Former UFC middleweight champion Whittaker (26-8 MMA, 17-6 UFC) was on the receiving end of his fastest defeat ever in the weight class on Saturday when Khamzat Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) took him to the ground and scored a gruesome submission that disfigured his teeth inside the first round at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
Images of Whittaker’s mouth surfaced after the fight with his teeth crushed in an unnatural direction courtesy of Chimaev’s submission, and it looked to be a serious injury. Whittaker’s attitude indicates it’s more of a nuisance, however, because in his first statement since the fight, he clarified that he does not have a broken jaw and only teeth damage.
“It’s a tough gig sometimes but that’s the business,” Whittaker wrote on Instagram. “Big congratulations to Khamzat, he was the better man tonight and that’s all there is to it. I felt great, everything was on point and I was ready. My jaw is good, but my teeth were moved in. It’s a good excuse to fix them properly now.”
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Although Whittaker, 33, fell short of his goal of beating Chimaev and making another step closer to another chance to regain the 185-pound belt, it appears he’s not deterred. “The Reaper” said he intends on returning to the octagon sooner than later, but first he intends to fully recover and spend time with his wife, children and other family members before focusing on what his return to the cage will look like.
“I’m disappointed, but I come back better from every setback and every challenge so this is no different,” Whittaker said. “I want to thank my team and everyone who supported me to get here. Time to go spend time with the family for a bit. Be back soon.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Try as they might, the horns and the percussionists from Ohio State‘s famous marching band couldn’t drown out the boos as the third quarter drew to a close on Saturday afternoon. Clinging to an increasingly fraught five-point lead, the Buckeyes’ offense had just gone three-and-out for the third time in a span of four possessions, with the only reprieve coming in the form of a gobsmacking interception by quarterback Will Howard. The latest irritant to the crowd of 104,830 at Ohio Stadium was a failed third-down carry from running back TreVeyon Henderson, who was enveloped for negative yardage while the offensive line capitulated. Smatterings of fans let their exasperation be heard as the punt team readied for duty and the band played on like nothing was wrong.
But there were plenty of problems with Ohio State’s harrowing 21-17 survival against Nebraska, a middling Big Ten foe that, seven days prior, was garroted by 49 points in a nationally televised implosion against then-No. 16 Indiana. The Cornhuskers arrived here as underdogs of more than 25 points and losers of their last 26 games against ranked opponents, a streak that predates head coach Matt Rhule. And yet there stood the Buckeyes, dumbfounded and dazed and disbelieving what they were seeing, trailing by three with 10:47 remaining once Nebraska tailback Dante Dowdell soared across the goal line for a 1-yard score. In that moment, and with all the warts that had been exposed, the idea that Ohio State should be viewed as one of the best teams in college football — a bonafide contender to win its first national championship since 2014 — felt rather farcical.
“It wasn’t perfect,” Howard said. “But a win is a win.”
And the fans could feel it. Sure, there were some micro frustrations amid the collective disdain on a beautiful fall day in Columbus. They were irritated by an ineffective rushing attack that only gained 2.1 yards per carry on 31 attempts. They were annoyed by the porous pass blocking that seemed to accelerate the clock in Howard’s head. They were galled by the shanked field goal from kicker Jayden Fielding. They were incensed at the trio of penalties called against cornerback Davison Igbinosun, even if one of them was declined. They were livid over the ejection of linebacker Arvell Reese for targeting and threw bottles onto the field, briefly halting the game as stadium staff cleared debris. And they were mystified that head coach Ryan Day and his staff hadn’t done a better job of energizing and enlivening this bunch with two full weeks of practice since their soul-crushing loss to Oregon.
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But it was the macro overtones that were far more concerning for a fan base desperate to cleanse itself after watching archrival Michigan win the Big Ten Championship and reach the College Football Playoff in three consecutive seasons, the last of which was punctuated with the conference’s first national title in a decade. Indeed, what the Buckeyes displayed against Nebraska was far from the kind of gritty, fourth-quarter win that Day described it to be in his postgame news conference, an equivocation that raised more than a few eyebrows among reporters. No amount of coach speak or cliché spewing could obfuscate the harsh reality facing Ohio State: that it is an immensely talented football team falling short of expectations.
