Category: Viral

Francis Ngannou (16-3) knocked out Stipe Miocic (20-4) to claim the UFC heavyweight title from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas at UFC 260.

Compared to the first time they faced off, a significantly more patient Ngannou opened the first round with a deep leg kick, tracking the champ around the Octagon and looking for his openings. Ngannou landed a huge right hand behind Miocic’s ear, but the champ took it clean.

Miocic went for a takedown and Ngannou stuffed it. The contender defended it, jumped on Miocic’s back and dropped bombs. Back on their feet, Ngannou landed a big head kick, but was able to take it clean. Miocic connected on a slew of low calf kicks, but Ngannou kept his measured pace.

Miocic attempted to push the pace to open the second round, but Ngannou lit the champ up and put him to sleep to earn the win.

After closing out his trilogy with Daniel Cormier back in August, Miocic turned his attention to a slew of potential opponents ranging from Ngannou to former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. But in the end, it was Ngannou’s stellar run that earned the contender another shot at UFC gold.

After dropping his first title shot to Miocic in what was a career-altering loss in 2018, it was fair to question the future for Ngannou. Miocic outworked Ngannou, using precise strikes and a heavy ground game to frustrate the rising star in their first bout. He stumbled through a decision loss to Derrick Lewis and had clearly lost his confidence. After that, Ngannou went on a tear, needing less than two minutes to knock out each of his last four opponents before his showdown with Miocic.

Ngannou knocked out top contenders Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, and the formerly-unbeaten Jairzinho Rozenstruik in his last three fights heading into Saturday.

Up next for Ngannou is likely a showdown with Jon Jones as the former light heavyweight champ makes his jump to the heavyweight division, something that Jones seemed to cryptically mention in a tweet after the fight.

Don’t rule out a return bout with Miocic though. Regardless of who the next opponent is, the division is on notice with a new champ at the top.

Now that Donald Trump is no longer president, several of the public health officials that were part of the nation’s pandemic response have publicly detailed the struggles of working under him during the COVI-19 crisis. More than 500,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and complications caused by coronavirus, and while vaccines are saving lives now those lost are a tragic reminder of how poorly the pandemic was handled in several regards. And while Trump was in charge of the country, the response to the pandemic was about as scattershot as it could be. Between bizarre moments where he touted junk science, downplayed its severity or insisted the virus would simply go away, Trump drew near constant criticism and made even the simple act of wearing a mask a political issue.

CNN previewed a show that will premiere on Sunday called COVID War, which included interviews with both Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx about the nation’s response to the pandemic. While the triumph of the vaccine was discussed, one moment that stood out from that preview was when Birx admitted that thousands of lives were lost that could have been prevented if the government reacted differently.

“I look at it this way: the first time, we had an excuse. There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge,” Birx said in the clip. “All the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.”

It’s a shocking disclosure from a medical professional that played a role in what the nation’s government did, or could have done, to mitigate those deaths. The former White House coronavirus response director clearly saying the government could have and should have done more to protect people and stop the spread of the deadly virus was a shock to many.

“Dr. Birx” was trending on Twitter as of Saturday, as video of her appearance circulated and drew a lot of comments on the social media network. Many lamented the terrible loss of life from coronavirus over the past year, feeling failures in the Trump administration and other governments making things much worse than they could have been.

Others, though, expressed frustration that Birx enabled Trump and others to create that response. Many simply wished she did more, while others were angry she is now attempting to distance herself from Trump after doing little to stop his uneven and deadly governing.

It’s just one comment from a much larger interview and reflection on the pandemic response, but it speaks to the frustrations many have had over the state of things under Trump and even today, as the vaccine rollout is now a race against time as new variants and strains of COVID-19 continue to make people sick and die. There’s a lot of blame to go around when it comes to all the pain and death America has experienced over the last year, but many wanted to make it clear that Birx bears some of that blame as well.

Cinderella’s slipper finally slipped off on Saturday night. The No. 15 Oral Roberts Golden Eagles came mere inches away from knocking off the No. 3 Arkansas Razorbacks in the Sweet 16, but Max Abmas’ prayer at the buzzer was not answered, and as a result, Arkansas will keep on dancing thanks to a 72-70 win.

With 32 seconds remaining, Oral Roberts big man Francis Lacis hit one of two free throws to tie things up at 70. On the ensuing Razorbacks possession, Jalen Tate burrowed his way into the paint, dumping a pass off to Davonte Davis for a midrange jumper to go up by two.

They didn’t quite take as much time as they could off the clock, though, and with 3.1 seconds left, the Golden Eagles went for the win. Abmas, the team’s sensational shot-making guard was able to receive the inbound pass and race up the floor despite being smothered by a pair of opponents. Somehow, he gave himself just enough space to pull up from deep, and it looked perfect, right up until it bounced off the rim and fell to the floor.

