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After Petr Yan lost his bantamweight crown with an illegal knee strike last March, he aimed to settle the score with Aljamain Sterling Saturday night at UFC 273 from VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. Sterling (21-3) was having none of it, earning the undisputed belt the right way with a split-decision victory over Yan (16-3).

Sterling and Yan opened the fight with a feeling out process, exchanging the occasional strike and moving around the cage. Yan kept the pressure, walking Sterling around the cage and loading up on strikes. Sterling closed out the round with a big right hand before the buzzer.

Sterling was right back to work in round two with a slew of leg kicks while Yan kept the pressure on. Sterling continued to work his strikes, took Yan’s leg, and found his way into full mount and eventually took the interim champ’s back. Sterling rolled Yan and took control with ground-and-pound, with Yan somehow surviving the final three minutes of the round on his back.

Yan walked down Sterling again in the third, attacking with heavy kicks. Sterling went right back to the leg, taking Yan down and jumping his back yet again. Sterling simply held body control for the final three minutes, unable to make much movement toward a finish.

In the fourth, Yan came out with a big combination of strikes, sending Sterling retreating. Yan and Sterling exchanged strikes into a scramble, where Sterling went too high on Yan’s back and the challenger moved into full guard. Yan was able to hold position through the round.

The fifth and final round started with Sterling ending up on his back, but quickly returning to his feet. Sterling went for the takedown again, but was stuffed with Yan’s back against the cage. Yan got free, moving back to the center of the cage. Yan escaped scramble after scramble, with Sterling unable to get the takedown.

Sterling hadn’t competed since winning the belt over Yan, having had major neck surgery in 2021. Yan went on to earn a decision victory over Cory Sandhagen to claim the interim bantamweight belt in October before his chance to win his belt back, and made clear after the fight that he wants a third fight against Sterling.

Khamzat Chimaev (11-0) survived one of the best fights of the year to knock off the No. 2 ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns (20-5) in a showdown of top contenders at UFC 273 from VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

Chimaev backed Burns up against the cage right from the start, angling for a takedown and eventually shuffling the title contender to the ground. Chimaev allowed Burns back to his feet from the side of the Octagon, opting to stand and throw with his opponent. Burns landed a slew of significant strikes early, setting things up with hooks and jabs, followed by his big right hand.

A straight right hand sat Burns down and Chimaev tried to finish it on the ground, dropping hammer fists and elbows. Burns was able to withstand, getting back to his feet before the end of the round.

In round two, it was Burns the more aggressive, shooting for a takedown and looking for openings. Burns stung Chimaev with a big right hand, but his opponent kept coming forward. Burns clipped Chimaev with a big left, sending him backwards against the cage.

But Chimaev had no problem meeting Burns back in the center of the cage. Burns shot for a takedown, but Chimaev moved into full guard. Burns kicked him off and the two were back on their feet. The pace had clearly slowed for Chimaev as Burns began to chip away. At the end of the round, Burns sat Chimaev down, but Chimaev was able to earn the takedown and survive the end of the round.

Chimaev came out in the third looking refreshed, walking Burns down. Chimaev started to tee off midway through the round, but Burns locked up Chimaev to try to slow the pace. Burns found his second wind late in the round, chipping away at Chimaev with big lefts and rights. Chimaev continued to walk down Burns, stalking him around the cage, eating huge right hands from Burns before the close to round three.

Burns returned to the Octagon hoping to make it two wins in a row after dispatching Stephen Thompson with a decision victory in July last year. His decision to take the Chimaev bout was the most entertaining of the options out there following his knockout loss to welterweight king Kamaru Usman last February.

Chimaev entered Saturday night as one of the UFC’s quickest rising stars, making quick work of his last three opponents with first-round finishes.

With the win, Chimaev skyrockets up the rankings and could be in line for a future title shot. The risk for Burns resulted in a loss, but no one would be upset if we got to see these two enter the Octagon again for a rematch.

Despite the fact that the team is still without the services of Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors beat a pesky San Antonio Spurs team on Saturday night, 100-94. Jordan Poole did not shoot particularly well on the evening, but still was the Warriors’ co-leading scorer with 18 points to go with eight assists and six rebounds.

Poole was also responsible for one of the weirdest moments we’ve seen this season. With less than 30 seconds left in the game and the Warriors only up by four, Poole was picked up full-court by Tre Jones, who hounded him up the court and actually looked like he got a piece of the shooting sleeve worn by Golden State’s guard. Poole threw it to the ground, then moments later hit the deck, leading to Jones getting hit with a foul.

