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Phil Hawes (9-2) had a debut to remember, taking just 18 seconds to knock out Jacob Malkoun (4-1) at UFC 254 at The Arena, Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Hawes showed off the power that earned him his debut early in the fight, walking down Malkoun, backing him against the Octagon cage and letting his hands fly. Hawes caught him behind the right ear, landed a left hook square on the chin and finished the fight with a hammer fist on the ground.

Hawes earned his UFC contract after impressing with a first-round TKO as part of Dana White’s Contender Series back in September. This followed Hawes’ second stint in Dana White’s Contender Series, suffering a knockout via head kick in the second round of a 2017 bout. This time, it would appear Hawes is here to stay. Hawes is now riding a five-fight win streak and has one of the fastest knockouts in UFC middleweight history.

After the fight, Hawes told Jon Anik he’s healthy and ready to go as soon as Saturday, October 31, when the UFC returns to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

The loss was the first of Malkoun’s career, who was also making his debut inside the Octagon.

Recently Sacha Baron Cohen has been doing something he’s rarely done before: He’s spoken as himself. Usually he stays in one of his characters, but even when discussing his new sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, he’s played things straight, earnestly discussing the serious issues his comedies bring up. Even when Donald Trump insulted him, he made sure to respond not as Borat but as himself.

On Friday, the president was asked by reporters about the climax of the film, which finds his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in a compromising position with actress Maria Bakalova, whose character is 15 years old. As he often does, Trump played ignorant, saying he didn’t know anything about it, but he did claim that, 15 years back, he was the target of a failed Baron Cohen prank. “That’s a phony guy. And I don’t find him funny,” he said. “To me, he was a creep.”

Baron Cohen wasn’t having it.

“Donald—I appreciate the free publicity for Borat! I admit, I don’t find you funny either. But yet the whole world laughs at you,” Baron Cohen tweeted. “I’m always looking for people to play racist buffoons, and you’ll need a job after Jan. 20. Let’s talk!”

Giuliani isn’t the only member of the Trump administration. Mike Pence plays a key role — and makes an appearance relatively early on — while a deleted scene finds Bakalova’s character, who winds up infiltrating right wing media, worming her way into the White House and shmoozing with Donald Trump Jr. At one point Borat even dons an elaborate Trump costume and gets thrown out of CPAC. If only Baron Cohen had gotten a one-on-one with the infamous Stephen Miller.

You can watch Baron Cohen’s latest film — full title: The Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan — on Amazon Prime now.

(Via Deadline)

The Miami Heat just turned in a surprising run in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble to the Finals, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. There were plenty of reasons for optimism out of the Heat, though, and it’s hard not to wonder what the team would have done if a pair of starters — Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic — stayed healthy for the entirety of the series with L.A.

Miami now finds itself in a strange spot. The team has a number of free agents, and at the same time, they do not want to spend too liberally with an eye on landing a superstar once the potentially power-altering summer of 2021 rolls around and a number of gigantic names become unrestricted free agents.

For the team’s boss, though, that’s a little too far down the road. Pat Riley met with the media on Friday and explained that his No. 1 priority is to take care of the players who helped them make it as far as they did this summer.

“We know what our priorities are,” Riley said, per ESPN. “It is to take care of the players that we have, that we have to make decisions on almost immediately. We know Bam has a decision to make and we do with him. We know the guys that have sacrificed for us that we really like, our free agents, especially Goran.”

Dragic, as he mentioned, is an unrestricted free agent, and a gigantic one at that. His play in the Bubble is a major reason why the Heat were able to exceed expectations, and prior to a foot injury, he looked like an All-Star. Other notable free agents in Miami are Jae Crowder, Solomon Hill, Derrick Jones Jr., and Meyers Leonard, while Kelly Olynyk has a player option. There’s also the matter of Adebayo, who is eligible for an extension and a crucial piece to the puzzle going forward.

Riley did acknowledge that Miami has one eye on the future, saying, “I just think we need to remain fluid. Once we get all the numbers and we get everything down, we get the schedule, we know when the dates are, and what the rules are in everything, once we get all of that, we’re going to remain fluid. And whatever presents itself to us, we’ll look at it.” In the meantime, though, he seems perfectly content for the Heat to run it back next season in some form or fashion.

