Trailing the Chicago Bears 15-12 with two seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and the ball on their own 48-yard line, Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders had one option: throw a Hail Mary.

And their prayer was answered, as Daniels’ pass was bounced backwards in the red zone and into the arms of wide receiver Noah Brown, who reeled in a walk-off, 52-yard touchdown.

[Related: 10 most memorable Hail Marys in NFL history]

Seconds later, Brown dropped the ball to celebrate the score with his teammates, and that’s where Commanders equipment intern Drew Sinclair joined the chat, swooping up the loose ball to store it away.

“I just had my hands on my head in awe, and I saw everyone running around. I saw Noah [Brown] drop the ball, and my instincts just kicked in,” Sinclair said about retrieving the ball, in a story that was published on the Commanders’ team website Wednesday.

“DQ [head coach Dan Quinn] always preaches, ‘The ball is life.’ We see it everywhere. I saw ball and I got ball … I was just thinking, ‘That’s a pretty meaningful football for this team and for this organization.’”

Furthermore, Sinclair was praised in the team’s locker room by Quinn.

What did Jayden Daniels showcase in his thrilling Hail Mary victory?

“I wasn’t expecting it. I was in the back of the huddle listening to him talk. I heard my name, and I was still in awe from the play, and I was like, ‘Oh crap that’s me,’ and I ran into the center,” Sinclair said. “That was one of the best moments of my life, for sure.”

Daniels finished the game with 326 passing yards and 52 rushing yards, while Brown finished with three receptions for 73 yards and one score. The win moved the Commanders to 6-2, good for first place in the NFC East.

On the whole, Brown has logged 17 receptions for 258 yards and one touchdown this season. He spent the 2023 season with the Houston Texans, which followed a five-year stint with the Dallas Cowboys (he missed the 2019 season due to a knee injury).

As for the one who threw the miracle completion, Daniels, whom Washington selected with the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, is among the favorites to win Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, highlighted by him boasting a 104.3 passer rating, a 71.8% completion percentage and rushing for 424 yards.

Daniels, Brown and the first-place Commanders aim to keep the magic alive in Week 9 when they face the NFC East-rival New York Giants (2-6) on the road (1 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app); Washington beat New York on a walk-off field goal in Week 2.

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Islam Makhachev. Alex Pereira. Ilia Topuria. Any one of these incredible fighters is worthy of being called the best in the world.

But who else belongs in the discussion?

With the men’s Pound-for-Pound top-3 comfortably set for now, the MMA Fighting Crew looks ahead to 2025 to figure out if UFC champions Belal Muhammad, Dricus du Plessis, Tom Aspinall, or perhaps a surging contender can enter the conversation for the No. 1 spot in the near future. Host Alexander K. Lee is joined by esteemed rankings panelists Damon Martin, Jed Meshew, and E. Casey Leydon as we attempt to figure out who has the best chance of shaking up the P4P list.

We also discuss the moves made in the wake of October’s two UFC events and PFL’s Battle of the Giants, including Khamzat Chimaev’s big jump, Kamaru Usman’s exit, and where the top of the heavyweight division stands with Francis Ngannou’s MMA return and Jon Jones about to fight Stipe Miocic this November.

Watch the latest episode of the MMA Fighting Rankings Show above or listen below and don’t forget to subscribe to the MMA Fighting feed on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and all your other favorite podcast platforms for the latest episodes from the team.

ABU DHABI – When the idea first was proposed that Max Holloway could challenge for Ilia Topuria’s featherweight title, Topuria had what seemed to be a natural question.

Would Holloway’s new BMF belt be on the line, too? It stood to reason, Topuria argued, that it should.

The MMA world now knows that it wasn’t part of the deal this past Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, where Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), the UFC’s first champion from Spain, defended the featherweight belt with a stunner of a knockout in the third round. Former longtime champ Holloway (26-8 MMA, 22-8 UFC) this never had been knocked out.

Making things slightly more dramatic was the fact Topuria said he’d be the first to do it to Holloway, then backed it up – not necessarily against all odds, but certainly against many of them.

The competitive nature if the fight before Holloway had his lights turned out made it seem, in retrospect, that it could’ve been a BMF title fight like the one Holloway was in when he finished Justin Gaethje with one second left. That bit of instant legend is what got Holloway the title shot.

Even UFC CEO Dana White, after the fact, said it might have been good to have both belts contested.

“Topuria’s belt was on the line; Max was trying to take that,” White said after UFC 308 in explanation of why the promotion didn’t bring the BMF strap into the picture. “Halfway through the second round, I said, ‘Sh*t, we should have put the Bad Motherf*cker title up for this fight, too, because these guys are both (a BMF).’”

Holloway said after his loss that he’s likely to move to lightweight. That wouldn’t affect the BMF belt, though. It just may be a while before Holloway gets back on the horse, and when he does, it remains to be seen if it will be in the type of fight that would warrant the symbolic belt being up for grabs.

White was just as unsure what will happen with it.

“I don’t know what we’ll do with it yet, but Max still has it. Max holds the title, so we’ll see what happens,” he said.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

Brian McClair “can’t fathom” why Manchester United chose to sell Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay to Napoli this summer.

The midfielder, 27, has already scored twice in eight appearances for the Italian club and has netted 11 times in 56 Scotland matches.

He left boyhood club United in August after 29 goals in 255 games.

Earlier this week, United parted with manager Erik ten Hag and are looking for their fifth permanent boss in 10 years.

“For me, it’s a big disappointment that he’s not still at Manchester United,” said former Old Trafford favourite McClair on the BBC’s Sacked in the Morning podcast.

“I can’t fathom why on his performances when he played and when has played he’s been very good for Napoli. For Scotland he’s been a revelation.”

Like Francis Ngannou, Ben Askren had his war of words with UFC CEO Dana White.

Last week, White went off on Ngannou by criticizing his character and insisting that he ran away from a fight with Jon Jones by opting to sign with PFL. Askren identifies with Ngannou, recounting his prior experience negotiating with the UFC.

Askren came close to signing with the UFC in 2013, but it never materialized. He was an undefeated Bellator welterweight champion who had defended his title four times, finishing out his contract after a TKO win over Andrey Koreshkov on July 31, 2013.

After White expressed interest in signing Askren, he changed his tune, which caught Askren off guard.

“Dana spent years lying, saying I didn’t want to fight the best, I didn’t want challenges, I was running away, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Askren said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Daniel Cormier. “So, it sucked to have this guy – it’s essentially slander, saying things about me that I knew weren’t true. Dana has this part of his personality when he can’t get what he wants, and in that case, he didn’t offer me a contract, so he kind of got what he wanted.

“But then I think because I was continuing to have success and people were continuing to follow me, he wanted me off in a dark corner where everyone ignored me or something. But he’s done the same thing with Cyborg, I believe Randy Couture had a similar experience, now Francis, but there’s this weird part of Dana’s personality where, if he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, he just starts crapping on people. And because he has a big microphone and he’s generally very truthful and generally correct, people just believe him.”

Looking back, Askren wished he could have signed with the UFC earlier.

“I wanted to fight the best in 2013 and anytime forward,” Askren continued. “And so then he got me in 2019 when I probably should have had hip replacement prior to that, but it was like, ‘Hey, this is my opportunity, I’m going to take it. I don’t care if I’m not optimized where I should be. I get an opportunity, I take an opportunity, and I’m not going to complain about it.’ But, yeah, I would have loved to have that in 2013.”