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Tkachuk bros both score; Matthew's Panthers win
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Brady Tkachuk scored for Ottawa. Matthew Tkachuk scored for Florida.
Before the brothers become teammates, the sibling rivalry was on display once again Saturday night.
For the third time in 24 head-to-head meetings, the Tkachuk brothers both scored in the same game. It also happened on Feb. 27, 2021 -- when Matthew Tkachuk was playing for Calgary -- and on Oct. 29, 2022, the first time they met on the ice after Matthew Tkachuk joined the Panthers.
They'll be on the ice together plenty these next two weeks, as USA Hockey teammates in the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament that starts Wednesday.
"It's going to be way more fun to be on the same side as opposed to playing against him," Matthew Tkachuk said after his three-point night fueled Florida's 5-1 win over Ottawa on Saturday.
Brady Tkachuk opened the scoring for Ottawa in the first period, getting his 21st goal of the season. That tied him with his brother for goals this season - and goals in head-to-head matchups as well, giving them seven apiece in those meetings.
Those stat ties didn't last for long.
Matthew Tkachuk got Florida on the board in the second period, his 22nd of the season and the start of a four-goal outburst by the Panthers in those 20 minutes.
And now, they go from opponents to teammates. They'll be wearing the USA sweater just like their father, NHL legend Keith Tkachuk - a four-time Olympian who had a hat trick during the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.
"It's going to be amazing," Brady Tkachuk told Sportsnet before the game in an on-ice interview. "It's something that we've always dreamt of doing together."
Added Matthew Tkachuk after the game: "To represent my country, to wear that crest, it's such an honor being able to be on a team that says the United States of America."
Saturday's game was the first time Brady Tkachuk was on the ice in Sunrise since the postgame celebration on June 24, 2024 - the night the Panthers beat Edmonton in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Brady Tkachuk was there to cheer on his brother throughout the playoffs, and the Senators go into the 4 Nations break firmly in playoff contention.
In his seventh NHL season, Brady Tkachuk has yet to experience playoff hockey. Matthew Tkachuk said he hopes this is the year that changes.
"That's the most special memory, just being able to see my best friend accomplish our childhood dream," Brady Tkachuk said when asked about what being in Sunrise for the Stanley Cup clincher meant to him. "And to see that and see how happy he was, it definitely lit a fire inside me to be able to do it myself. I'm looking forward to that day."
Doughty replaces Pietrangelo on Canada blue line
Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty was named to Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the club announced on Saturday night.
Doughty, 35, who will replace Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo on Canada's blue line, was activated from injured reserve last month by the Kings, making his season debut against the Florida Panthers, an effort in which he played nearly 24 minutes in the 3-0 loss.
Doughty missed the first 47 games of the season after breaking his ankle in a preseason game against the Golden Knights on Sept. 25. The Kings expected Doughty to miss most of the regular season when his injury required surgery, but the defenseman returned to practice in mid-January in a noncontact jersey and returned to the lineup during Los Angeles' East Coast road trip.
"Obviously, he's got a ton of experience internationally and then in the NHL on the runs that he's been on with L.A.," Canada captain Sidney Crosby said Saturday. "But I think above that too he's pretty versatile back there. He's a guy you can play in any situation, really, so I think just his experience and the fact that he can play in a lot of different situations would be things that he brings."
Crosby's status is now the most pressing issue for Canada, after the Pittsburgh Penguins center was injured in a game earlier this week.
This is Doughty's 17th NHL season, and he is easily one of the most accomplished defensemen of his generation. He is a four-time Norris Trophy finalist who won the award in 2016, and he is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Kings, who drafted him with the second pick in 2008.
Pietrangelo last month withdrew from the 4 Nations Face-Off due to an undisclosed injury and to prepare for the rest of the NHL season with the Golden Knights. He was the first player to withdraw from the event.
Sunday is the last day of competition in the NHL before the break, and the first game of the tournament is Wednesday, when Canada takes on Sweden in Montreal. First practices for all four teams are set for Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Konstas falls cheaply but Edwards ton rescues NSW
New South Wales (Edwards 104*, Gilkes 66, Bartlett 3-54) trail Queensland 387 (Clayton 134, Hearne 63, Hatcher 4-85) by 150 runs
Queensland started day two well placed at 307 for 5, but lost wickets at regular intervals to be bowled out for 387.
NSW were in all sorts of trouble at 39 for 5 in reply, but big knocks from Edwards (104 not out) and Matthew Gilkes (66) ensured the visitors went to stumps at a more respectable 237 for 7.