“We’ve gotta go back and look at the film and get it corrected because [it’s like] we’re in the playoffs now,” Howard said. “Every game is the most important game. We can’t afford to put a performance out there that we’re not proud of like today. And I think today will wake us up and remind us that we’ve got to just continue to grind every single day, every single week and not ever get complacent, because you never know.”
That Ohio State’s offensive malaise against Nebraska could be easily juxtaposed with the 56-7 beating Indiana applied to the Cornhuskers last week only deepened the concern. How could the Buckeyes, whose running back tandem of Henderson and Quinshon Judkins is arguably the best in the country, be tackled behind the line of scrimmage seven times by a defense that surrendered 215 rushing yards and 6.5 yards per carry to the significantly less-talented Hoosiers? How could Ohio State, whose receiving trio of Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate is the envy of college football, only convert once in 10 tries on third down after Indiana moved the chains against Nebraska at a 55.6% clip? How could an offense overseen by Day and first-year offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who is considered one of the brightest minds in the sport, produce 35 fewer points than IU did when facing the same unit in successive weeks?
To varying degrees, all of those questions point back to Ohio State’s injury problems along the offensive line, where starting left tackle Josh Simmons is out for the season with an undisclosed left knee injury suffered in the loss to Oregon. Without Simmons, who had blossomed into the team’s best lineman in his second season since arriving from San Diego State, offensive line coach Justin Frye entrusted senior Zen Michalski to fill that role against Nebraska despite logging just 105 snaps across the first six games.
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A former four-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting cycle, Michalski struggled in his first career start before exiting in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a hip injury. He allowed a sack on Ohio State’s opening possession when defensive lineman Jimari Butler beat him at the line of scrimmage and seemed to miss an assignment on each of the Buckeyes’ next two drives, including one that directly contributed to a three-and-out. Were it not for the lengthy touchdown throws from Howard, who connected with Tate for a 40-yard score and Smith for a 60-yard score, the revolving door of mistakes off the left side would have proven even more detrimental considering Judkins and Henderson only combined for 54 rushing yards and failed to reach the end zone on the ground.
“For our offensive line,” Judkins said, “definitely wasn’t our best day up front. But I think those guys will get it corrected. Coach Frye, you know, he is great at what he does as far as coaching, and I think he’ll definitely fix it for next week. But I think everyone could improve.”
It’s a message that applied to nearly every member of Ohio State’s team on an afternoon when the Buckeyes needed to mount an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive with 6:04 remaining in the fourth quarter to finally reclaim the lead, when the victory wasn’t assured until defensive back Jordan Hancock intercepted a poorly thrown ball from five-star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola — a one-time OSU commit — in the final 90 seconds, when the toughness and desire and will of a roster that reportedly cost more than $20 million to assemble were all called into question as the path toward an expanded College Football Playoff temporarily faded.
That’s why there were boos echoing around the stadium on Saturday. And even the Ohio State band couldn’t overpower them.
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“We’re going to look back,” Day said, “and find that we should not be in games like this, quite honestly. I mean, that’s just the way we look at it.
“But we were [today]. Give Nebraska credit.”
Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.
ABU DHABI – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 308 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $252,000.
The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.
UFC 308 took place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+
The full UFC 308 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.
In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.
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Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Max Holloway was the “BMF” champion. Ilia Topuria knocked him out. So Topuria is the BMF champion now, right?
Apparently it’s not that simple, as Topuria’s incredible knockout of Holloway in the UFC 308 main event only secured Topuria’s featherweight championship. Holloway won the BMF title with a fifth-round KO of Justin Gaethje this past April, but UFC CEO Dana White never stated that Holloway’s title was on the line Saturday. White later told reporters Holloway is still the BMF even after the loss.
None of that stopped Topuria from parading around with two titles after beating Holloway, which “Blessed” was asked about at the evening’s post-fight press conference.
“Could you imagine [lightweight champion] Islam [Makhachev] walking around with two belts after knocking out [featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski]?” Holloway said. “Let that sink in. The belt was in a different weight class for a different reason. I think the fans make it happen, if the UFC really wanted to make it happen they would have put it up, but Dana said what he said, so he’s the boss man.”
