UFC announces Qatar will host Fight Night event this November
Promotion officials announced Wednesday that the UFC is heading to Doha, Qatar for a Fight Night event on Nov. 22. No bouts were included in the announcement.
Qatar will mark the third country in the Middle East that the UFC visits. Abu Dhabi has played host to some of the biggest events in company history, including the historic "Fight Island" cards during COVID-19. Two UFC Fight Night events have been held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – most recently this past February when Nassourdine Imavov knocked out Israel Adesanya in the UFC Fight Night 250 main event.
The UFC's next stop in the Middle East comes later this month when Robert Whittaker meets Reinier de Ridder in the UFC on ABC 9 headliner July 26 from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
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Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Fullerton soccer's Antonio Campos, son of star Jorge Campos, leans on family after fire
Antonio Campos carries the blood of his legendary father, former Galaxy and Mexican national team goalkeeper Jorge Campos. Perhaps more important, he carries his family's resilience after they worked to recover from the loss of their home in the Palisades fire. During Antonio Campos' first season with the Cal State Fullerton soccer team, he seeks to write his own story and help his team win. 'Just being in college is a success. I feel blessed,' said Antonio, who is studying business while fighting for minutes as a Division I goalkeeper. He was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the Pacific Palisades area, the second son of Jorge Campos and Canadian Marcy Raston. His sisters chose to focus on volleyball: Andrea, the eldest, recently signed with a professional club in France after a successful college career. Antonio, on the other hand, was torn between basketball and soccer. At Loyola High, he played point guard, although his height, at 6 feet, limited his minutes. 'Michael Jordan inspired me to play several sports,' said Antonio, who also played baseball and volleyball. Training sessions with his father during the COVID-19 pandemic led Antonio to eventually focus on soccer and the goalkeeper position. 'With my dad, everything is intense. Lots of training on the beach, reflexes, technique, cutting crosses. Things he did better than anyone else,' said Antonio, who does not shy away from his surname but does not want it to define him. 'I don't feel pressure. I prefer to teach the values my father instilled in me,' Antonio said. He is part of the first generation in his family to attend college in the U.S. and he knows that his path extends beyond soccer. In Mexico, Antonio also didn't feel he had much of a future, as his own father, Jorge, criticized goalkeeper trainers in that country last year. 'It's incredible that after 30 years, 40 years, we don't have a modern goalkeeper, of that style, like Manuel Neuer, Ter Stegen,' Jorge said in a recent interview with ESPN. Antonio was drawn to Cal State Fullerton as more than just a place to improve his soccer skills. The team's philosophy, focused on service, ambition and personal development, resonated with him and his family. 'We emphasize being good people. If you go far, you'll be better socially and culturally,' explained George Kuntz, the Titans' veteran coach. Antonio had had doubts about playing college soccer. 'I didn't want to play at the university level because first-year goalkeepers hardly ever play,' he said. However, he was assured that everyone would have real opportunities if they earned them through training. Between the posts, he will have to fight for minutes against quality teammates Eoin Kennedy, Asger Hemmer and Emanuel Padilla. Fullerton opens the regular season on Thursday at Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla. 'I want to play, yes, but I also want my teammates to improve. It's not just about me,' Antonio said. In 2024, the Titans stood out for their offensive prowess, but they also ranked among the worst teams in the country in goals conceded. That's why Fullerton reinforced its defense with four goalkeepers on the roster. Antonio is emerging as one of the promising players, with an athletic profile and an ambitious personality that has impressed the coaching staff. 'He's brave, has good technique and is improving tactically,' Kuntz said. Earlier this year, Antonio's focus was pulled away from soccer by a family emergency. In January, the Campos family home was one of more than 6,800 destroyed by the Palisades fire. 'We lost everything. I couldn't get anything out,' said Antonio, who still gets emotional while talking about his family's loss. That day, he thought about going home, but he decided to go to soccer training after receiving a message from a friend. The change of plans kept him safe. Antonio was accustomed to evacuations and didn't worry about the nearby fires. But after learning that his home had burned down, the loss was both material and emotional. 'My mom was devastated. It was her first home in this country,' said Antonio, who highlighted his father's strength. 'What surprised me was seeing my dad laughing and joking the next day. I never saw him cry. He set an example for us.' Among the lost items, Antonio regrets he could not save a necklace that his uncle gave him before he died. 'He supported me when I quit basketball. He told me I was going to be a professional. It hurt me to lose that,' Antonio said. However, the fire also brought the family closer together. 'The most important thing for me was that my family was safe,' Antonio said. Now, the Campos family lives a few miles from Antonio's new university while Antonio works to create his own story on the pitch — one that he hopes, like his father's, can inspire others. This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Legends and leaders, meet dumb and dumber: Big Ten's CFP plan is latest college sports bad idea