Konstas set tongues wagging in his Test debut when he unleashed an array of ramps and other audacious strokes on the way to 60 off 65 balls against the Jasprit Bumrah-led India on Boxing Day.
The 19-year-old flew back to Australia last week after missing out on a spot in the XI for Australia's second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, with selectors keen for him to get red-ball experience at the Gabba.
Keen to prove he's not just a one-tricky pony, Konstas put away his ramps and slashes against Queensland in a bid to dig in as wickets tumbled around him.
Nic Maddinson and Kurtis Petterson had already fallen by that stage, and Oliver Davies and Josh Philippe were quick to follow as the star-studded NSW line-up crumbled.
But a 143-run partnership between Edwards and Gilkes thrust NSW back into the contest. Edwards brought up his century late in the day with a single off Mitchell Swepson to exit the nervous 90s.
Earlier, Queensland's Jack Clayton was only able to add one run to his overnight score before falling at the hands of spinner Chris Green.
Allrounder Michael Neser scored 43, but Liam Hatcher was able to clean up the tail before any major damage was inflicted.
Deepti Sharma named UP Warriorz captain for WPL 2025
Deepti had a bumper WPL 2024 although Warriorz failed to make it to the playoffs. She scored 295 runs in eight innings with a strike rate of 136.57 and an average of 98.33. She also picked ten wickets at an economy rate of 7.23.
Deepti has previous captaincy experience too, having led Bengal in domestic cricket, and East Zone in the Senior Women's Inter-Zonal One Day Trophy in 2024. She had also led Velocity in the Women's T20 Challenge in 2022.
"I am delighted and honoured to be named captain of the UP Warriorz, which is a team from my home state," Deepti was quoted via a release. "The UP Warriorz has a fantastic squad, and we are confident that we will entertain our fans with the Warriorz brand of cricket, at the WPL this season as well. We can't wait to play in Lucknow in front of our home fans, and hope to inspire the next generation of women athletes."
Warriorz will, however, sorely miss Healy, who is their highest run-scorer in the WPL, with 428 runs in 17 outings. Healy has had a frustrating time with injuries in recent times. She missed the T20I leg of the Women's Ashes recently, and only made it to the MCG Test after passing a late fitness test. However, Healy did not keep wicket.
Warriorz start their third season against Gujarat Giants on February 16 in Vadodara. This is also the first season where they will play a few games in front of their home crowd in Lucknow.
Dhananjaya wants a 'rethink' about SL playing on spinning pitches at home
Usually it's the visiting team from South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand to the subcontinent that bemoans conditions and promises to do some soul searching at the end of the series. But Australia have completed their most dominant series victory over Sri Lanka on the island, and the tables have turned, the regular order has been upended, and the boot is on the other foot.
Spin has historically been Sri Lanka's go-to weapon with which to cut down visiting teams, and the surface in Galle is especially notorious for taking rapid turn. Australia, though, have now inflicted the biggest Test loss Sri Lanka had ever suffered followed by a nine-wicket defeat in successive Tests in Galle.
It is not as if Galle is about to be blacklisted. But Dhananjaya hinted that a greater diet of home Tests elsewhere - the primary venues considered will be Pallekele, and the SSC and P Sara in Colombo - might be a more sustainable team development strategy.
"As a batter, I do like playing in the other venues because my records there are better," he said. "If you take our batting averages, they're lower than those of batters in other countries, and you can see why that is - because we bat in spin-friendly conditions.
"It's hard to have an outstanding record on these pitches. But bowlers have to be very skillful to get wickets on good tracks too. Still, I think it's worth thinking about."
Dhananjaya said Sri Lanka's inability to convert their half-centuries to centuries had contributed substantially to this result. Both Australia and Sri Lanka had six occasions of a batter making fifty or more in the series. But five of Australia's batters went on to make hundreds - including a double-ton - whereas Sri Lanka's highest score of the series was 85 not out.
"On these tracks, it's very hard to score, and we are always talking about how set batsmen need to score, and get to 150 or 200 to get to a good total," Dhananjaya said. "Not all the six or seven batters who play will get runs, but the players that do make starts have to really capitalise. Australia had about two batters who scored in each innings, but those batters made big ones."
Jacob Bethell in doubt for Champions Trophy as Tom Banton called up as cover
The extent of Bethell's injury will be established in the coming days, but he faces a race against time with England's Champions Trophy campaign kicking off in less than two weeks against Australia in Lahore. There is optimism around Smith's recovery, with the Surrey wicketkeeper taking part in the warm-ups on Sunday. The deadline for announcing replacements to the 15-man squad is February 12.
