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Yan and Van’s wins at UFC 323 throw kinks into the MMA timeline

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Yan and Van’s wins at UFC 323 throw kinks into the MMA timeline


The final UFC pay-per-view of 2025 delivered two new champions who will enter the new year with golden hardware around their waists. Petr Yan and Joshua Van unseated Merab Dvalishvili and Alexandre Pantoja, respectively, and threw their divisions into a tizzy.

At men’s bantamweight, it’s hard to see Yan hold up a title belt and not wonder how things could have been different if the moment that he lost it by disqualification in 2021 had never happened. And at flyweight, a new hard-to-watch moment that resulted in an injury and a changing of the guard may end up affecting that weight class for quite some time.

Brett Okamoto and Jeff Wagenheim give their takeaways on how those moments have altered the timeline of the UFC.


What if Yan didn’t throw that knee?

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Petr Yan completes stunning win over Merab Dvalishvili

Petr Yan somehow pulls off the stunning upset in the main event of UFC 323 to defeat Merab Dvalishvili.

There is an alternate universe where Petr Yan did not throw an illegal knee against Aljamain Sterling and is considered an all-time great.

That illegal knee, man. I hate to go back and get stuck on it, but what a career-changing moment. Remember, Yan was genuinely considered one of the absolute best pound-for-pound fighters in the world at that time. He was 15-0. Undefeated. Perfect. He was cruising through Sterling in 2021 when he was disqualified for one of the most egregiously, unforgivable illegal knees in the sport’s history. And that single moment stuck with him for two years.

He went on to win an interim belt against Cory Sandhagen in his next bout then lost to Sterling via split decision in 2022 — in a fight I scored for Yan at the time. If we’re honest, it had to be a little hard for Yan to get up for that bout. He dominated Sterling in their first meeting. It was a “trap” kind of title fight, if there is such a thing. After that, a split decision loss to Sean O’Malley appeared to rob him of some of his competitive soul. By the time he fought Merab Dvalishvili in 2023, he was on a 1-3 run and, as he later admitted, injured. And he got run over.

None of this is to make excuses or create a false narrative, but in my opinion, Yan fell victim to a perfect storm of awful circumstances — the first of which, to be fair, he did to himself with the illegal knee. But if he never threw that knee and he’s never lost that momentum he was carrying in 2021, who is to say he wouldn’t have put together an all-time historic run? His fight against O’Malley would have been five rounds instead of three. He never would have had to face Sterling in a rematch that was probably hard to get up for. And he would have fought Dvalishvili the first time in a far different scenario.

Say I’m making things up. Fine. I stand by it. A single illegal knee changed the course of history in the bantamweight division, more than we have ever known. Because the fighter I watched on Saturday is a legit pound-for-pound talent. — Okamoto


The top of the men’s flyweight division changed in an instant

Tatsuro Taira was on a rocket ship headed to the top of the MMA world as he won the first 16 fights of his career, including six UFC victories. But then he lost a split decision to Brandon Royval in October 2024 and seemed to disappear from men’s flyweight contendership. Taira certainly made his presence felt in a big way on Saturday by knocking out Brandon Moreno, a former champion. That surely will boost the 25-year-old from Japan toward the top of the rankings.

It’s hard to say how long Taira will have to wait for a title shot, however, because in the very next fight at UFC 323, Alexandre Pantoja suffered a brutal injury seconds into his flyweight title defense and lost the championship to Joshua Van. A Pantoja loss by any other means likely would have resulted in an immediate rematch, since he entered the night with more title defenses than any current UFC champion. With the shoulder injury, however, Pantoja could be out for a while. And some of the other top-10 flyweights who had lost to Pantoja might suddenly be back in the running to challenge Van.

Taira has maybe the strongest case. Saturday’s victory was his sixth finish in the UFC. Perhaps even more impressive: It was the first time Moreno has been finished in 20 UFC fights. Pantoja didn’t do it in two fights with Moreno. Former champion Deiveson Figueiredo couldn’t in four tries. Taira’s opportunity to climb to the top spot seems imminent. — Wagenheim



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Betting Texans-Chiefs: Picks, props and DFS plays for ‘Sunday Night Football’

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Betting Texans-Chiefs: Picks, props and DFS plays for ‘Sunday Night Football’


Sunday’s Week 14 slate wraps up with the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Houston Texans on “Sunday Night Football.”

Both teams are trying to claw their way into the playoffs. The Texans are right back in the thick of things after winning four straight. At 7-5, they are a game back of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South and -150 to make the playoffs. The 6-6 Chiefs, who were the Super Bowl favorite as recently as Week 11, are now +120 to even reach the playoffs.

The Texans and Chiefs met twice last season, once in the regular season and again in the divisional round, with Kansas City winning both games.

The Chiefs head into Sunday night’s matchup as 3.5-point favorites.

Matt Bowen, Liz Loza, Pamela Maldonado and Eric Moody offer their picks, prop bets, DFS plays and analysis to help you bet the game.

Note: Odds provided by DraftKings and subject to change.


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Picks | Props | DFS tips | Trends



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Champ Week live: A new No. 1, is Bama out and ACC chaos

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Champ Week live: A new No. 1, is Bama out and ACC chaos


We’re just hours from the announcement of the College Football Playoff field. There’s plenty of drama left to play out on the field.

The committee is gathered at its headquarters in the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas, to watch conference championship games that will impact their final ranking on Selection Day. It was only the beginning of conference championship weekend, but how these games unfolded with the committee watching will determine their five highest-ranked conference champions — and how that order will impact the contenders around them.

We’re tracking all the conference title games and the impact on the CFP field as well as the top plays and highlights from No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Indiana.

