England’s Tommy Fleetwood shot a 10-under-par 62 to equal the course record and lead by one shot after the opening round of the Abu Dhabi Championship.
Dane Thorbjorn Olesen and American Johannes Veerman share second place, with English trio Tyrrell Hatton, Paul Waring and Laurie Canter and Italian Francesco Laporta one stroke further back.
Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre went round in seven under, England’s Alex Fitzpatrick and Matthew Jordan six under and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy five under.
Fleetwood said: “When you shoot a 62, obviously everything is going to have gone very, very well.”
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McIlroy needs to finish in the top two at Yas Links to win a sixth Race to Dubai title, before the final event of the European Tour season at the World Tour Championship in Dubai next week.
McIlroy, who has spent three weeks in a studio hitting balls at a screen with a modified swing, said his performance on day one of the tournament “felt OK”.
“I probably wasn’t as imaginative out there – I was hitting very straight shots.”
ONE Championship creates more depth in its big January event by adding the return of champion Fabricio Andrade.
At ONE 170 on Jan. 24 at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, Andrade (9-2) will defend his bantamweight (145 pounds) title for the first time against a familiar opponent, Won Il Kwon. The promotion directly confirmed the news of the matchup with MMA Junkie.
The event is an Asian primetime card starting at 7:30 a.m. ET.
Andrade achieved his crowning moment by defeating John Lineker at ONE on Prime Video 7 in February 2023. Lineker’s corner stopped the fight after the conclusion of Round 4 due to damage to their fighter’s eye.
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Since his big moment, Andrade, 27, has only appeared once in a kickboxing bout against Jonathan Haggerty. It was an attempt to become a two-sport champion in ONE, but things did not go his way as he was stopped in the second round. Now, he’s geared up for his return to MMA competition and will look to defend his title for the first time against Kwon (14-4), who he previously faced and finished.
The first meeting took place at ONE Championship 158 in June 2022. Andrade finished the fight with a liver kick in the first round, which led to back-to-back appearances against Lineker.
Kwon has not lost since. The 29-year-old South Korean fighter has gone on a tear, finishing three consecutive opponents. His most recent appearance was a second-round ground and pounding of Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg in January, which has set up his title opportunity.
With the addition, the ONE 170 lineup includes:
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Fabricio Andrade vs. Won Il Kwon – for bantamweight title
Tawanchai PK Saenchai vs. Superbon Banchamek – for muay Thai lightweight title
Superlek Kiatmoo9 vs. Nico Carrillo – for muay Thai featherweight title
Saeksan Or Kwanmuang vs. Soe Lin Oo
Suriyanlek Por Yenying vs. Thant Zin
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
In the final part of his prize package, 2023 Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award Winner and Rodin F3 driver Joseph Loake heads to Silverstone to test the Aston Martin AMR22 F1 Car.
Narrated and presented by Motorsport Engineer Blake Hinsey, we gets a behind-the-scenes look at how Aston Martin conducts a track test for a new driver, as well as insight from Joseph and his family on the emotional journey climbing the ladder of junior motorsport, and the thrill of driving an F1 car for the first time.
Week 10 of the 2024 NFL season is almost here! But before FOX Sports lead NFL analyst Tom Brady heads back to Tampa Bay for a massive NFC battle between the Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers, it’s time for the GOAT to unveil his latest power rankings! A surprising team enters Brady’s list for the first time, while one NFC squad separates itself from the pack after a huge Week 9 win.
Check out his latest Top 5 and full analysis here:
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Tom Brady’s Week 9 Power Rankings | DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
Here’s who the GOAT has ranked as his Top 5 teams entering a massive Week 10!
Brady’s thoughts: “Coming in at No. 5 this week and making their debut in my power rankings, the Washington Commanders. Led by rookie QB Jayden Daniels — he doesn’t look like a rookie to me — Washington’s won three straight and seven of their last eight. That’s insane.
“Hats off to Coach [Dan] Quinn. You’ve done an incredible job this year as head coach. The team, they’ve had more wins this year than they did last year, and that’s their best start in almost 30 years. They’ll try to stay undefeated at home this season when the Steelers make the trip to D.C. this week.”
