After consecutive losses to light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and top contender Anthony Smith, Alexander Gustafsson announced his surprising retirement from MMA in a post-fight interview. But just one year later, Gustafsson is hungry for UFC gold and making a comeback to the sport with a move to the heavyweight division.
According to MMA Fighting, the 33-year-old Gustafsson will return to the Octagon for his 17th appearance at UFC’s “Fight Island” on July 25 against Fabricio Werdum.
Werdum returned from a reduced two-year USADA suspension in May to suffer a decision loss to Aleksei Oleinik. At 42, the former champion will look to kickstart one more run into title contention in a loaded division just two months after his last bout. His last win came in November of 2017, when Werdum picked up a win by unanimous decision against Marcin Tybura.
Gustafsson has lost all three attempts at capturing UFC gold, dropping a decision loss to Jones in 2013, a decision loss to Daniel Cormier in 2015, and a knockout at the hands of Jones in 2018. Gustafsson’s anticipated tilt with Werdum will play the undercard of Darren Till’s main event showdown with Robert Whittaker. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is also expected to face off against Mauricio Rua.
The location of UFC’s “Fight Island” is still unknown, but could be revealed by UFC president Dana White next week.
Days after George Floyd was killed by police officer in Minnesota on May 25, Lil Wayne went on his Young Money Radio show to speak about Floyd’s death. However, his awkwardly-worded statement failed to resonate with listeners. As a result, Wayne was subject to a high amount of criticism for his words, especially for his thoughts on the actions of the general public following his death. “Some people put a tweet out and they think they did something,” he said on the show. “Some people wear a shirt and they think they did something. What you gonna do after that? Did you actually help the person? Did you actually help the family? Did you actually go out there and do something?”
Wayne returned Friday with another Young Money Radio show episode, in which he clarified his comments while speaking to Killer Mike. “Mike, last week people misinterpreted my words,” he said. “I respect the effort of the people to seek justice and what they doin’. I just knew it was time for more action than a tweet. Also, my mama always told me—I sat in the passenger seat getting picked up from school every day and dropped off. I would look outside that window in the ‘hood, so you gon’ see situations when you riding home. I might make a comment or give my opinion on what I just saw.”
Wayne also said his mom would reprimand him for what he said, saying she would tell him to mind his own business. He also said his comments came from his experiences as a youth: “I’m from New Orleans where, what we’re seeing ladies and gentlemen around the world finally because [of] the cameraphones and all that, baby, we went through that every day. We saw that, we went through that every week.”
You can listen to Wayne clarify his comments on the reaction to Floyd’s death in the video above, starting around the 3:50 mark.
Summer is here. The air is warm. Thunderstorms are rolling through and new video game consoles should be getting shown to us soon. While there may be no E3 this year, the anticipation around the opportunity to see more of the highly anticipated Playstation 5 and Xbox: Series X is extremely high. While we know what the Series X looks like after Microsoft unveiled it at December’s game awards, we are still awaiting anything beyond a Wired article in relation to the PlayStation 5.
The last generation is largely considered a victory for Sony with the PlayStation 4 outselling the Xbox One and having a deeper and stronger library of games. Of course, Sony has not been without their own faults this generation.
While Microsoft embraced the new trend of crossplay, allowing gamers to play games with each other no matter the console they owned, Sony strongly pushed against it throughout the generation with only a handful of exceptions to major titles like Fortnite and Rocket League. On the other side though you have PlayStation with very strong exclusive titles like Uncharted 4, Street Fighter V, Marvel’s Spiderman, God of War, Persona 5, Horizon Zero Dawn, and the list can really go on. The Xbox One tried to continue some of their long-lasting titles such as Halo and Gears of War, but the reactions to Gears was that it was good, not great, and the less said about Halo 5‘s campaign the better.
While it’s hard to predict a company’s overall strategy going into a new generation, we can make some educated guesses. In the last few years, both companies have positioned themselves for the next generation. We’ve heard chatter and it’s always worth noting what has made each successful in the past. The first PlayStation arrived on the scene in 1994 and the first Xbox in 2001. Over the decades they have found what worked for them and it would not be surprising to see them stay in their lane, as it were, while appealing to both long-time fans and new ones. With all that said, let’s take a look at the tale of the tape, at least as it stands right now.
PlayStation 5: Strong games, more power
Going all the way back to the ’90s, when the PlayStation was entering the scene against Nintendo and Sega, they made their name by releasing high-quality exclusives. During the PS2 era, they continued this trend and that console is well known for having one of, if not the greatest game library of all time. They slipped up in the PS3 era. Their launch price point was too high, the system was too hard to develop for, and they flat out failed to keep up with the innovative ideas coming out of the Microsoft camp. For the PS4 era, however, they learned from their past fails, simplifying the formula. The price tag has been competitive, they made sure they had the best exclusives, and even though they took heat for fighting against crossplay, it was part of what made them who they were. You buy a PlayStation because they have games you can only play on a PlayStation.
Because of that, it’s hard to see them not keeping with the status quo as they enter this next generation. And that theory is reinforced by what we’ve seen so far through info released through Wired (with talk about 8K visuals and an SSD that sounds transformational) and the Unreal Engine 5 reveal. Sony knows what they do best: have great games and a powerful console. They’re gonna stick with that and present as a powerful workhorse.
Xbox will innovate through service
It’s odd to think that Microsoft, for as big a name as it is, has truly never “won” a console generation. Even the mighty 360 was still barely outsold by the Playstation 3. Xbox’s first foray into consoles saw a horrible launch that almost announced it dead on arrival. Had it not been for Halo and a little thing called Xbox Live we might be discussing the two console giants Nintendo and Sony instead of Microsoft and Sony. That said, the 360 era is where Microsoft truly made its name. Not only through incredible first-person shooters like Halo 3, but by offering everyone’s favorite online service Xbox Live, reinforcing the social element of gaming.