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Topuria was also asked why he was waltzing around with the BMF title in addition to his UFC title and he wondered why it wasn’t up for grabs in the first place.
“I never understand why they didn’t put the BMF belt on the line,” Topuria said. “It has to be on the line since the first day, but they don’t want to make it official, I’m going to make it official by myself.”
“It’s going to be a little bit weird for them to promote him as a BMF, but is what it is, no problem,” he added. “I’m going to keep it in my house. … Now, I’m the new baddest motherf*cker world champion.”
Prior to fighting Holloway, Topuria suggested he could challenge for titles in multiple divisions, targeting bouts with welterweight champion Belal Muhammad and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
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Holloway was asked if he thought Topuria could get Islam next, but he still sees options at 145 pounds for Topuria.
“I don’t know,” Holloway said. “I saw Dana White talk about it, Dana White said that Ilia got a lot of contenders here, so we see what happens. Certain situations come up for certain fighters because of certain workload that they do, so at the end of the day if he gets it that’s cool, but probably not. He has Volk and Diego [Lopes] ramming down the door right now, so I think they might keep him down there.”
“It’s hard to go against Islam,” Holloway said when asked to evaluate the potential matchup. “His fighting style is a tough one. He likes wrestling, he likes striking now, he’s falling in love with his striking, so it’s hard to win against Islam.”
“Shaq is not the only Bristol Rovers player to receive racial abuse, with an incident under investigation only last week.
“Even more sickening is that some of these messages come from individuals claiming to be Bristol Rovers supporters. Each time, the club has sought to act in the appropriate manner.”
The incident occurred just days after Luton Town striker Elijah Adebayo was the victim of racist abuse sent to him by an Instagram user after the Hatters lost 2-1 to Sunderland in the Championship.
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Bristol Rovers said the “old methods of ‘combating’ racism”, the “carefully-crafted press releases and saturated social media posts” are “not working”.
The club statement added: “Our supporters – our real supporters – are sick and tired of being in any way associated with those ‘fans’ who comfortably send such abhorrent messages.
“To the person who sent Shaq this racist message, and to any person who claims to be a Gashead and engages in similarly deplorable behaviour, we simply say this: You are not a Bristol Rovers fan. You are not welcome at The Memorial Stadium. We do not want your support.”
Opponents Reading also expressed support for Forde and say they “strongly condemn” the abuse sent to him.
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“We will work alongside Saturday’s visitors to ensure the perpetrator is identified and evidence is provided to the relevant authorities,” a Royals statement, external said.
“No individual, whether on or off the pitch, should be subjected to such abuse. We stand by you, Shaq.”
Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) made a frightening statement that he should be next to challenge for the middleweight title held by Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) on Saturday when he destroyed Robert Whittaker by first-round submission in the co-main event matchup at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
After the fight, Chimaev made it clear he wants to challenge for gold in his next fight, whether that means immediately or waiting for a rematch between Du Plessis and Sean Strickland to play out. The UFC has yet to book Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2, though, and UFC CEO Dana White said post-fight that he is going to mull all potential options for what’s next in Tuesday’s matchmaker meeting.
It appears Du Plessis is trying to help make that decision easier, however, because in his first reaction to Chimaev’s win, he said he is eager for the chance to put the first blemish on what is currently a flawless record in MMA competition (via X):
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Feel really sorry for Rob he looked super ready but this is the fight game well done on a good performance Khamzat That being said I can’t wait to take your 0
Feel really sorry for Rob he looked super ready but this is the fight game well done on a good performance Khamzat That being said I can’t wait to take your 0
The confidence on Chimaev’s end going into a potential championship showdown with Du Plessis was evident in the aftermath of UFC 308, and he predicted it would be a rough night for him – and his last moment sitting at the top of the mountain.
“How I did with this guy, Rob, and how he done?” Chimaev said. “Rob took him down, so if Rob took him down, there is salam alaikum (against me).”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
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LOS ANGELES — Some of the reasons behind the Yankees sinking into a 0-2 hole against the Dodgers were predictable.
Carlos Rodón has had turbulent outings this postseason, and he had another one Saturday in Game 2 of the World Series. At least a couple of Yankees players have struggled defensively all year, and those repeat offenders showed up again this weekend at Chavez Ravine. The regular season routinely featured poor production from the bottom of New York’s lineup, and that was a problem in each of the first two games of the Series.
