Author: PlayActionNews

Andreas HaleJul 21, 2025, 09:53 AM ETCloseAndreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.UFC…

Everything you need to know about Formula 1’s Sprint weekend format for 2025.When and where are the Sprint weekends?Six of F1’s 24 race weekends again run to the Sprint format in the 2025 season: Spa-Francorchamps (which previously staged one in 2023) has replaced Austria as the year’s third Sprint event, while the other five venues are unchanged. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Sky F1’s Simon Lazenby explains why the Sprint format is so crucial in the season. What is Sprint?The Sprint format – with a short-form Saturday race as its centrepiece – was added to…

It’s been a quarter century since an American League pitcher won back-to-back Cy Young Awards.It takes a pretty special pitcher to pull that off — but Tarik Skubal fits the bill.Skubal showed why he’s the favorite to win the Cy Young for a second straight year, striking out 11 with no walks Sunday night in Detroit’s 2-1 victory over Texas. If the Cy Young indeed goes to him, he’ll be the first AL pitcher to earn it in back-to-back seasons since Pedro Martinez’s remarkable stretch with the Red Sox in 1999 and 2000.Roger Clemens won consecutive Cy Youngs on two…

The Bengals and No. 17 overall pick Shemar Stewart remain in a contract dispute that doesn’t appear to be close to ending. Cincinnati’s rookies reported to training camp on Saturday, but Stewart was not among them. The defensive end has been posting pictures to social media of himself out of town. On Monday, Cincinnati director of player personnel Duke Tobin told reporters that he’d like Stewart to show up. “I hope Shemar comes in,” Tobin said, via Russ Heltman of SI.com. “He needs to be here. I would encourage him to be here. He could be a factor for a…

The Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds will compete at Bristol Motor Speedway in style on Aug. 2 for the MLB Speedway Classic.Editor’s Picks2 RelatedMLB unveiled the special uniforms for each team Monday. Atlanta’s and Cincinnati’s threads are largely unchanged, other than details that pay homage to the unique venue and game.The jersey numbers include bold outlines, shadowing and movement meant to represent the NASCAR vehicle designs. The Reds — who are the designated home team — boast white numbers instead of their usual red. The Braves will stick with their traditional red colorway for the numbers.The custom numbers are complemented…

The 2025 NBA Las Vegas Summer League is officially in the books. The Charlotte Hornets defeated the Sacramento Kings 83-78 on Sunday night, concluding the 11-day event in Sin City. With summer league over, it’s time to recognize the best-of-the-best before the focus shifts to the remainder of the offseason.All eyes were on the debut of No.`1 overall pick Cooper Flagg earlier this month, who had a lackluster shooting performance in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers in his summer-league debut. After shooting just 5 for 21 from the floor, Flagg responded with a dominant performance in his next game…

Saturday night was peculiar in terms of how allegiances were split. On the one hand, the 90,000 fans in attendance at Wembley Stadium felt a pull towards Daniel Dubois, the Brit, the Londoner, their home guy. Yet, on the other hand, many will have struggled to root against Oleksandr Usyk, someone so affable, and fun, and someone who earlier in the week expressed his love for the UK, even calling it his “second home”. In addition to his jovial personality, watching Usyk live and in person is viewed by many as a rare treat, not unlike watching Messi in the…

The Los Angeles Chargers offense lost a key piece when veteran wide receiver Mike Williams abruptly announced his retirement last week. Alongside second-year wideout Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston is now another pass-catcher the Chargers will be relying upon with Williams no longer on the roster.”At this point [we’re] just treating it like the next man up,” Johnston told the Los Angeles Times. “Him leaving was unexpected, but at the same time, we just gotta fill in the blank and keep moving.”While Williams had dealt with his fair share of injuries throughout his career, the lanky receiver had been a consistent face…

Adesanya praises Costa “Costa is looking good, man,” the former two-time 185lb champion said during the co-main event. “Costa is looking f—ing clean! “Bro, he’s selecting them nice. That uppercut, right to the body as well.” He added when the fight ended: “Costa is on today, he’s back. “Good job, buddy. Finally! “That was vintage. He looked good.” Quotes via Bloody Elbow It’s nice to see that these two have, seemingly, buried the hatchet on some level. Moving forward, Paulo now needs to focus his attention on building some consistency. What do you believe should be next for Paulo Costa? Is…

MARCUS RASHFORD may not be able to play for Barcelona even after signing for the LaLiga giants.The Manchester United forward, 27, has arrived in Spain to finalise a season-long switch to the LaLiga champions with an option to buy next summer.7Marcus Rashford has said yes to almost everything to make sure he joins BarcelonaCredit: Alamy7The England star flew into Spain over the weekend for his medicalCredit: INSTAGRAM7He was told he had no future under Ruben Amorim after returning from a loan at VillaCredit: https://www.instagram.com/marcusrashford/7Rashford looked bright while on loan at Aston Villa and earned a recall to the England teamCredit:…