When we look at the Xbox One, we can see signs of Microsoft once again trying to make the services they offer the selling point for their console. Xbox made a huge push into the realm of crossplay this generation and is fully embracing the idea that anyone should be able to play any games they want. This includes older games. As gamers grow up they want to play their old favorites without hanging on to mothballed consoles from the past. As such, Microsoft has fully embraced backwards compatibility. They have already advertised that the Xbox: Series X will continue to support this.
Our commitment to compatibility means existing Xbox One games, including backward-compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox games, look and play better than ever before. Your favorite games, including titles in Xbox Game Pass, benefit from steadier framerates, faster load times and improved resolution and visual fidelity – all with no developer work required. Your Xbox One gaming accessories also come forward with you.
If Xbox can’t beat Sony with buzzy exclusives then they are going to try and win fans over with the ability to play just about every game under the sun on their console. One of the ways they do this through Gamepass. A feature that was released on the Xbox ONE, Gamepass allows players to stream games to their console and play them whenever they want. Similar to something like a Netflix for games. The library on Gamepass is incredible and it is probably the best service on any console at the moment. This is an area that the Series X can take advantage of.
Verdict
This generation of consoles could define what video games are for years to come. Is Xbox’s progressive idea of ignoring exclusivity and streaming games the future or will the traditional style of Playstation featuring exclusives and strong boxes win out? It’ll be fascinating to see which way video game lovers lean come release time and how each company evolves its strategy in response.
Friday marked what would have been Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday. Taylor was killed by Louisville police on March 13 after a number of police officers used a battery ram to enter her apartment with a “no-knock” warrant. Upon entering her apartment, Taylor was shot and killed after officers fired at least eight gunshots at her. As protestors flooded the streets in response to the death of George Floyd on May 25, many protestors made sure to include Taylor’s name in their chants, especially on her 27th birthday. Taking to her Instagram page to remember Taylor, Beyonce shared a post with her fans honoring Taylor.
Sharing an animated picture of Taylor that read, “Happy Birthday Beautiful Breonna,” Beyonce posted the picture to her Instagram page while calling for justice for the Lousiville native. In the photo’s caption, Beyonce said, “Justice for Breonna. Click the link in my bio to take action.” Upon clicking the link in Beyonce’s bio, users are brought to her website and prompted to head over to another website, JusticeForBreonna.org. On the website, users are then asked to sign a petition demanding justice for Taylor.
Beyonce’s post coincides with tributes from other artists, including Chance The Rapper and Ari Lennox, that were also shared Friday. Her post arrives a week after she shared a video calling for justice for George Floyd while pleading for an end to “senseless killings” in America. “There have been too many times that we’ve seen these violent killings, and no consequences. Yes, someone’s been charged, but justice is far from being achieved.”
The Netflix doc series Tiger King may have lost its spot as the most-watched Netflix conent, its throne usurped by Gru and his Minions. But it’s still going strong, with new twists still coming. During last week, it was revealed the will belonging to Don Lewis, Carole Baskin’s missing husband, was a forgery. Speaking of which, the band from the show have released a new song with an interesting title: “Killer Carole.”
As per Entertainment Weekly, the Vince Johnson Band — the outfit that recorded all the songs “star” Joe Exotic used to pass off as his own, among them the quite popular “I Saw a Tiger” — returned with their first new song since getting a record deal, signing with BMG Rights Management and Create Music Group. And they don’t tread lightly. The song is based around the theory, floated most enthusiastically by Joe Exotic himself, that Baskin, his arch-nemesis, murdered her husband.
Does Joe, and all the others parroting this theory, have hard proof? No. But this song — written and performed only by Johnson, as former member Daniel Clinton died last year — has just added fuel to a fire that’s raged over the internet since the show’s release in March.
The lryics aren’t subtle: “Is the body buried deep, is the body underground?” sings Johnson. “Tell me, Killer Carole, where the body can be found? Was he chewed in little pieces in the belly of the beast? Tell me killer Carole, baby, how you gonna sleep?”
An entire episode of Tiger King was devoted to Joe’s theory about Baskin. Baskin, meanwhile, has denied all accusations.
You can listen to the song in the video above.
(Via EW)
The movie and TV industry has been for the most part shut down for nearly three months now, with many productions — among them The Batman — put on hold mid-stride. Consumers won’t start to feel the effects of this pause until later this year, when suddenly there’s no more new content, or at least no new content featuring actors standing less than six feet from each other. But at least there’s one program you can trust will arrive as previously scheduled: the second season of The Mandalorian.
This comes from The Hollywood Reporter, who reported on an appearance creator Jon Favreau made on a recent virtual panel. “We were lucky enough to have finished photography before the lock down,” Favreau revealed. “Thanks to how technology-forward Lucasfilm and ILM are, we have been able to do all of our visual effects and editing and postproduction remotely through systems that had been set up by those companies for us.”
The show, which chronicles the adventures of a mysterious, Boba Fett-esque bounty hunter played by a perpetually masked Pablo Pascal, is one of the crown jewels of Disney+; much like Netflix, the streamer doesn’t release viewership data, but its cultural impact can certainly be gleaned from, among other things, the persistent Baby Yoda memes. It’s also kept the Star Wars-verse alive even as movies like Solo and The Rise of Skywalker have underperformed or disappointed. Perhaps that’s what happens when you make a show that casts both Werner Herzog and Nick Nolte.
The Mandalorian is scheduled to return in October.
(Via THR)