The whole thing seemed a bit weird, so Gregg Popovich called for a coach’s challenge, which he won. It turns out Poole was not fouled, but instead, after he threw his sleeve to the ground, the former University of Michigan standout slipped on it.

There really isn’t a whole lot to say about this one other than we’re glad Poole didn’t get hurt and congratulations to Jones for being able to defend without fouling.

Award shows like the Grammys and the VMAs are notoriously fickle, with every fandom vying for their own favorite star to win, even when losing might’ve been justified. But an exchange with a fan today led Mariah Carey down the road of wondering if she’d done something to hurt someone over at Viacom. After one of her followers pointed out that despite her diva status, and plenty of songs, videos, and albums that could’ve been eligible, Mimi has never won a VMA, even Mariah had to wonder what’s up with that.

“The fact that @MariahCarey never won a VMA and still hasn’t won a Vanguard award don’t sit right with me. Get it together @MTV @vmas,” her fan wrote. And it wasn’t too long before Mariah joined in to agree with him. “Yeah.. @MTV how have I offended thee? Nary an award?” Mariah wrote in response, quote tweeting her fan’s post and including a GIF from one her most adventurous videos, the cinematic spy thriller themed “Honey remix clip.

Of course, plenty more fans were chiming in once the snub had been brought to their attention, and MTV’s mentions are probably getting bombarded right now. Well, maybe her remix of “Big Energy” with Latto will be eligible for something in 2022, and the VMAs can make this right asap.

Kevin Na arrived at the 16th hole at Augusta National on Saturday at 1-over for the tournament, 12 shots off of Scottie Scheffler’s lead at that moment but still in the top 10 on what had turned into a brutal third round at the Masters.

Na, for the most part, had avoided catastrophe during his third round up until that point, making four bogeys and one birdie in his round, battling strong winds and lightning fast greens. As they day wore on and winds dried out the greens further, they only got faster and Na became the prime example of just how slick they had become when he 5-putted the 16th for a triple bogey.

After ramming his first putt up the slope 12 feet past the hole, he was left with a right-to-left swinger back down the hill and while he didn’t nuke the putt, he hit it hard enough to get by the hole and reach the steep slope just beyond it, ultimately leaving him 47 feet away for his fourth.

The Masters loves to push Augusta National to the limit and this is an incredible example of that. This is a putt that maybe runs by 5 or 6 feet on the Tour’s fastest greens, but at Augusta, that pushes you off of the top shelf and punishes you severely. Na would require three more putts from the bottom of the hill, carding a triple and dropping him back to 4-over for the tournament. He dropped one more shot on 17 to finish with a 79 for his round, 5-over for the tournament and in a tie for 34th.

The Memphis Grizzlies will get a pretty gigantic boost during their penultimate game of the season. Memphis will play host to the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night, and after previously listing All-Star guard Ja Morant as questionable to take the floor for the first time in nine games, the team announced that Morant will be able to play and start.

Morant has not taken the floor for Memphis since March 18, when he had 29 points in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Since then, the reigning Rookie of the Year and presumed soon-to-be All-NBA selection has watched as his team has won seven of its last nine games to cement itself as the 2-seed in the Western Conference — it is worth mentioning that the Grizzlies have lost their last two games.

While the team has been quite good without Morant this season, his return will provide some extra reinforcements prior to the first round of the playoffs. As the 2-seed, Memphis will play the team that wins the 7/8 matchup in the play-in tournament, which will be either the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Los Angeles Clippers.

On the season, Morant has averaged a career-high 27.6 points, 6.7 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 33.3 minutes per game. The Grizzlies enter Saturday night’s game with a 55-25 record.

Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard begins on Monday, and it will even be televised. It’s already been a raucous affair, coming after Depp’s previous libel suit against The Sun, which didn’t go well for the now-struggling actor. But before it begins, Heard is clearing the air, defending her name, and even saying she feels “love” for Depp, despite all that’s transpired.

“Johnny is suing me for an op-ed I wrote in the Washington Post, in which I recounted my experience of violence and domestic abuse,” Heard wrote in an Instagram post. “I never named him, rather I wrote about the price women pay for speaking against men in power. I continue to pay that price, but hopefully when this case concludes, I can move on and so can Johnny.”

She went on, writing, “I have always maintained a love for Johnny and it brings me great pain to have to live out the details of our past life together in front of the world. At this time, I recognize the ongoing support I’ve been fortunate to receive throughout these years, and in these coming weeks I will be leaning on it more than ever.”