Ohio State kicked off its 2020 season by playing host to Nebraska on Saturday afternoon in Columbus. As the game was getting out of hand in the fourth quarter of play, the Buckeyes began getting more and more of their younger players run. It was a good decision they did that, because one of the team’s true freshman receivers made one of the plays of the year to secure the team a touchdown.

The team faced a first-and-goal from the Husker 5 early on in the fourth quarter. Signal caller Justin Fields rolled out to his right, surveyed his options, and rifled a pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba as he got lit up by a defender. Smith-Njigba did his best to reel it in, but appeared to be out of bounds after failing to get a foot in.

While Smith-Njigba and fellow receiver Jameson Williams signaled for a touchdown, the officials said no. Then, they looked again, and realized that the true freshman pulled off a ridiculous toe tap to get a foot inbounds and give the Buckeyes another score.

The body control here is otherworldly — Smith-Njigba’s body is out of bounds, and yet he manages to go way up, pluck the ball out of the air, and somehow get his right foot in for the score. Ohio State has one of the nation’s scariest receiver groups, and if this is any indication, the former five-star prospect is going to fit into that group comfortably.

Even before the New Orleans Pelicans’ disappointing run through the seeding games in Orlando, things weren’t looking good for Alvin Gentry. And after limping through the finish line with a 2-6 record despite enjoying the most conducive schedule for earning a playoff berth of all the teams invited to the Bubble, though, his fate was sealed.

Gentry was never quite able to get his roster to coalesce. He also had the misfortune of being in charge while Zion Williamson struggled through injuries to start his rookie season, which led to him never quite looking right during restart. Zion’s play in Orlando only compounded the perception that Gentry wasn’t the right person for the job.

Once Gentry was out, the Pelicans job quickly became one of the most coveted openings around the NBA. The opportunity to coach a roster with a bevy of young players, a treasure trove of draft picks, and a potential once-in-a-generation talent comes with all sorts of allure, not to mention enormous pressure. In Stan Van Gundy, New Orleans turned to someone with plenty of experience handling both.

Still, the hiring came as something of a surprise, as Van Gundy had settled comfortably into his role as a broadcast analyst for TNT, though his name had started popping up in rumors more and more frequently as the coaching carousel picked up momentum toward the end of the season. It also appeared that Tyronn Lue might be a frontrunner for the job given his previous relationship with general manager David Griffin, although he ultimately stayed in L.A. to take over for Doc Rivers.

Van Gundy’s last coaching gig in Detroit didn’t go particularly well, as the Pistons missed the playoffs in three out of his four seasons there. But Van Gundy was also pulling the ill-advised double duty of acting as both coach and general manager, a scenario that has rarely worked out for NBA coaches. Both Rivers and Tom Thibodeau are recent casualties of those experiments, and while Van Gundy didn’t necessarily do a bad job coaching the Pistons, his work at the team’s top executive made him his own worst enemy and ultimately led to his demise.

That won’t be the case in New Orleans, as Griffin is the one in charge of high-level personnel decisions for the organization as executive VP — a recent episode of ESPN’s “The Hoop Collective” podcast indicated that Van Gundy will be laser-focused on coaching. But the personnel, as it currently stands, will still be one of his biggest conundrums. That is, of course, excluding their superstar duo of Zion and newly-crowned Most Improved Player Brandon Ingram. The goal when looking at the rest of the roster is to view how the team’s various pieces fit around those two tentpoles. While the Pelicans have a nice mix of young talent and battle-tested veterans, the question is how to deploy them around those two?

During his 11 seasons on an NBA bench, SVG staked his claim as a defensive-minded savant, with his teams regularly finishing in the top 10 on that end of the floor. This an area that was sorely lacking in New Orleans this season despite boasting solid individual defenders at various positions, and should the team take a step forward on that end of the floor and go from a bottom-10 bunch to even a middle of the road group, that would pay major dividends.

The renewed focus on that end of the court could signal a resurgence for Jrue Holiday, widely considered one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, not to mention a versatile combo guard who could pair alongside Ball in the backcourt and is more than happy to facilitate for the talented youngsters around him. Perhaps something comes of the fact that his name has been mentioned in trade rumors for some time, but there really is not pressing need to move him as soon as possible. Holiday would help them, and he’s under contract for potentially the next two seasons (his deal has a player option in 2021-22), so there is no pressing need to flip him.

