Dana White was criticized on Saturday night for the way he handled the broken leg injury suffered by Chris Weidman.
Weidman suffered a broken leg seconds into his fight with Uriah Hall at UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Fla. He attempted to kick Hall but his leg snapped upon being blocked by Hall’s leg. Weidman lost via TKO and had to be taken out of the octagon on a stretcher.
White tweeted the clip while adding an interesting nugget about the fight. He said Hall was the first fighter to win a UFC fight without throwing a strike.
The tweet contains the graphic video of the injury.
Some accused White of not only being classless by sharing the video, but also of perversely using it to promote a stat.
Here are some of the responses he received on Twitter:
White has always been an unconventional promoter and nothing like the politically-correct commissioners we see in many other sports. He’s not afraid to speak his mind on many topics. We probably should not be surprised by his actions with this video and the stat about Hall.
Chris Weidman suffered a nasty broken leg injury in the first round of his fight against Uriah Hall on Saturday night at UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Weidman threw a kick at Hall that was blocked by Hall’s shin. Weidman’s leg shattered on impact, and it wasn’t until he tried to land that he realized what happened. Weidman was unable to stand on his leg due to the injury.
UFC boss Dana White shared a video of the clip and noted that Hall was the first person in the history of the UFC to win without throwing a single strike.
Weidman was taken off on a stretcher after suffering the injury.
The injury resulted in a TKO win for Hall just 17 seconds into their fight.
You may recall that in 2013, Anderson Silva broke his leg against Weidman in the exact same way.
Andre Drummond and Dorian Finney-Smith were called for double-technical fouls for an incident during the third quarter of Saturday’s Los Angeles Lakers-Dallas Mavericks game.
Dwight Powell made a hook shot midway through the third quarter to make it 68-63 Lakers. Finney-Smith went to crash the boards in case Powell missed his shot and ended up jumping on Drummond’s back. Drummond brushed Finney-Smith aside. Finney-Smith then grabbed Drummond’s jersey and yanked him away.
Nothing big really happened between the players, but that doesn’t mean Drummond wasn’t ready for what was coming. Take a look at his intense face after the issue:
Drummond had 10 rebounds, six points and three steals at that point in the game. Finney-Smith had 19 points on four threes and four rebounds to that point.
A video released this week shows just how fast Terrence Clarke was traveling during his fatal car crash on Thursday.
Clarke was leaving a workout with former Kentucky teammate BJ Boston on Thursday in the Los Angeles area. Police said Clarke was driving 80 mph in a 45-mph zone going southbound on Winnetka Ave. Clarke ran a red light at the intersection of Winnetka and Nordhoff St., hit a car making a left turn, and slammed into a pole and wall.
Clarke was taken to Northridge Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was just 19. Boston reportedly was traveling in a car behind Clarke.
Not only was Clarke traveling at a reckless speed, but he also was not wearing his seatbelt.
Clarke had just completed his freshman season at Kentucky, where he played eight games. He averaged 9.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 28.6 minutes per game. Clarke had just signed with an agent the day before the crash and was preparing for the NBA Draft.
So much for the proposed fight between Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford.
Pacquiao shared in February that he was training for a return to the ring. He hinted in March that he was thinking of facing Mikey Garcia, but also considering Crawford.
Then on March 30, boxing reporter Mike Coppinger said that Crawford’s promoter, Top Rank, was working on scheduling a June 5 fight in Abu Dhabi between Pac-Man and Crawford. Pacquiao’s promotional company called the report “nonsense.” It seems like Pacquiao’s camp was right.
Coppinger followed up on Friday by saying funding for the fight didn’t come through. He says that means the fight is now “all but dead.”
Many informed fans and insiders did not expect the fight to materialize. They all appear to be correct.
It’s almost too late to declare an opponent for June 5 as it wouldn’t allow much time to promote the fight. Pacquiao has not fought since July, 2019. His wait is likely to continue. Crawford fought in November to improve to 37-0, but it doesn’t sound like Pacquiao is up next for him.
Jon Jones is calling B.S. on Dana White’s claim about him.
There has been talk about Jones facing Francis Ngannou in a superfight. After Ngannou beat Stipe Miocic, Jones immediately had a match with Ngannou on his mind.
But White, the UFC boss, said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” that Ngannou against Derrick Lewis is the “fight that should happen.” White said that Jones wants $30 million to fight Ngannou.