Oral Roberts was shooting to become the first 15-seed to ever make the Elite 8, and they could not have come much closer to making it happen. There will be plenty of looking back on how they could have made one or two things bounce differently — they got hammered on the glass and missed a ton of wide-open threes in the second half — but on the whole, there’s plenty to celebrate about this run. Abmas is a star (this’ll happen any time your name gets put next to Steph Curry’s for NCAA Tournament excellence), big man Kevin Obanor is a handful, and the team is slated to bring almost everyone back, barring defections to the NBA or transfers. They looked prime for another run next year, only if they make it back, we’ll bet they won’t be a 15.

The New York Knicks suffered a major loss due to injury on Saturday night. During the first quarter of their game against the Milwaukee Bucks, starting center Mitchell Robinson went down with what was eventually called a fractured right foot, although he is slated to be re-evaluated on Sunday after the team returns to New York.

Robinson, while attempting to break up a pass to Brook Lopez, came down awkwardly and did something to his right foot. It was unclear exactly what happened, but after six minutes of work, he made his way to the team’s locker room.

Shortly after, the team announced the extent of Robinson’s injury.

This is, unfortunately, the second major injury that Robinson has suffered this season. Back in February, Robinson suffered a fracture in his hand that required surgery, and injury from which he had only just returned on March 21. While the Knicks do have some understanding of how to play without their defensive stalwart at center, this is still a brutal blow for a team that has major postseason aspirations, and the big question in the coming days might be if they hop into the buyout market to add a big man.

On the year, Robinson is averaging 8.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 1.1 minutes in 28.2 minutes per game.

As a veteran in the twilight of his NBA career, Al Horford doesn’t make a ton of sense on a rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder squad. With the NBA trade deadline in the rear view and Horford having a whole lot of money slated to come his way on his current contract, leaving the team this year is not tenable.

Because of this, Horford will not suit up for the Thunder again this season. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the two sides have come to a mutual agreement that Horford won’t be active for another game this year, and in a statement, Horford explained how they came to this decision.

“When I arrived, I understood the direction of the team, we had a great individual plan in place for me, and I feel like as a result I’ve played really good basketball for the Thunder. At the same time, I know what it’s like to be a young, aspiring player, and at this point in the season I understand how important playing meaningful minutes is for their careers and their development,” Horford said in a statement. “I also understand how important it is for the organization to give them that opportunity.

“I’m looking forward to supporting the guys who supported me, watching them continue to play the right way and play together as we have throughout the season, while still being around the team and continuing my training.”

Wojnarowski reports that the Thunder, Horford, and his agent will all work together to find a new landing spot during the offseason. Horford, who came to the team via a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers last offseason, will have two years and $53 million left on his deal next year.

The world of basketball and the world of music intersect pretty frequently for one reason or another. Our latest example of this came on Saturday afternoon thanks to new Toronto Raptor Rodney Hood, although it had nothing to do with him dropping a mixtape or deciding to produce an album or anything like that.

Back in June, a since-deleted post by our pal Marco Romo of Five Reasons Sports Network caught the attention of Paramore singer Hayley Williams. In it, Williams revealed that her childhood neighbor in Meridian, Mississippi, was named Rodney, helped teach her how to dance, and “may be an nba player now.”

Now, Hood is the only current NBA player from Meridian, and since the only other Rodney in the NBA is from Maryland (Rodney McGruder), we can probably make an assumption here. Anyway, some time passed, and then Hood got traded to the Raptors, where he was asked about this. Dime pal Blake Murphy of The Athletic, who I lovingly say is the NBA reporter most likely to remember that Williams tweet, brought it to Hood’s attention during his first meeting with the media up north.

Hood revealed two things: 1. He did not realize his neighbor grew up to be the lead singer of Paramore and, 2. He can’t dance.

This is now the best story in the NBA. Once bands can begin touring safely again, I sincerely hope Hood and Williams are reunited during a concert in Toronto.

Seth Rogen may have spent more recent months fighting with Ted Cruz on Twitter and throwing lots of clay, but he also recently admitted to a long-rumored on-set scuffle with a very famous actress.

Rogen was profiled in the May edition of GQ UK recently, a piece that details Rogen’s very active life on his 10-acre Los Angeles property during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s certainly a trip into a very wealthy reality few have gotten to lead over the last year, but it also detailed some very wild stories about a lot of different subjects. There are bizarre meetings with George Lucas and Nick Cage, and that’s just the start. But Rogen also admitted to something that had long been rumored about a movie he directed: that Emma Watson refused to film a particular scene in This Is The End.

The 2013 movie’s plot was simple: Rogen and other celebrities play themselves surviving the end of the world as best they can. But Watson was long rumored to have balked at a certain plot line involving, as writer Stuart McGurk put it, “Danny McBride as a cannibal and Channing Tatum as his leather-thonged gimp on a leash.” Watson apparently stormed out of the production, but while Rogen finally confirmed it happened, he stressed that there were no hard feelings between the two.

What happened? Had she not read the script properly? “I mean, I don’t look back on that and think, ‘How dare she do that?’ You know? I think sometimes when you read something, when it comes to life it doesn’t seem to be what you thought it was. But it was not some terrible ending to our relationship. She came back the next day to say goodbye. She helped promote the film. No hard feelings and I couldn’t be happier with how the film turned out in the end.” Besides, he says, “She was probably right. It was probably funnier the way we ended up doing it.”