Jump to: CFP takeaways


Conference title takeaways

With Duke’s win against Virginia, the five-loss ACC champion Blue Devils will likely be excluded from the field in favor of No. 25 James Madison, which won the Sun Belt. The five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed spots in the playoff, and this opens the door for two of those five to come from the American and Sun Belt conferences. This became a realistic scenario when the committee ranked JMU — and not Duke — in its fifth ranking. This means Tulane will earn the No. 11 seed and JMU will get the No. 12 seed as the fifth and final conference champion.


With Indiana’s win against Ohio State, the Hoosiers will earn the committee’s No. 1 spot on Selection Day and the No. 1 overall seed. IU earned the best win in the country, and it also has a double-digit top-five road win against Oregon. Because it was such a close game, and Ohio State’s only loss is to the committee’s No. 2 team, it’s likely to drop only one spot to No. 2.


With the win against Alabama, Georgia should lock up a top-four seed and a first-round bye, but that position depends in part on how far the loser of the Big Ten championship game falls. It’s possible Ohio State and Indiana just flip — or stay status quo.

The bigger question is how far Alabama drops following its decisive third loss. If Alabama sinks to No. 11, it will open the door for both Notre Dame and Miami to finish in the top 10 — regardless of order. Because of how Alabama lost — and the committee hasn’t forgotten the season-opening loss to Florida State — the Crimson Tide could fall out of the field. The committee also will consider that Alabama has a regular-season road win against the SEC champs, though. If Alabama drops only one spot, it could still be a buffer between Miami and Notre Dame — and it could be the last at-large team in at No. 10.


Texas Tech’s win against BYU secured a top-four finish and a first-round bye for the Red Raiders. It also helped Notre Dame’s playoff chances tremendously, as the Irish no longer have to be concerned about being leapfrogged by BYU.

This puzzle is far from complete, though.

It doesn’t matter for BYU if the committee keeps it at No. 11 or drops it to No. 12 (or beyond). Either way BYU would be bumped out during the seeding process to include a conference champion. Where BYU lands, though, will impact Miami.

The selection committee is most likely to do one of two things: drop No. 11 BYU to No. 12 behind Miami, or keep it exactly where it is. If BYU falls below the Canes, the committee could reconsider the tiebreaker between Miami and Notre Dame.


With Tulane’s win against North Texas on Friday, the American champs locked up a spot in the playoff, as they will be the committee’s fourth-highest-ranked conference champion. The Green Wave will earn the No. 11 or No. 12 seed, depending on who wins the ACC championship game. If Tulane gets the No. 11 seed and faces the committee’s No. 6 team on the road in the first round, as things stand now, Tulane will get a rematch against Ole Miss. The Rebels beat Tulane 45-10 on Sept. 20 in Oxford, and they will have home-field advantage again as the higher seed.


With Friday’s win against Troy, JMU‘s path to the playoff is straightforward: Duke needs to beat Virginia and win the ACC. If that happens, the committee will reward JMU with the No. 12 seed as its fifth and final conference champion — and it would come at the expense of the ACC champion, which would be excluded. The question is if the conference will be excluded entirely, though — or if No. 12 Miami will still sneak in, even without playing this weekend. That could happen if BYU loses to Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game and drops behind Miami — putting the Canes right below No. 10 Notre Dame. In that scenario, the committee could look at Miami’s season-opening win against the Irish as one of several tiebreakers it uses to separate comparable teams.



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Tearful Norris claims ‘amazing’ Formula One world champion | The Express Tribune

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Tearful Norris claims ‘amazing’ Formula One world champion | The Express Tribune


The 26-year-old is the first McLaren driver to win title since Lewis Hamilton in 2008

Lando Norris waves to his fans as he contemplates the magnitude of his achievement. Photo: AFP


ABU DHABI:

A tearful Lando Norris claimed his maiden Formula One world drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, ending Max Verstappen’s four-year reign.

The Briton finished third in the season-closer behind race winner Verstappen and the other title challenger, McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, to claim the crown by two points.

After crossing the line his team engineer told him: “That’s it mate, you are world champion, world champion!”

“Thank you guys, you made a kid’s dream come true,” he replied.

“I haven’t cried in awhile, I didn’t think I would cry but I did,” Norris said on the podium in the desert night at the floodlit Yas Marina circuit.

“I want to thank my mum, my dad, they’ve supported me since the beginning.

“It feels amazing, I know now what Max feels like a little bit. I want to congratulate both Max and Oscar, I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been a long year!” he added.

McLaren, headed by team principal Andrea Stella and CEO Brown, secured back-to-back constructors’ titles in Singapore last month.

“That was exciting, a little too exciting, awesome,” said Brown.

“What an effort, Lando and Oscar, what a fantastic season!” added the American.

Norris becomes Britain’s first world champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2020 with this 13th drivers’ crown for McLaren.

The 26-year-old’s success comes over half a century after Emerson Fittipaldi claimed the British marque’s first drivers’ title in 1974.

A galaxy of F1 greats followed – James Hunt (1976), Niki Lauda (1984), Alain Prost (1985, 1986, 1989), Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990, 1991), Mikka Hakkinen (1998, 1999) and Hamilton in 2008.

Assessing his path to glory Norris added: “As we’ve seen many times, anything can happen. So I just kept pushing. I wanted to fight to the end. (Verstappen and Piastri) certainly did not make my life easy this year. But I am happy!

“It has been a long journey with McLaren, I’ve been with them for nine years.

“For me to bring something back to them, I feel like I did my part for the team this year so I’m proud of myself.”

Piastri, who had led the championship for much of the season before being overtaken by Norris in Mexico, finished third in the standings.

Sunday’s season-closer was the first time the title was decided by a contest involving more than two drivers since a four-way scrap at the final race in Abu Dhabi in 2010.



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