplinary case is prosecuted.
Now aged 38, Lyu said on winning a third straight Olympic title in Tokyo last year that he would target a fourth at the 2024 Paris Games.
He was the oldest-ever weightlifting gold medalist when he won the men’s 81-kilogram category in Tokyo.
Jaguars boost playoff hopes behind smothering defense
It was supposed to be a duel between quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson, the top two picks of the 2021 draft. In the end, the Jaguars’ defense was the star.
The Jaguars limited the Jets to 227 yards and forced two turnovers. Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick, couldn’t get the New York Jets’ offense on track and was replaced in the third quarter by backup Chris Streveler. The Jaguars beat the Jets 19-3.
The Jaguars’ playoff odds improved to 51% with the win, according to ESPN Analytics.
The Jaguars are surging and — as surprising as it seems — are two games away from potentially winning the AFC South and making the playoffs.
Italian rugby club suspend player over racist Christmas present
Benetton Treviso rugby club said on Thursday they had suspended one of their players after a Black team member revealed he had received a banana as a Christmas gift from a teammate.
Cherif Traore, who represents Italy at national level, wrote on Instagram on Wednesday that some players had laughed when he opened the present. He later said he had accepted an apology for what happened.
The club issued two statements on the issue on Wednesday, but made no suggestion they planned to investigate the incident or take action against the player responsible.
In a change of tone on Thursday, they issued a third statement saying the national sports prosecutors’ office would look into what had happened “in order to protect the founding values and reputation of the game.”
WWE Rumors Roundup
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, “every top act has multiple different things under discussion right now” as far as WWE’s WrestleMania 39 event is concerned.
Per PW Insider, Drew McIntyre has been removed from WWE’s local advertising for its holiday tour show on Dec. 26 at Madison Square Garden, indicating that his return from injury is taking longer than originally expected.
WrestleVotes was told that WWE’s upcoming live event in India “has been postponed for unspecified reasons.”
Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer mentioned that AEW will probably introduce new championship belts next year.
WWE officials are said to be very happy with the new initiative to have NXT talent work with main roster wrestlers on Main Event, per Fightful Select. It’s not only seen as having a positive impact on the developmental process, but has also created more buzz for the NXT performers and Main Event as a show.
Fightful notes that AEW has filed to trademark the terms “WrestleBowl” and “Wrestling Bowl.”
That’s all for now. Thank you for your attention.
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