Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski branded title challenger Brian Ortega a “f*cking drug cheat” in a heated staredown before the pair meet in their main event at UFC 266 in Las Vegas.
Volkanovski makes the second defense of his 135lbs belt against his American rival at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night, and ahead of the bout the Australian claimed he had only just found out about Ortega’s past ban for taking a prohibited substance.
A young MMA hopeful has passed away aged just 22 after he took part in a fight earlier this month and was then hospitalized amid complaints about headaches in the hours that followed the bout in southern Brazil.
Lucas Gabriel Peres hailed from Peabiru in South America’s largest country with his scrap in a K-1 competition taking place two hours away in Marina, Parana state.
Just hours after his match, when already arriving back in Peabiru, Peres complained of suffering from a headache and was taken to a local hospital in Campo Mourao.
His condition gradually worsening, he was then sent to the Metropolitan Hospital in Sarandi and eventually pronounced dead last Saturday on September 18.
El luchador brasileño, Lucas Gabriel Peres de artes marciales mixtas (MMA), murió a sus 22 años a causa de las lesiones sufridas durante una pelea que disputó hace semanas, según diagnósticos. Se dedicaba a las MMA como aficionado y era tan solo su segunda pelea.#IG pic.twitter.com/2X0d2sK0jX
— Pio Noticias (@pionoticias) September 23, 2021
A report from a local branch of domestic media giant Globo has said that the organizers of the event have been in direct contact with Peres’ family and do not plan to make any comment on the development.
The Medical Legal Institute is looking into the cause of the youngster’s passing, with his death certificate detailing that he suffered from head trauma.
His career barely able to get off the ground, Pires competed just once at amateur level and lost a May bout to compatriot Leandro Pires.
The September outing was meant to be his return to competition, but concluded in the most tragic of fashions.
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Head trauma is fast becoming one of MMA’s hottest topics of discussion alongside fighter pay, with the president of its most elite championship, the UFC, admitting that more could be done to aid those such as Spencer Fisher and others who have shown signs of the condition.
“Listen, we’re all learning every day about the brain injury stuff,” Dana White admitted to MMA Junkie earlie this year.
“We’ve been invested in this [Lou] Ruvo Center [at the Cleveland Clinic] to try and figure out more.”
“But listen, he’s not the first and he’s definitely not going to be the last,” White said of Fisher.
“This is a contact sport and anybody who’s done this younger, myself included, is dealing with brain issues. It’s part of the gig,” he claimed.
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Parrii Srohi didn’t impress the judges at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Krasnoyarsk but the Indian figure-skater has no regrets about competing as she paid tribute to the Russian greats from whom she gained inspiration.
The 17-year-old Srohi failed to impress the judges with her showing at the event in the Siberian city, scoring just 27.56 points in total – including a tally of just 0.84 for the technical elements in her short program, which is reportedly the lowest ever recorded.
Her result saw her rooted to last place in the standings, some 17 points behind the figure-skater in second-last position.
However, the Indian who took up the sport just three years ago says that the defeat is just part of her continuing journey through the sport.
Srohi explained afterwards that the event was her first international tournament, and that coming to skate in Russia held particular significance for her as she valued the chance to work with Russian trainers.
Pointing to some of her inspirations, Srohi named some famous Russians on the ice from down the years, including Sochi 2014 sensation Yulia Lipnitskaya – whose performance at the Winter Olympics seven years ago Srohi described as “legendary.”
Parri Srohi(IND)skating out of pure joy at her first JGP in Russia a week ago. Parri grew up&trained almost entirely in India where there is dearth of ice& artificial ice rinks.Her coach since she started has been @NishchayLuthra of Luthra International Figure Skating Academy. pic.twitter.com/8Mn6TP6QQn
— SouthAsianFigureSkaters (@SouthAsianFS) September 22, 2021
The Czech Foreign Minister has summoned British Ambassador Nick Archer following a critical tweet over a racism row that emerged from Glasgow Rangers’ Europa League match against Sparta Prague.
Czech Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamacek made the demand of Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek, which has now been realized, to “immediately halt such attacks” while insisting that Czechs are neither racist nor “rotten fruit.”
Hamacek retweeted an outburst from the Equality And Diversity Advisor To The Scottish FA, Marvin Bartley, who wrote: “The worst thing about the scenes in Prague last night is that I’m not shocked in the slightest!”
Bartley was referring to what took place in Rangers’ 1-0 defeat to Sparta in the Czech capital, where Glen Kamara was booed throughout the match by home support that contained some 10,000 children after taking the knee, and was eventually sent off in the 74th minute for a second yellow card.
The worst thing about the scenes in Prague last night is that I’m not shocked in the slightest! In no way is this the fault of the CHILDREN because they’re behaving in a way they see adults do/encourage. What chance do they have when placed in a bowl with rotten fruit. UEFA
Piero Ferrari, the vice chairman of Ferrari, has reminded everyone that Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher is very much alive, even though the seven-time World Champion ‘cannot communicate’.
Fervent interest in seven-time world champion Schumacher’s condition has re-emerged in recent weeks with the release of the Netflix documentary charting his remarkable rise to the top of the sport, as well as aspects of the 52-year-old’s family life.
Notably, Schumacher’s wife Corinna says in the film that she “misses” her husband every day.
“Michael is here. Different, but he’s here and that gives us strength, I find,” Corinna says.
“I think that he is simply very strong mentally. Extremely strong. He still shows me how strong he is every day.”
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And whilst speaking at a recent award ceremony in Rome, Piero Ferrari shared some memories of the German prior to his skiing accident in 2013.
“I had the pleasure of having Schumacher as a guest at home and drinking a bottle of red wine together: he really enjoyed having these moments of intimacy and tranquility,” said Ferrari.
“He was a simple, clear, precise person, a very linear personality.”
On Schumacher’s current condition, Ferrari added: “I’m sorry we talk about him today as if he were dead: he’s not dead, he’s there but he can’t communicate.”
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During the event in the Italian Capital, Ferrari also spoke about his team’s current drivers Charles Le Clerc and Carlos Sainz.
“Charles Leclerc? My father would certainly have liked him. The comparison between past and present riders is difficult,” he said.
“Gilles Villeneuve was pure instinct, Charles is very different: he is an intelligent driver, an extremely gifted boy from all points of view, with extraordinary reflexes, great concentration.
“Carlos Sainz is also proving to be a solid and fast young man. We have a good team, for the future everything will change, the cards will reshuffle and we must remember that there are many technical limits set by the regulation and that the next year will be all new.”
Sainz finished third in last Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix, with his teammate Le Clerc finishing 15th.
Ferrari also said that his team was helping fellow F1 competitors Haas to manage the development of Schumacher’s son, Mick, who is in his debut season in motor-racing’s elite championship.
“His team (Haas) has made the choice not to spend in 2021 so they are using a car that was already not good in 2020,” he said.
“But they are spending for 2022 and we at Ferrari are also helping Haas. For his second year, we hope to give Schumacher a car with which he can demonstrate his qualities.”