Van Gundy will also reunite with J.J. Redick, whose development in his early years in Orlando under SVG helped salvage a career that was quickly going south and instead transformed him into a deadly catch-and-shoot threat who remains a valuable contributor to this day. Van Gundy will likely lean on Redick for his experience and stability both on the court and as mentor to some of the younger players, while his ability to space the floor will be crucial to free up space for Williamson to attack and Ingram to work off the bounce.

The question of Ball is a little more complicated, and not just because he’s extension eligible this offseason. Van Gundy has offered high praise to Ball in the past for his size, his basketball IQ, and the strides he made as a shooter this season, all of which could factor heavily into the Pelicans’ schemes moving forward. He’ll need someone who can facilitate the offense, get out in transition, defend, and knock down open shots. Things become much easier for New Orleans moving forward if Ball is reliable member of a trio with Ingram and Williamson rather than a role player.

Van Gundy’s Magic teams were actually ahead of the curve for their time, regularly finishing among the top of the league in pace and three-point shooting, both of which are paramount to the modern run-and-gun game and could signal the direction the Pelicans go this season. Given their current roster, New Orleans could opt to go ultra small at times, like the Rockets did this postseason to mixed results, and unleash some configuration of a three or four-guard lineup that features Zion as de facto center, surrounded by a cadre of shooters and play-makers. They do have a very intriguing young center in Jaxson Hayes, while veteran big man Derrick Favors is an unrestricted free agent.

A whole heck of a lot depends on just how creative Van Gundy wants to get and how much he’s willing to trade off on the defensive end. The Lakers exposed the fundamental flaw in hyper small ball when they easily dispatched Houston in the second round. While the best version of Zion is much more dangerous than Houston’s undersized bigs, playing him at the five and casting him in the 2009-Dwight-Howard role isn’t a viable long-term solution.

Figuring out how to best showcase Zion’s many skills is perhaps the biggest lingering question for the Pelicans. He’s proven to be a terror in the open court, as a slasher, and even with his back to the basket this season, and it’ll be fascinating to see what types of situations Van Gundy puts him in to unlock some of those gifts. There is a reason he is viewed as a generational talent, but being a potential game-changer and becoming that sort of player are two different things. His coach will play a major factor in determining the path that Zion’s career follows.

Without the burden of roster construction and other front-office distractions, Van Gundy is free to focus his full attention on the court, building team chemistry, and developing the younger players on his team. The expectations are high, but he’s been here before. What he makes of the opportunity this time around could be the difference between the Pelicans being a group with promise and a group with aspirations of competing for a title.

For almost two years, Kanye has threatened to appear on The Joe Rogan Experience. Back in December 2018, Kanye tweeted that he wanted to “do a serious interview speaking on mental health,” but he said the media is “afraid to speak to someone who has been diagnosed but is still everyone’s favorite super hero.” Shortly after, Rogan responded, saying, “I would be happy to talk to you about it for as long as you’d like.” He finally made good on his promise, with Kanye finally sitting down for what proved to be a nearly three-hour conversation.

Throughout the interview, Kanye talked about his frequent rants on Twitter, running for president, making music, and more. He said that his rants were the result of his brain not working like everyone else’s. “I don’t think in the black and white lines I’ve been programmed to think in,” he said. “I think in full color, so when I talk, I have to describe a thought in five ways.” He concluded, “So when I talk, it’s not a rant. It’s a symphony of ideas.” The interview also finds Kanye opening up about this presidential run and his family life.

The interview arrives just a week after Kanye shared “Nah Nah Nah,” his second single of the year.

You can watch Rogan and Kanye’s interview in the video above.

No Time to Die, the 25th Bond film, is one of many blockbusters that have been delayed till next year, when — hopefully! — the United States finally gets a grip on the out-of-control pandemic that has rendered 2020 all but cancelled. As of this writing, it’s set to hit theaters in April of 2021, about a year after its original release date. And while its owners at MGM are holding steadfast on it getting a traditional theatrical release, a new report from Variety claims that wasn’t always the case.

According multiple insiders, MGM at some point explored other options. Other studios have made tens of millions selling their big films to streamers, including Coming 2 America, Greyhound, and Without Remorse. (Meanwhile Disney has dropped a number of their own films on their streaming service, in the case of Mulan, for a steep rental fee.) But MGM didn’t think small. When they allegedly approached Netflix and Apple, they were reportedly asking for a princely sum: about $600 million. Alas, that price tag, as per Variety, was deemed “too rich” for the two streamers.