Wide receiver Terry McLaurin and quarterback Jayden Daniels have formed a potent duo for the Commanders in Daniels’ first NFL season. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
Brady’s thoughts: “Hard to believe they’re No. 4 and not higher. There’s some other good teams up there. They had a tough loss to the Browns, but they bounced back and got a huge win over Denver. Lamar was ridiculous, a perfect QB rating against a top-three defense.
“Derrick Henry — again unstoppable. He’s already over 1,000 yards halfway through the season. The Ravens also have the league’s No. 1 ranked run defense. Man, that’s just a tough football team. But they’ve got a huge test on Thursday against [Joe] Burrow and the Bengals.”
The combination of Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson in Baltimore’s backfield is everything Ravens fans had hoped for when Henry arrived in the offseason. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
Brady’s thoughts: “They pulled out a wild win against the Dolphins in the fourth quarter. Tyler Bass hit a 61-yarder for the win. It wasn’t the Bills’ cleanest game of the year, but Josh Allen came up clutch with three touchdowns in the second half. That’s four straight for Buffalo. But don’t overlook the Colts this week with the Chiefs looming in Week 11.”
Josh Allen led the Bills to a comeback victory over the Dolphins to keep Buffalo in the driver’s seat in the AFC East. (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
Brady’s thoughts: “There were plenty of doubters as they played their first outdoor game of the year. But that rainstorm at Lambeau, it didn’t slow them down. Jared Goff is in the zone. He’s completing an NFL record 83% of his passes the last six weeks. David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs — they killed it on the ground with 138 combined rush yards. And I’ve got to show a lot of love to Aaron Glenn. That Lions D is allowing 19 points per game since losing Aidan Hutchinson.
“Detroit looks to win its seventh straight game this week against C.J. Stroud and the Texans in Houston. That’s a great matchup.”
A rainy day in Green Bay was no match for Jared Goff and the juggernaut Lions on Sunday. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Brady’s thoughts: “If you’re undefeated, you better believe you’re going to stay at the top of my power rankings. At No. 1, the Kansas City Chiefs. They continue to find ways to win close games. They’ve got that championship DNA. Patrick Mahomes had three touchdowns, didn’t turn the ball over, and they had a new addition. DeAndre Hopkins is already looking like a great fit in this offense. He had two touchdowns.
“Looking all the way back to last year, that’s 14 straight wins for the Chiefs. Sean Payton, you’ve got a challenge against them this Sunday when it’s Broncos-Chiefs. Let’s see if the Chiefs can stay undefeated.
Patrick Mahomes and the still-undefeated Chiefs continue to loom large over the rest of the NFL. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
“There’s a great set of games coming up this weekend. Let’s see who tops the power rankings next week.”
A GOFUNDMEPAGE has been launched for a former jockey who is in critical condition after his two daughters ran out of money for hospital bills.
Tony Ives, 71, who rode multiple horses for the late Queen during his two years as stable jockey for Ian Balding, was one of the top Flat jockeys during the 1970s and 80s.
1
Jockey William Buick was among many big names in the sport to donateCredit: Reuters
He famously won the 1985 Arlington Million – a world-famous race in its day – aboard Teleprompter, and won the 1987 Irish 1,000 Guineas on Forest Flower.
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He also rode for Lester Piggot for two years when the former jock started his training career.
Later in his career Ives moved to Hong Kong and remained in South East Asia. He now lives in Thailand where he has been hospitalised after developing a blood infection in the last week.
David Harrison launched the gofundmepage when it became clear the family could no longer afford the hospital costs.
Read more in horse racing
Harrison said: “Tony was transferred to ICU at Overbrook Hospital, Chiang Rai where he spent the night in a critical condition with high fever and a blood infection.
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“This morning his condition has stabilized and his fever is down. The hospital expect him to be moved out of ICU later today. His two daughters Tatier 16, Taya 19 and grandchild Tilin (6 months old) are by his bedside.
“I’m calling on Tony’s friends now as we are in urgent need of money for his medical bills,
“Unfortunately his two daughters have run out of money after paying over a week of hospital bills, the local hotels they will stay in are now very kindly covered by Mrs Phamee.
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“The hospital have just called with an update on costs, ICU already about 59,000 Baht (£1,350) and we expect with private room, nursing costs etc will total around 5,000 Baht (£120) a day expected for roughly 14 days.
“We are looking to raise around £3,000 for Tony’s past and upcoming medical bills. Any donation to help Tony would be greatly appreciated.
