With the LA Clippers presently in the midst of a nice summer vacation, I’ve been dividing my free time up in a variety of ways. Chief among them is spending time with the dog that won’t let me ever sleep in, so that’s been a blast.
The other way has been watching every sporting event that I can find. I mean, I’ve always done that, but now I have the time to actually write about them.
Oh, I also saw “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” on Friday. I recommend it to everyone, and that’s the most I’m going to say about the movie here because this will be a spoiler-free movie zone.
Anyway, I watched a ton of sports this past weekend, and I figured it was a good time to write about some of what I observed in that sphere of athletic goodness.
Years, and years, and years ago — 2015, as a matter of fact — I did a live blog on a May 2nd sports day that was filled with incredible stuff. The website that hosted it has since gone down, but the idea remains. This past weekend felt a lot like that one.
There was basketball, hockey, horse racing, auto racing, soccer, etc. But we’re going to start with combat sports because, well, they were pretty good over the last couple of days.
UFC 288
As someone who has been an MMA fan for roughly 20 years, I still do get geeked for big-time fights. That’s what Saturday felt like — a big-time fight.
The main event featured bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling defending his title against former two-division champion Henry Cejudo.
Cejudo, a former Olympic gold medalist, was coming off a three-year absence after he abruptly retired in 2020 following a TKO victory over Dominick Cruz. Sterling came into the event riding an eight-fight win streak, including a one-sided beatdown of T.J. Dillashaw last October.
What ensued was a very close, tough fight to score.
In the end, two judges ruled in favor of Sterling to give him a split-decision victory over Cejudo in their five-round affair.
There were some pretty definitive rounds, truth be told. Upon live viewing, the first and fourth rounds appeared to be heavy Sterling frames while the third and fifth rounds felt like Cejudo’s advantage. It meant the second round could ultimately be the swing round that determined this decision.
However, we got some wonky scores out of this one.
Michael Bell ruled in favor of Cejudo by giving him that second round, as well as the other two more definitive ones. But judges Derek Cleary and Eric Colon dissented by going with completely different choices.
For Cleary, he gave the second round to Cejudo but opted to score the fifth for Sterling despite it, at the time, feeling like that should go to Cejudo. Had Cleary scored the fifth for Cejudo then we’d have had a new champion.
In Colon’s case, he scored the second for Sterling. Now, that second round was close despite both Bell and Cleary scoring it for Cejudo. It was ultimately the toughest round to score. So no harm no foul there. But had Colon scored it for Cejudo then, once again, Cejudo takes the win.
Decisions like this live on the razor’s edge, so it’s understandable that there’s going to be some wonkiness when looking at scorecards. Three judges are going to see fights in three different ways. The more eyeballs, the more opinions. And that’s what judging is: an opinion.
I personally had it 49-48 in favor of Sterling by giving him the first, second, and fourth rounds. But could have very easily seen 49-48 Cejudo based on how close that second round was.
A rematch would be cool to see. But we’re not going to get it.
CANELO v. RYDER
Speaking of pugilistic events, world-renowned boxing superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez got to fight near his hometown of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico on Saturday night when he took on John Ryder for the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring super middleweight titles in front of roughly 50,000 fans.
In a fight that Canelo should have cruised in, he did. For the most part.
The judges had a wide decision for Alvarez, including a 120-107 card in favor of the future Hall of Famer. Alvarez knocked down Ryder in the 5th round, nabbing a 10-8 score for that round.
But that doesn’t mean Ryder wasn’t competitive. Quite the contrary. In fact, on more than one occasion it seemed like Ryder was building steam and making Alvarez work harder than he probably would have liked.
Ryder wasn’t a pushover, and probably earned a few fans after a fight like this since he went into a legend’s backyard and attempted to go toe-to-toe.
According to Compubox, Alvarez landed 179-of-459 (39 percent) punches while Ryder connected on 80-of-457 (17.5 percent). That’s a good output for an Alvarez opponent.
The problem for Ryder was that he wasn’t as active with his jab as he probably should have been. Ryder only attempted 200 jabs, and the jab has been a weapon past opponents have used to keep Alvarez’s pressure in check. Instead, Ryder opted to work inside, throwing 257 power punches to Alvarez’s 253.
Ryder’s southpaw style caused some headaches for Alvarez, mainly due to uppercuts, but it wasn’t anything Alvarez had true trouble working past.
We’ll see what’s next for Alvarez. However, one can’t help but wonder if Alvarez’s best days are behind him. While it might sound crazy to see that sentence considering he’s only 32 years old, Alvarez is older in fight years.
For reference, Floyd Mayweather finished his career with 397 rounds of action. Alvarez, who turns 33 in July, is now at 472, and some of those are in a few grueling fights. That can definitely be taxing.
Up next for Alvarez is likely to be a rematch with Dmitry Bivol, a systematic light heavyweight who wore Alvarez down over their final eight rounds against one another last May. We’ll see if that rematch comes to fruition.
WWE BACKLASH
Yeah, I get it, a lot of people don’t care about wrestling. However, I still find it entertaining, and considering I’ve spent basically my whole life partaking in its ridiculous ways, I still feel obligated — or maybe it’s “trained” — to tune in to see what transpires next.
Well, Saturday night proved to be an insane night of wrestling considering WWE went to Puerto Rico and tore the roof off the place thanks to Bad Bunny, Brock Lesnar, Cody Rhodes, and a whole lot more.