Bethell impressed with 51 and 1 for 18 with his left-arm spin in the first ODI against India, which the hosts won by four wickets. Having impressed on his maiden Test tour of New Zealand at the end of 2024, with three half-centuries and an average of 52, he has been earmarked by head coach Brendon McCullum as a vital cog across all formats.
Banton, meanwhile, has a chance to reignite his international career, having earned the last of his 20 white-ball caps in 2022. Though he has underwhelmed for England so far, with just three fifty-plus scores across four ODIs and 16 T20Is, he is in a rich vein of form off the back of a stellar ILT20, topping the competition's batting charts.
The 26-year-old struck 493 runs in 11 outings for MI Emirates, including two centuries, as the franchise reached the Eliminator stage where they were defeated by Sharjah Warriors.
Duckett, Root and Livingstone lift England to 304
England 304 (Root 69, Duckett 65, Jadeja 3-35) vs India
After winning the toss and choosing to take first use of a black-soil surface, England found contributions from each of their top seven, including a third 50-plus opening stand in consecutive matches from Duckett and Phil Salt, and they had had designs on a 330-plus total while Root and Jos Buttler were easing through the gears in a fourth-wicket stand of 51.
However, both men fell in the space of four overs to trigger another dramatic collapse, with England losing their last seven wickets for 85, including three run-outs, as they were dismissed for 304 with one ball left unused.
Nevertheless, England did at least put a score on the board, with Duckett and Salt's stand of 81 in 65 balls continuing their fine alliance. Where Salt had been England's principal aggressor in their strong start to the first ODI, Duckett was the main man this time out, with his willingness to throw his hands through any hint of width handing him 10 boundaries in his 65 from 56 balls.
Salt, at the other end, had been limited to 6 from 11 balls in the first six overs when he was gifted an extraordinary let-off by Axar Patel on the deep third boundary. An attempted uppercut off Hardik Pandya plopped straight into his hands and out again, with Axar's casual attempt giving way to astonishment and embarrassment as the ball fell to ground. Salt's very next shot was a firm drive for four off Shami, and he seemed to have found his groove when he launched a Hardik slower ball over long-on for the first six of England's innings.
Varun Chakravarthy, however, was itching to get involved. After 14 wickets at 9.85 in the T20Is, he had earned his ODI debut at the age of 33, and needed just 11 balls to make his mark. Salt had already been warned of the dangers of hitting across the line when he failed to get hold of a slogged free-hit, and three balls later, a similar swipe resulted in a leading edge to a composed Jadeja at mid-off.
Root had a first-ball scare as Varun reviewed a tight appeal for lbw that was shown to be missing leg, but another big let-off came in the next over, as Duckett, on 54, wafted into another uppercut off Harshit Rana, but Shreyas Iyer at deep third was too slow in judging the flight of the ball. He made good ground in the end with a fingertipped dive, but the chance went begging.
Duckett demonstrated his power and touch with an astonishing whipped pull through midwicket off Rana, but the canny Jadeja soon had his measure. Varying his pace throughout his first over, he almost bowled Duckett round his legs as he attempted a scoop, then used his angle from round the wicket to force the left-hander to fetch the ball from outside his off stump. Duckett knelt into a slog-sweep and failed to get hold of it as Hardik held on at long-on.
Harry Brook arrived with his technique against spin under scrutiny, and straight into the teeth of a typical middle-overs squeeze at 102 for 2 in the 16th. He could have gone for a five-ball duck had umpire Brown upheld an lbw appeal from Varun that ball-tracking suggested would clip leg, but signalled his belligerence in Varun's next over with an astonishing lofted drive for six over wide long-off.
The threat from India's spinners had not been thwarted, however, and on 16, Root should have been sent on his way as Axar beat him on the sweep but declined to go for the review. Rohit was seen throwing his hands up in exasperation one over later, when the big screen showed three reds on the review-that-wasn't.
India burned their final review when Root attempted another reverse-sweep on 36, with the thinnest brush of glove saving him from Varun's otherwise adjacent lbw appeal. But undeterred, he kept going for the stroke, with two more in the same over, picking off the vast gap between deep third and extra cover.
By now, he had his captain for company. Buttler's power is self-evident but his run-a-ball knock was all about placement, as he focused on strike rotation to keep England's innings building towards the projected big finish. One of his two boundaries was a gift - a wild shy from Rana in his follow-through that whizzed past the keeper for overthrows - but as he and Root nudged along to a fifty stand from 52 balls, England were handily placed at 219 for 3 in the 39th over.