White dismissed the notion of Jones fighting, saying “Bones” wants $30 million.
“In his deal, he’s talking he wants $30 million guaranteed,” White said, via MMA Fighting. “The way that this works is these guys all share in the pay-per-view, so you just said yourself you think that this is gonna be a big fight. I agree with you and think it’s gonna be a big fight, well he will share in the profits of the fight. That’s how it works. That’s how you run a business and you don’t go broke, that’s how that works.”
Jones heard about White’s comments and shot back on Twitter Friday. He seemed to suggest White was lying.
Maybe White is trying to make Jones look bad publicly so Jones accepts a deal to fight for less. Or maybe White was embellishing so that the public will understand why the UFC makes a fight with Lewis instead.
Frank Vogel won the NBA championship in his first season as the Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach, and that likely is earning him some job security.
Prior to the Lakers’ game against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski joined ABC’s “NBA Countdown.” Woj reported that the Lakers plan to approach Vogel about a contract extension this offseason.
“The Lakers, I’m told, plan to initiate contract extension talks with Frank Vogel this offseason. Remember, he initially signed a 3-year deal as Lakers coach. Once this season’s over, they’re planning to start discussions on extending Vogel’s deal,” Woj reported.
Vogel is now in his second season with the team, and they have remained solid despite injuries to Anthony Davis and LeBron James. He only has one year left on his deal after this season, and the Lakers don’t want Vogel entering the season as a lame duck.
The 47-year-old coached Indiana for six seasons, Orlando for two, and is in his 10th season as an NBA head coach. He seems to have the backing of the Lakers’ biggest star, which is crucial.
Monte Kiffin is 81 years old, but you wouldn’t know it from watching him get the Ole Miss football team ready for its spring game.
Coach Lane Kiffin’s father, a longtime NFL defensive coordinator, was enlisted to hype up the team prior to the annual spring game Saturday. Judging by this video Lane Kiffin shared on Twitter, it worked.
Monte Kiffin currently serves as a player personnel analyst on his son’s staff. He’s followed Lane to his coaching stops since 2017, having served as a defensive assistant at Florida Atlantic as well.
The real question now is whether Lane’s pre-game speech will look anything like this.
Ole Miss fans! It’s time to jump aboard the Lane Train! This Lane Train shirt is a perfect gift for you or a friend – you can buy it here.
This weekend’s PGA Tour event in New Orleans has a couple spectators that the golfers would probably prefer had stayed away.
According to the commentary, the 17th hole at the Zurich Classic has been dealing with difficulties due to a nest of alligator eggs located near the fairway. That in itself isn’t a problem, but it has meant that the two gator parents have been frequently traversing the fairway throughout the event.
On at least one occasion, a couple of staff members on golf carts armed with brooms had to chase one of the gators back into the water.
Ultimately, the golfers sort of had to work around the gators. And at times, that meant that golfer and gator wound up in fairly close quarters.
Believe it or not, this course has seen even stranger things than this. When you’re golfing in the south this time of year, this is just the sort of thing you might have to deal with.
Jeanie Buss and Jerry West now work for rival Los Angeles teams. But many believe that the former is underselling the extensive prior contributions of the latter to her club.
The Lakers controlling owner Buss appeared this week on Showtime’s “All The Smoke” podcast. During the episode, Buss was asked to name her five most important Lakers of all-time. Her list consisted of Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, and Phil Jackson.
Many on Twitter pointed out the most noticeable omission on her list: West. Others also mentioned players like Shaquille O’Neal, Elgin Baylor, and Wilt Chamberlain as worthy of a spot.
Nobody will argue with the inclusion of the Lakers franchise icons Bryant, Johnson, and Abdul-Jabbar. Jackson, who is Buss’ former fiancé, makes sense for her to mention as well. But James is probably the most debatable member of the list. He is in just his third season with the team, having won one ring for them in less than 200 games played so far as a Laker.
West, meanwhile, was the first great Los Angeles Lakers player along with Baylor. He also helped build two ensuing Laker dynasties as an executive, putting together both the Showtime era as well as the Shaq-Kobe era.
But West, who now works for the rival LA Clippers as an executive board member, has not been on the best terms with the Lakers in recent years. Perhaps that played a factor in Buss’ omission of him from her list.