But the real story of the night was how much Bad Bunny stole the show. The crowd in San Juan was there for one person, and that person delivered.
From his entrance …
… to him getting put viciously through a table at the hands of his one-time friend Damian Priest …
… to Puerto Rican wrestling legends such as Carlito …
… and Savio Vega showing up …
… it was truly an incredible and surreal feeling, and one that will be hard for any other event the rest of the year to outdo.
But it was the finish that stood out, mainly because it showcased how much Bad Bunny has taken this platform seriously and given it his all.
There’s no telling what’s next for Bad Bunny. Obviously, he’ll continue doing huge things in the music world, but he’s clearly a global star and someone that loves competing in WWE.
Should he continue to pop up here and there in WWE, the wrestling world would be blessed to have him. It’s really that simple.
WWE is batting 1.000 with their pay-per-views (excuse me, premium live events) in 2023, by the way.
Other results on the night: Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar; Bianca Belair retained her Raw Women’s Title against Iyo Sky; Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins triumphed against Omos; Austin Theory retained his United States Title against Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed; Rhea Ripley successfully defended her SmackDown Women’s Title against Zelina Vega; and, The Bloodline won a six-man tag team match.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Really not sure there was a whole lot to take out of the Premier League this weekend, to be honest. The results were as follows:
Bournemouth 1-3 Chelsea
Manchester City 2-1 Leeds
Tottenham 1-0 Crystal Palace
Wolves 1-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Brentford
Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal (more on that here)
West Ham 1-0 Manchester United
Truth be told, the only match that somewhat delivered a real surprise was probably West Ham upending Manchester United in the final game of the weekend slate.
United keeper David De Gea was beaten by a goal from a sequence that should never produce a game-winner, and it’s something that could ultimately keep United out of Champions League football considering how pivotal this match might turn out to be down the line.
Just an inexcusable mess by the entire Manchester United group.
More Premier League action will take place on Monday as Fulham hosts Leicester City, Brighton & Hove Albion welcomes Everton, and Nottingham Forest plays host to Southampton.
FORMULA 1: MIAMI GRAND PRIX
I love Formula 1, but I do not love this Formula 1 season. It’s bland. There’s no intrigue. There’s no drama. It’s all very straightforward as Red Bull possesses by far the best car on the grid, and no one else is even in the same stratosphere as them.
It’s such a joke, in fact, that reigning two-time world champion Max Verstappen started 9th on Sunday for the second-ever Miami Grand Prix, and he was still the odds-on-favorite to win the race despite that.
Verstappen was up into the top two by Lap 20, and the only car in front of him was that of his teammate, Sergio Perez. But Perez was no match on this day, nor is he on most days unless it’s a street circuit.
Unless other cars start to show gigantic leaps forward in performance, Verstappen will cruise to a third consecutive world title.
Outside of Verstappen’s 9th-to-1st day, Lewis Hamilton probably performed the best. Hamilton started 13th, his worst-ever grid spot for any United States Grand Prix. But he used a great, resilient drive to finish 6th.
UP NEXT: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. It’ll take place on May 21st.
NBA PLAYOFFS
First, let’s start off with the simple results from the weekend:
Miami Heat 105-86 New York Knicks (Miami leads, 2-1)
Los Angeles Lakers 127-97 Golden State Warriors (Los Angeles leads, 2-1)
Philadelphia 76ers 116-115 Boston Celtics (Series tied, 2-2)
Phoenix Suns 129-124 Denver Nuggets (Series tied, 2-2)
Cool, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk the hoops.
I thought the Knicks looked hideous on Saturday afternoon en route to getting blown out. They got horrendous showings from Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, and while Jalen Brunson (7-for-20 from the field) wasn’t great, he tried to keep them afloat long enough for others to show up. That didn’t happen.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler just keeps chugging along with efficient performances as he put up 28 points on 9-for-21 shooting. Max Strus added 19 points for Miami, and Kyle Lowry chipped in with 14. Monday night will be interesting.
The Lakers throttled the Warriors. Wasn’t a whole lot to take from it except that when Anthony Davis doesn’t play in drop coverage, the Warriors struggle mightily on offense.
Joel Embiid and company did their best to lose Game 4 to the Celtics, but the 76ers — thanks to James Harden and PJ Tucker (of all people!) — evened the series with a huge overtime win. Harden had 42 points, including the game-winning three-pointer.
And, finally, Devin Booker (36 points, 12 assists) and Kevin Durant (36 points, 11 rebounds) turned back Nikola Jokic (53 points, 11 assists) to draw Phoenix even with Denver after four thrilling games.
Booker is averaging 36.8 points on a 71.1 True Shooting Percentage this postseason, by the way. L-O-L.
The hoops. They be f------ good, man.
NHL PLAYOFFS
Unfortunately, didn’t watch much of the NHL postseason this weekend. But, if you missed it, here are the results:
Vegas Golden Knights 1-5 Edmonton Oilers (Series tied, 1-1)
New Jersey Devils 8-4 Carolina Hurricanes (Carolina leads, 2-1)
Florida Panthers 3-2 Toronto Maple Leafs (Florida leads, 3-0)
Seattle Kraken 7-2 Dallas Stars (Seattle leads, 2-1)
149th KENTUCKY DERBY
Horseys raced. Here it is:
Win: Mage
Place: Two Phil’s
Show: Angel of Empire
Tragically, seven horses died in the weeks and days leading up to the 149th Kentucky Derby.
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