Buttler, however, decided the time was nigh to up the ante, and the most aggressive shot of his innings would be his last - with mid-off up, he made room to drill Hardik through the off side, but Gill was on hand in the covers to cling on low with another superb take.
With England's batting depth impacted by an untimely hamstring injury for Jacob Bethell, the onus was on Root to bat through the innings. But, on 69, he too made room to leg and plopped a lofted drive to Kohli at wide long-off, to fall to Jadeja for the fifth time in ODIs. In came Jamie Overton, trusted once again at No.7 despite his formless displays in the T20Is. Sure enough, he threw his long levers in Jadeja's next over, and handed Gill in the covers his simplest take of the day.
Livingstone survived a tough chance to the keeper off Jadeja on 10, but found his range with two big sixes to help hoist the total past 300. Adil Rashid did his bit too, clubbing three fours in a row off Shami as the 48th over, the biggest of the innings, went for 15. However, he was then run out for 14 from 5 as he turned blind for a second run after a wonderful return from the deep from Jadeja. It was an error that typified England's missed opportunities.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
Du Plessis breaks Strickland's nose in rematch rout
Dricus Du Plessis already had a win over Sean Strickland going into UFC 312. What he wanted was an exclamation point over him -- and that's what he got.
Du Plessis (23-2) left no doubt about his superiority on Saturday in Sydney, as he beat Strickland (29-7) for the second time in a 185-pound title fight. Although the defending champion couldn't put away Strickland, he dominated the cards, earning a unanimous decision by marks of 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46.
It was different from their first meeting in January 2024, which Du Plessis won by majority decision.
"I told you that when I come here, I'm trying to get the knockout, but to knock out that man is next to impossible," said Du Plessis, who was credited with 129 total strikes landed. "I wanted a submission, a KO, or an absolute five-round domination, and that's what I got."
The South African champion challenged light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who was in Strickland's corner on Saturday. Though a move up in weight is always possible, Du Plessis has plenty of challenges at middleweight, including undefeated challenger Khamzat Chimaev.
After the result, Chimaev posted a short message on X, "Biggest bulls--- is this fight."
Though there are plenty of potential options for Du Plessis, one name that is firmly in his rearview mirror is Strickland. Strickland, 33, believed he should have beat Du Plessis on the scorecards when they met 13 months ago in Toronto, and expressed confidence in the rematch. He failed to get much going, however, and was essentially a sitting duck once Du Plessis broke his nose in the fourth.
Du Plessis' right hand caused the broken nose, which was obvious. Du Plessis chased Strickland around the Octagon, as Strickland pawed and wiped his nose. Strickland pointed to the injury in his postfight comments, and admitted it somewhat took him out of the bout.
"The game plan was to stay calm, and that was really hard once I saw him grabbing at his nose like that," Du Plessis said. "It's like having someone in front of you who is rocked. It took me 30 seconds to a minute to get back my composure. I don't want to make a habit of [going to decision], but against a competitor like [Strickland], it happens."
Du Plessis targeted Strickland with the left head kick in the opening round and continued to find success with it throughout the fight. Strickland occasionally landed his jab and right-hand counters, but his corner seemed to acknowledge he was a step behind, as head coach Eric Nicksick pleaded with him to increase volume between rounds.
ESPN ranked Du Plessis the No. 9 pound-for-pound fighter in the world going into Saturday.
Sources: Saints to hire Eagles' Moore as coach
Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is expected to become the New Orleans Saints' head coach, barring any unexpected developments, league sources told ESPN.
Moore has been the top candidate for the vacant Saints job since completing a pair of interviews with New Orleans last month.
The Saints are making sure they do everything by the book so as not to break any rules and risk potential penalties. New Orleans learned from the lesson of the Arizona Cardinals, who were penalized for tampering with then-Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, whom they eventually hired as their head coach.
Arizona and Philadelphia ultimately agreed to a draft compensation penalty as a result of a phone call between Gannon and the Cardinals that took place during a no-contact period in advance of Super Bowl LVII.
The Saints, with their history of being in the NFL's crosshairs, don't want to bend or break any rules and therefore will wait until after Super Bowl LIX on Sunday before working to try to finalize any agreement with Moore, according to sources. The sides are not expected to have any challenges to get a deal done, sources said.
Moore is expected to have his salary more than doubled, and possibly tripled, and few would be willing to surrender an opportunity like that to become one of the NFL's 32 head coaches.