Let me take you to the intersection of dumb and dumber, and the undoing of a once proud conference of legends and leaders. There, standing proudly in the middle of it all, is Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and his reported 28-team College Football Playoff idea. And by idea, I mean the Big Ten's postseason desire specifically leaked to gauge the winds of change. This is where we are with the oldest conference in college football, the one-time collection of Midwest schools and foundational stability of the sport that not long ago held itself above the fray of the ever-changing whims of public opinion and stayed the course. PATH TO PLAYOFF: Sign up for our college football newsletter But legends and leaders, everyone, has become dumb and dumber. The metamorphosis began on a dreary, confusing day in the summer of 2020 when the world was coping with something called COVID-19. It was then, on a conference call with the other power conferences commissioners, where the seeds of this strange undoing blossomed. The commissioners were attempting to figure out a non-conference schedule for the pandemic season, when then-Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren interrupted the conversation and declared, 'We're the Big Ten, we lead, we don't follow' — and hung up. From that moment forward, the moves made by the Big Ten – a group of schools former legendary commissioner Jim Delany once called the 'conscious of college sports' – fundamentally and profoundly altered amateur sports. It wasn't long after the failed conference call that Warren canceled the fall season for the Big Ten, and pitched the idea of spring football and playing two seasons in nine months. Maybe the dumbest idea ever. Stick a pin in that, people. We'll get back to the dumbest of dumb. In that same pandemic season, after the Big Ten was forced into playing in the fall because everyone else found a way to play through the obstacles, it 'returned to play' with the rule that all teams had to play six games to be eligible for the Big Ten championship game (and by proxy, the CFP). Until, that is, it became clear that undefeated Ohio State would only play five games. Then the rules were readjusted midstream, and lowly Indiana got jobbed when the path was cleared for the blue blood Buckeyes. But it wasn't until Texas and Oklahoma decided in 2021 to leave the Big 12 for the SEC that dumb officially hit the fan in the Big Ten. That singular move began a cavalcade of dumb that tsunami'ed over more than a century of smart, measured decision-making. Warren convinced the Pac-12 (which never did anything without big brother's stamp of approval) and the ACC that the SEC was the death of college sports, and the three power conferences needed to band together in an 'Alliance' of like minds and goals for the future. And to stop the SEC at all cost. Less than a year later, Warren stabbed his 'partners' in the back by inviting Southern California and UCLA to join the Big Ten, thereby completely destabilizing the Pac-12 and, after the dominoes of change began to fall, every other conference in college football. The ink was barely dry on that dumb when the Big Ten realized two important things: travel was going to be extremely difficult (still is), and USC and UCLA needed partners on the West Coast. So Oregon and Washington were invited, which eventually led to Stanford and California moving to the ACC — a move rivaling all for dumbest of dumb. Two years later, with Petitti new on the job and the SEC in the middle of yet another championship run, the Big Ten decided to essentially look the other way on Michigan's illegal advanced scouting scheme. You want dumb? Check out this dumb: Michigan, already being investigated by the NCAA for illegal contact with players during the pandemic season, had a second NCAA investigation opened in the middle of the 2023 season — this time for the advanced scouting scheme. But instead of suspending Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh for the season because he and the program were repeat offenders, Petitti decided a three-game suspension would suffice for a coach and a team that had the talent to win it all. I know this is going to shock you, but Michigan won the whole damn thing. Fast forward to last month, and the Big Ten is coming off back-to-back national championship seasons. The conference hasn't been this strong in decades, and SEC coaches are begging to play non-conference games against Big Ten schools. So what does Petitti do? Because of scheduling conflicts in Indianapolis, he moves Big Ten media days to Las Vegas. Without the swooning Ohio State media hoard and wall-to-wall coverage from the Big Ten Network, it was a barren wasteland of opportunity. What should have been a time for the Big Ten to walk tall, stick out its chest and stand above everyone else in college football, devolved into tumbleweeds in the desert. There was more energy on the fake beach, a football field away at Mandalay Bay resort. This leads us all the way back to the dumbest of dumb: the Big Ten's proposed super duper, extra large CFP. Not to be confused with another dumb idea: the 4-2-1-3 CFP model that the Big Ten, and only the Big Ten, wants for the new CFP contract in 2026. You remember that one: the Big Ten and SEC get four automatic spots in the 16-team field, and get the opportunity to earn one or more of the three at-large selections. In a 28-team model, the Big Ten and SEC would each get seven automatic bids, and the ACC and Big 12 five. Because nothing says battling for the postseason quite like eight-win Louisville and Baylor reaching the dance. Or more to the point: five-loss Michigan with an automatic pass to the CFP. 'Formats that increase the discretion and role of the CFP Selection Committee,' Petitti said last month at Big Ten media days, 'Will have a difficult time getting support from the Big Ten.' We're the Big Ten. We lead, we don't follow. All the way to the intersection of dumb and dumber. Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Yoel Romero gets date, opponent for BKFC debut
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