Actually a Sports Blog

Jon Jones has officially retired, ending one of the weirdest heavyweight championship reigns in UFC history- Tom Aspinall won *and defended* the *interim* heavyweight championship during which Jon had one title defense and... nothing else. Although most will remember his heavyweight reign largely for that, his overall UFC career is quite impressive. Looking past the no-contest or the times he had to vacate the titles for various outside-the-cage issues, Jon made the walk to the Octagon twenty-four times- he debuted at UFC 87 back in 2008- of which sixteen were title fights (seventeen if you count his UFC 214 bout that was overturned). His UFC record is an impressive 22-1 with 1 no-contest and he finishes up 28-1 with 1 no-contest. 

Ante Delija has joined the UFC heavyweight roster. He's a two-time PFL heavyweight finalist and the 2022 champion who fought eleven times in the SmartCage, going 8-3.  Overall, he's 25-6 with 18 finishes- 12 by KO/TKO and six by submission (four RNCs, a guillotine and a north-south). Interestingly enough, back in 2020, he was going to face off against Cyril Gane at a UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi, but the bout was cancelled because Delija was under contract with PFL. 

Heading into the matches against Ireland on Thursday and Sunday and then July 2 against Canada: GOALKEEPERS Mandy McGlynn is the only one of the three with previous games- she's been between the pipes three times. Angelina Anderson (Angel City) and Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign) are uncapped. DEFENDERS Emily Sonnett has 108 appearances while Naomi Girma has 46, making them the most experienced position-wise. Tara McKeon has appeared six times while Avery Patterson and Emily Sams each have appeared four times. Gisele Thompson has three while Kerry Abello has one. Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign), Lilly Reale (Gotham FC) and Izzy Rodriguez (Kansas City Current) are uncapped. MIDFIELDERS Rose Lavelle has 110 appearances while Sam Coffey has thirty-five, making them the most experienced position-wise. Olivia Moultrie has appeared seven times while Croix Bethune and Claire Hutton have three each. Sam Meza (Seattle Reign) is uncapped.  FORWARDS Lynn Biyendelo's eighty appearances make her...

Paige Bueckers (Dallas): 440 Minutes in 13 Games Next Game: Tuesday (June 24) v. Dream  Sonia Citron (Mystics): 452 Minutes in 15 Games Next Game: Tuesday (June 24) v. Lynx Kiki Iriafen (Mystics): 387 Minutes in 14 Games  Next Game: Tuesday (June 24) v. Lynx Lucy Olsen (Mystics): 122 Minutes in 12 Games Next Game: Tuesday (June 24) v. Lynx Hailey Van Lith (Chicago): 207 Minutes in 14 Games Next Game: Tuesday (June 24) v. Sparks June 3: 27min June 7: 25min June 10: 24min (76) TBD Li Yueru (Wings) June 17: 13min  June 20: 24min June 22: 22min (59min)

If anyone needs some upcoming vacation time, the locations of the next three Frozen Fours (Division I men's ice hockey) have been announced: The 2026 installment will be in Las Vegas for the debut time- Thursday, April 9th and Saturday, April 11th- although T-Mobile Arena is in Paradise, Nevada, it's technically part of the Las Vegas metropolitan area.  In 2027 (Thursday, April 8th and Saturday, April 10th), the Frozen Four will be hosted by Washington, D.C. for the first time since 2009 at Capital One Arena. And in 2028 (Thursday, April 6th and Saturday, April 8th), Chicago and the United Center will host the tournament for the first time since 2017. 

This isn't about who's *in* the field- that's material another post- but rather about who's *not* in the field- previous winner Dakota Ditcheva (not surprising, given that she hadn't committed to another run through a tournament format). With the headline that the reigning champion isn't in the field, was this the right call for PFL to assemble the women's flyweight field without her? WRONG CALL: The field won't include "the best". During her run to the 2024 crown, Ditcheva's four wins were all finishes and her first three all came in the first round. Ditcheva is clearly the cream of the crop of the women's flyweights at PFL and there's going to be fair criticism that the 2025 winner won't have had to take down Ditcheva to claim the top spot- not the fighter's fault, to be fair, but something worth mentioning.  RIGHT CALL: Other fighters can be spotlighted.  Leaving Ditcheva out of the field means that PFL can spotlight othe...