When asked about the rumors, MGM had a curt reply. “We do not comment on rumors,” a spokesperson told Variety. “The film is not for sale. The film’s release has been postponed until April 2021 in order to preserve the theatrical experience for moviegoers.”

MGM has reportedly lost somewhere between $30 million and $50 million due to the delays, which found it first moving to November then six months after that. The budget for the film, set to be Daniel Craig’s fifth and final spin as 007, is $250 million, so either they’re going to have to wait for moviegoing to become safe again — surely they hope to avoid the grim fate that greeted Tenet in the U.S. — or find another way to make back its dough, plus profits.

(Via Variety)

Jordan Travis and the Florida State Seminoles got off to a 2-3 start to the year, but are coming off of a huge win last week against the then-fifth ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. Travis had one heck of a day on the ground against UNC — 16 carries, 107 yards, two scores — and on Saturday afternoon, he used his legs to get the ‘Noles on the board against Louisville.

Florida State had the ball on the Cardinal eight yard line in the first quarter. The team ran a pretty standard read option on third-and-5, but disaster nearly struck as the ball fell to the ground as Travis went to keep it. He somehow managed to turn tragedy into a touchdown, though, as Travis dribbled the ball, scooped it up, made a whole bunch of dudes miss, and scampered his way into the end zone for six.

The dribbling of the ball is, of course, ridiculous — anyone who has ever bounced a football on the ground knows that its oblong shape makes it nearly impossible to judge as it comes up into your arms, and to do it in this moment as defenders are bearing down on him is wildly impressive. But beyond that, how he made a bunch of dude miss is just as crazy. Football is a game of inches, and that was on display here, both with how Travis had to bounce the ball in a very specific way so this worked and with how he made dudes miss by a hair en route to the end zone.

It’s been three years since War On Drugs‘ last album, namely 2017’s A Deeper Understanding. But that’s about to change: Next month they’re releasing a live album, called simply Live Drugs. The group took to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to debut a brand new single, a liberating new song entitled “Ocean of Darkness.” As is de rigueur in our pandemic times, they performed it in separate homes, each member playing on a different screen.

Live Drugs, set to be released n November 20, is a 10-track effort that the band describes as “a collection culled from over 40 hard drives of recorded live shows spread out across years of touring behind multiple albums” that “is sequenced to reflect how a typical 70-minute show would flow.” The press release also said the band has been working on a new full-length album “over the last six months,” meaning fans won’t only have to subsist on a live album.

Prior to announcing Live Drugs, the band joined The Rolling Stones for a thumping remix of “Scarlet,” which also featured Jimmy Page.

Watch the band’s performance of “Ocean Of Darkness” in the video above.

Live Drugs is out 11/20 via Super High Quality Records. Pre-order it here.

Sacha Baron Cohen has humiliated some of the most powerful — and even the most dangerous — people in the world. In Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the belated sequel to his 2006 blockbuster, his most prominent victim is Rudy Giuliani, the personal attorney to the most powerful man in the world. Speaking of which, Donald Trump claims the performer once tried to get him — and, alas, failed.

The president was speaking to reporters on Friday when he was asked about the shocking scene in the film, which finds the former New York City mayor putting his hands down his pants on a hotel room bed next to actress Maria Bakalova, who’s character is 15 years old. (In real life she’s 24.) As he often does when asked about things that don’t make him, or his associates, look good, he professed ignorance.

“I don’t know what happened,” Trump said. But he then alleged that he, too, was once the target of a Baron Cohen prank. “Years ago, you know, he tried to scam me. And I was the only one who said no way. That’s a phony guy. And I don’t find him funny. I don’t know anything about him other than he tried to scam me. He came in as a BBC — British broadcasting anchor.”

Trump didn’t go into many details, not even specifying which character Baron Cohen had adopted to get the former reality TV host. Was it Ali G? Brüno? He did say it happened “15 years ago,” so it could be around the time of the first Borat film. Either way, he was not amused: “To me, he was a creep.”

The film — full title: The Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan — hit Amazon Prime on Friday, October 23. One of its deleted scenes finds Bakalova, whose character winds up infiltrating right wing media, works her way into the White House, even chatting with Donald Trump Jr. So Trump may not be finished talking about Baron Cohen and Borat.

(Via Deadline)