Even before the trial begins, Depp appears to be in hot water. As per Deadline:

In a short hearing, Virginia Judge Penney Azcarate ruled against Depp’s summary judgment motion and said Heard can, in fact, utilize the state’s anti-SLAPP statute.

SLAPP is an acronym for a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. A SLAPP suit is a civil complaint or counterclaim filed against people or organizations who speak out on issues of public interest or concern.

That means that her attorneys can argue Heard is deserving of immunity in front of the jury — and that undercuts a large swath of Depp’s legal strategy.

Depp’s previous libel suit was against The Sun, who called him a “wife beater,” which the court ruled was “substantially true.” Still, he forged ahead with another similar lawsuit anyway.

(Via Deadline)

The Jurassic World wing of the Jurassic franchise has been adding bigger, faker dinosaurs for ever since the first one dropped in 2015. First came the genetic hybrid Indominus Rex. Then, in 2018’s Fallen Kingdom, came the Indoraptor. The third one moves away from hybrids, digging up another, actual dinosaur, albeit one with a name that sounds like it was invented by Hollywood screenwriters: the Giganotosaurus, or “Giga” for short. And even though it’s a creature without the capability of complex thought, the film’s director is comparing it to one of the most iconic comic book baddies.

In a new interview with Empire, Colin Trevorrow talks about why he chose the Gigantosaurus. “I wanted something that felt like the Joker,” he said. “It just wants to watch the world burn.”

Again, dinosaurs didn’t have the capacity for complex, human-like thought, and besides, wouldn’t “just wants to watch the world burn” describe a number of aggressive dinosaur species? To say nothing of this: Isn’t the Joker a bit played out at this point? Still, Trevorrow promises an “entirely new kind of movie,” taking advantage of a whole slew of freed dinos freely stomping about the Earth. “It’s the thing I’ve been waiting to do this whole time.”

Jurassic World Dominion will be released on June 10.

(Via Empire)

Manchester United’s recent poor run of form continued on Saturday, as the team traveled to Goodison Park to take on Everton and lost, 1-0. It was a huge win for the Toffees, which desperately needed a win in the midst of their battle to avoid relegation, but in the aftermath, a moment of frustration has gotten United’s biggest star in some hot water.

In a video captured by a fan after the game, Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to smack a phone out of someone’s hand while he was on his way to the dressing room. While it is unclear if anything was said to Ronaldo, who played all 90 minutes but did not score a goal, he smashed the phone and continued to walk into the back.

The club spoke to ESPN and said that they “are investigating the incident but stressed that it is not clear what happened or that it was intentional.”

Ronaldo returned to United, where he played from 2003-09, this past summer from Juventus after rumors indicated Manchester City were interested in bringing the Portuguese ace back to England. While the 37-year-old has scored 18 goals in 32 games across all competitions this season, it has been a season of tumult for United, which are currently on the outside looking in of the six spots the league gets allocated for European competitions.

Not a whole lot has gone right for the Indiana Pacers this season, as the team sits 25-55 and are in 13th place in the Eastern Conference. Despite this, there are some reasons for optimism going forward, like the play of the team’s prized trade deadline acquisition, Tyrese Haliburton. Since joining the team from the Sacramento Kings, Haliburton has averaged 17.4 points, 9.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.9 steals in 35.9 minutes per game while connecting on 42 percent of his attempts from three.

One potential domino that could fall as a result of his strong play is a trade for veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon, who has only played in 36 games this season. Brogdon signed a 2-year, $45 million extension in October that made him ineligible to be traded this season, and according to Marc Stein, the team has “left numerous rival teams with the impression that they will be trying to move” him once he’s eligible.

As for where Brogdon — who averaged 19.1 points and 5.9 assists in 33.5 minutes a night this year — could end up, Stein reported that there’s a certain team in Los Angeles that would love to bring him on board.

Another option that could (stress: could) present itself provided the Pacers like the idea: The Lakers have a well-documented interest in Buddy Hield, who came to Indiana along with Haliburton in the Sabonis trade, and might well offer Russell Westbrook and his $47.1 million expiring contract for Hield and Brogdon. With the Pacers presumed to have no interest in Westbrook beyond his expiring salary, such a swap figures to hinge on what sort of draft compensation the Lakers would be willing to furnish to sweeten the deal for the Pacers to participate and then (we can only imagine) part ways with Westbrook.

It’s hard to imagine that the Lakers would be able to pull this sort of deal off unless they add some of the young talent on their roster and both of their first-round draft picks in 2027 and 2029, and even then, it’d take the Pacers determining that’s better than anything else they could get back for Brogdon.