Actually a Sports Blog

Ahead of their inaugural season in a few months, the Denver Summit have their opening two signings in the defensive third- Kaleigh Kurtz and Megan Reid. The thing about both of them? They're both Ironwomen, which is huge both short- and long-term. I'll explain both of these. Short-Term: The Summit are looking to compete right out of the gate.  You don't sign Ironwomen in defense if you're looking to take part in the season. You sign Ironwomen if you're looking to compete in the season.  Long-Term: The Summit are saying "this is who we want on our team".  Ironwomen in any position, but especially defense, are hard-working and gritty and extremely dependable, and the Summit signing two of them ahead of their inaugural season sends a message that these are the kinds of players they want and the kind of roster they want long-term.  

Jordan Silkowitz has been called up to join Mandy McGlynn and Claudia Dickey- both Dickey and McGlynn have tallied four appearances each between the pipes for the senior-level side. Given that Silkowitz hasn't logged a senior-level appearance, I'm guessing she's just in this window for the national-team-camp experience and is more on Hayes' radar for the 2026 or 2027 cycle. 

The Washington Spirit have declined the 2026 option on the contract of Chloe Ricketts, meaning that she'll be eligible to start talking with other teams on July 1st. Since signing with the team in 2023- and with their next game August 3- she's appeared thirty-two times for the Spirit. 

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): 768 Minutes in 23 Games Sonia Citron (Mystics): 829 Minutes in 26 Games Kiki Iriafen (Mystics): 673 Minutes in 25 Games  Lucy Olsen (Mystics): 264 Minutes in 22 Games Hailey Van Lith (Chicago): 335 Minutes in 24 Games Aari McDonald (Fever): 403 Minutes in 16 Games  Li Yueru (Wings): 338 Minutes in 15 Games  Julie Vanloo (Sparks): 96 Minutes in 7 Games Chloe Bibby (Fever): 11 Minutes in 1 Game  Through July 28  DeWanna Bonner: now at 391 games for the Mercury