In the GQ UK story, This Is The End was first brought up because of an insane story about Snoop Dogg, who was tasked with writing a song for the movie. So it’s really difficult to pull just one story out of the piece without simply insisting that you just read the whole thing for yourself. But now we know that there were troubles while making This Is The End, even if Rogen insists it’s all water under the bridge by now.

[via Deadline]

Pat Sajak is certainly known for his quick wit on Wheel of Fortune, even if some fans think he can occasionally cross the line. A recent instance where he appeared to make fun of a contestant’s speech impediment, for example, drew outrage from viewers and even sparked a petition for his removal from the show.

Other times, though, fans have appreciated Sajak’s quick thinking and banter with contestants. And that’s mostly been the response from fans after Friday night’s episode, when the longtime host made what some thought was a reference to a very suggestive euphemism.

Contestant Heather was working on a puzzle on Friday night when she asked for the letter D. It’s a common occasion on the show, as D is one of the more common letters in the English alphabet. But viewers, including noted video capturer CJ Fogler, certainly took notice of Sajak’s response when Heather asked for the letter.

“She wants a D, and she’s going to get one,” Sajak said after a brief pause. It was a quick reply, and one that wasn’t explicitly, well, explicit. But most people seemed to be picking up what they appeared to think Sajak was putting down here.

At least he didn’t open the prize envelope early this time, I guess.

Perhaps the most highly-anticipated college basketball game that took place on Saturday came when UConn and Iowa squared off in the Women’s NCAA Tournament. So much of the anticipation came from the true freshman matchup between the Huskies’ Paige Bueckers and the Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark, and while the game was not especially close — No. 1 UConn beat No. 5 Iowa, 92-72 — these two going toe-to-toe was a glimpse at one of the best individual rivalries that the sport of basketball will have for the next few decades, even if both are close friends.

In the aftermath of the game, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green took to Twitter to discuss women’s sports. Namely, he wanted to discuss how it, as an entity, could grow in prominence, specifically mentioning the conversation around unequal pay.

Green’s broad point, told through a series of tweets that he didn’t know how to thread: Focusing on pay and not unlocking ways to increase revenue by “telling INDIVIDUAL stories and building up the interest in the players.”

As a potential example of this, Green wondered why Bueckers does not declare for the 2021 WNBA Draft, saying that while he understands she is not eligible by the terms laid out by the league’s CBA, he believes this would be the kind of norm-shattering event that takes power from leagues and gives it to players.

Now, even if Green’s intentions are not coming from a bad place, he does show his overall ignorance on the subject by suggesting the issue is that women athletes are not doing everything they can to promote change. An expert in this field, USWNT star and fervent advocate for equality in sports Megan Rapinoe, saw what Green had to say and issued a response.

Among other things, Rapinoe made the point that there is only so far that folks like her and the USWNT can take their battle on their own, saying that “change cannot be made if the only people who care about the change enough are the ones who are suffering the most from it.”

Green went on to say that stories involving women athletes, mentioning Diana Taurasi, are not told. Rapinoe then responded by saying this is not because Taurasi doesn’t have a compelling story or there haven’t been attempts to tell it, but rather, because no one wants to tell it.

Rapinoe might be the authority on these sorts of things — she went to Washington this week on Equal Pay Day to testify in front of Congress and visit the White House alongside USWNT teammate Midge Purce — so it would behoove Green to both listen to what she has to say and do what he can do as one of the most prominent athletes in the United States to be part of the solution here.

Most of the focus on Thursday in the NBA world was on the myriad action before the league’s annual trade deadline. From Nikola Vucevic to Victor Oladipo and others, many prominent names are on the move, while others like Kyle Lowry are staying put after all kinds of rumblings. Another well-decorated player that was not traded on Thursday is seven-time All-Star big man LaMarcus Aldridge but, rather than staying with the San Antonio Spurs, the two sides came to a buyout agreement that was announced shortly after the deadline.

It comes as no surprise that Aldridge and the Spurs are parting ways, simply because that was the widespread expectation for the last few weeks. However, no trade could be found and Aldridge reportedly gave back a hefty sum to pave the way to free agency. Then, several days later, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Aldridge will head to the Brooklyn Nets, something that was eventually confirmed by the big man’s agent.

Brooklyn’s frontcourt has been a weak spot ever since parting ways with Jarrett Allen in the James Harden trade. While promising big man Nic Claxton has emerged, Aldridge provides an interesting element as a potential “stretch big” that can shoot threes (37.9 percent in the last two seasons) and defend reasonably at the rim, should he work his way into the team’s rotation.

It will be interesting to see how Aldridge fits in with the Nets, presumably because he will be in a vastly different role than he has occupied for more than a decade with the Blazers and Spurs. He is no longer a foundational piece and, in Brooklyn, he will take a backseat to the team’s considerable offensive firepower, minimizing his role and maximizing what he can still bring to a team.