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But none of those factors are as flagrant as the biggest one — the one that the Yankees seem unprepared to overcome.
He’s striking out more often than he’s getting on base. He’s chasing pitches he would typically watch fly out of the zone. He’s rocking back and forth in the batter’s box — which, according to Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, means he’s trying to find his rhythm — rather than standing frozen and locked in like he did during his record-breaking regular season. He’s whiffing at mistakes that he would normally punish for home runs.
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Simply put, he’s not doing his job.
And when the Yankees are desperate for offense, like they have been in this star-studded Fall Classic, and one of the best hitters on the planet isn’t doing his job, the results are back-to-back losses against an elite Dodgers team that has outplayed them in every facet of the game.
“I definitely gotta step up,” Judge said after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the Yankees’ 4-2 loss Saturday. “I gotta do my job, when guys are out there doing their job getting on base, I’m failing them. I’m not backing them up.”
The two other stars in the Yankees’ lineup have hit throughout October, and are virtually the only ones doing so in the Fall Classic.
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Juan Soto is locked in at the plate; his solo shot in the third inning of Game 2 was the Yankees’ only hit off Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Soto’s liner off the right field wall in the ninth inning was just the second hit of the night for New York, and soon he scored its only other run when Giancarlo Stanton followed with a scorcher down the left field line.
Sandwiched between the two rockets? Judge’s sixth strikeout of the Series.
Soto now has four home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.160 OPS through 11 games this postseason. Stanton has six home runs, 14 RBIs and a 1.098 OPS. Judge, meanwhile, is batting .150 (6-for-40) with 19 strikeouts, two homers, six RBIs and a .605 OPS.
“I think he made mistakes against me,” Soto said of facing Yamamoto, who struck out Judge twice. “He made a couple of good pitches in the first at-bat, and then he showed me everything. He showed me everything that he got in my first at-bat. So I was ready for anything in my second at-bat. He made a mistake and I just didn’t miss it.”
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Soto, eternally bursting with confidence, seems to have the playoffs all figured out. What’s stopping Judge from achieving similar feats?
“Right now, he’s probably not feeling his best,” Soto said. “It’s just a tough moment for him right now.”
The Yankees captain acknowledged he’s been expanding the strike zone, as the world-class plate discipline that allowed him to draw the most walks (133) in the major leagues this year has escaped him. He added that his mechanics at the plate are “getting there,” and that his encouraging at-bats at the end of Game 1 didn’t translate into Game 2. Judge said the struggles he’s going through at the plate right now are “a little similar” to the struggles he faced in April, when he started the year in a slump, slashing .207/.340/.414 through his first 31 games.
But the difference at this time of the year is that he doesn’t have the cushion of a long season ahead of him to get his mechanics straightened out. Judge has to make every pitch in the Bronx count, if not with a big hit, then at least a walk. The presumptive AL MVP noted that Yamamoto gave him a pitch to hit in the sixth inning, when he was ahead in the count 2-0 and the Dodgers righty threw him a fastball down and in.
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That’s a pitch, Judge said, that he’s usually able to connect on. Instead, he kept his bat on his shoulder and watched it settle untouched for strike one.
“At times you want to try to make things happen instead of letting the game come to you,” Judge said. “I think that’s what it really comes down to. You see Gleyber [Torres] out there on base, Juan’s getting on base, trying to make something happen. You’re not going to get every pitch in the zone. So you have to take your walks and set up for Big G [Stanton].”
Judge puts a lot of pressure on himself to come through for his team. It’s never been about personal statistics for the six-time All-Star. What he cares about most is lifting the Yankees when they need him to — and they’ve relied on Judge throughout his career to come through in the clutch because, normally, he can. While Soto and Stanton are doing their parts, the American League champs still need Judge to be Judge if they’re going to be world champs.
“He’s got time to help us win some games,” Stanton said.
Sure, but not much. Judge has to figure out a way to slow the game down so that he can compress the zone and tap back into the plate discipline and power that make him one of the greatest hitters of this generation.
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The Yankees ultimately cannot rise without him.
Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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