“Thankyou to all the medical staff at the hospital for their ongoing treatment of our friend Tony.”
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The fund has already passed its target having reached over £7,000.
There are several big names amongst the donators including Frankie Dettori, William Buick who gave £3,000 and ‘The Piggott Family’ who donated £1,000.
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The UFC is set to embark on potentially the biggest year in the history of the promotion with a new broadcast rights deal arriving in 2025.
While executives at TKO Group Holdings—the combined parent company to UFC and WWE—remain flexible when addressing any potential business partners moving forward, it’s also possible that nothing much changes when a new deal is struck. TKO President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro has stated that nothing is off the table when it comes time to negotiate a new UFC broadcast rights deal, but that the current way major events are sold as pay-per-views continues to work well.
“What I can tell you as we enter into these negotiations, at the end of the day it’s what the market will bear,” Shapiro said during a TKO earnings call on Wednesday. “That’s really what it is. We’re next up. We’re the next big thing on the block, if you will, We have a proven track record. Our demos are insane, really just across TKO. Fifty percent of our audience is 18-to-34 [year olds], which is what most platforms and companies are chasing. So we’re in good stead there. We have terrific versification and we drive a very strong Hispanic audience when it comes to the UFC and we’re gender neutral. We’re not just talking about women watching women’s fights. That’s not the case. We have a strong base of women watching all our fights. So we’re sitting at a pretty good position.
“Pay-per-view is still a strong model. It worked to build ESPN+. It’s worked for us internationally. We’ve got great history with it. DirecTV and DISH [Network] may be coming together. So who knows the kind of opportunity there.”
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During past calls with investors, Shapiro has said that there was a world where the UFC’s PPV model could potentially go away under the right terms with a broadcast partner. For instance, Netflix is about to broadcast the upcoming Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight to its 282 million subscribers without any additional cost attached to watch the event.
Meanwhile, WWE used to operate under a similar format as UFC with monthly PPV events but that model changed with the launch of the WWE Network in 2014. Now major WWE events such as WrestleMania or SummerSlam are considered “premium live events” that are currently broadcast on Peacock—one of the promotion’s broadcast partners—at no additional cost outside of paying for a subscription to the streaming service.
As much as that works for WWE, Shapiro can’t say for certain if PPV is ever going away for UFC. That decision depends on what a broadcast partner wants when negotiations start in early 2025.
“Things change. Models change. Viewing patterns change,” Shapiro said. “Broadcast is now kind of back in if you will, cable is obviously having its struggles but still nothing to frown at. Streaming is on fire and new platforms and fast channels are coming all the time.
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“So it’s really just demonstrating and signaling to the market that we have flexibility and a willingness to play ball on a myriad of business models. Ari and I in particular are very focused on not just communicating that but actively discussing those potential models with all of the partners and then some.”
When the UFC initially signed with ESPN in 2018, a five-year deal eventually turned into a seven-year partnership with the Disney-owned company also taking over PPV broadcasts. Now all of the major UFC events are sold exclusively through ESPN+ rather than the previous model where those same events would be available through traditional PPV outlets like inDemand.
As the UFC’s current broadcast partner, ESPN maintains an exclusive negotiating period to reach terms on a new deal, although it’s highly unlikely the two sides strike a bargain before Dana White’s MMA organization at least fields offers from other potential suitors. Shapiro made it clear the UFC wants to maximize its value in these next negotiations with potential partners.
In other words, if somebody is willing to pay, the UFC is willing to listen.
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“In terms of what really benefits us and our shareholders is maximizing value on these renewals,” Shapiro said. “That’s the bottom line. We’re not looking to upend or change for change sake or unorthodox models, we are looking to maximize our rights. End of story. UFC is mainstream, incredibly popular. I see some of the struggles going on with other leagues right now, both linear and digital. Leagues that have started new seasons and they’re not off to a rocket start like we’re accustomed to. That’s not the case with UFC. We’re still driving [subscriptions] to ESPN+. When we’re on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC, we’re a ratings winner and driving more advertising for those platforms.
“If we have to be creative to help potential partners or bring other suitors in the door so that we get a higher price or live up to the guide that the street has been giving us on the renewal — not the one that we’re giving them but the one their giving us — then we’re going to do it. All we’re trying to signal to our shareholders and all we’re trying to signal to the media suitors, the platforms, the companies that are going to be chasing us relatively soon.”
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