Moore privately has told people he is interested in and wants the Saints job, according to sources, and the Saints want him, which is why a deal is expected to get done once the sides can meet again after Super Bowl LIX, barring an unexpected breakdown in contract talks.
Although he declined to elaborate earlier this week, Moore told reporters Monday that he had a "great" experience meeting with Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and other team officials in Philadelphia last week.
Moore has no previous head coaching experience in the NFL but has enjoyed success as a playcaller and oversaw an Eagles attack that ranked eighth in the NFL in total offense (367.2 yards per game) this season, including second in rushing (179.3 yards per game).
The Saints are the last NFL team with a current head coach opening. They fired Dennis Allen during the season, with special teams coach Darren Rizzi filling in on an interim basis.
Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury opted not to pursue the Saints job, and Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady opted to stay in Buffalo instead of pursuing a second interview with New Orleans. A third candidate, Aaron Glenn, interviewed virtually with the Saints but was ultimately hired as the head coach of the Jets.
The Saints also interviewed Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka multiple times, and they also showed interest in Mike McCarthy before he opted to focus on the 2026 coaching cycle instead. Rizzi also interviewed for the job.
UFC 312 takeaways: Du Plessis-Chimaev next? Zhang should make a move ... up
Dricus Du Plessis did it again, defeating Sean Strickland a second time, but this time he dominated to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 312 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on Saturday.
Du Plessis is 9-0 in the UFC and hasn't lost a fight since October 2018. But if he wants to become one of the best fighters in the history of the 185-pound division, he has work to do. He'll face a bigger challenge next time if, as expected, Khamzat Chimaev gets the next title shot.
In the co-main event, Zhang Weili dominated Tatiana Suarez to retain her strawweight championship. Zhang looks unbeatable and has pretty much cleaned up the division. Can a move to flyweight to chase a title in a second division be in her near future?
And what started as a great night for local fighters on the card with a 19-second TKO win for Quillan Salkilld, ended with a disappointing performance by the other seven fighters from Oceania on the card.
Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale and Sam Bruce offer their takeaways from the two title fights and the rest of the Australia card.
Du Plessis is an early candidate for Fighter of the Year
On the surface, this might look like a lazy, obvious takeaway. But there's more to it than that. I understand that just because Du Plessis won convincingly at UFC 312, that doesn't make him a favorite for Fighter of the Year. In fact, this fight on its own really doesn't do much in securing that award. He already had a win over Strickland, and many expected him to get another one.
The reason he could be a strong candidate is how 2025 might fall into place for Du Plessis. By putting this matchup behind him, he sets the table for a potential title defense against Chimaev, in what could be one of the biggest fights of the year. And if Du Plessis wins that, there's a real possibility he could be a top-five pound-for-pound fighter as well as top five in popularity. And then what? Alex Pereira at light heavyweight? It's certainly very, very possible. Du Plessis took the opportunity to issue something of a challenge in Pereira's direction after Saturday's win. And all parties may be down for that fight.
The cherry on top would be to have him fight in South Africa in late 2025. The likelihood of that happening is on the low side. The logistics of pulling off a show in Africa, when the UFC typically has its marquee annual events at the end of the year in New York and Las Vegas, always makes it a long shot. But the UFC and Du Plessis have talked a lot about trying to get there.
Du Plessis could fight three times this year, and the idea of him beating fighters such as Chimaev and Pereira doesn't seem far-fetched. The sport slept on him for a while, but watching him fight smartly and execute in the rematch against Strickland, showcasing how much he's improved over the past year, makes it hard to overlook him. -- Okamoto
It's time for Zhang to move up, attempt to become a two-division champ
Zhang Weili wins via unanimous decision over Tatiana Suarez in a one-sided victory in Sydney at UFC 312.
Tatiana Suarez was expected to be a difficult challenge for strawweight champion Zhang Weili. Instead, Zhang put together a clinic in a dominant unanimous decision victory to defend her title for a third time during her second run as champion.
And now it's time for Zhang to move up in weight and attempt to join Amanda Nunes as the only women to hold titles in two weight classes. She would be wasting her time otherwise.
Outside of Rose Namajunas, Zhang has owned the opposition at strawweight with wins over Yan Xiaonan, Amanda Lemos, Carla Esparza, Joanna Jedrzejczyk (twice), Jessica Andrade and now Suarez. And without a clear contender in sight, there is no better time for Zhang to make the move to flyweight. Zhang would immediately be slotted to face the winner of the expected title fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Manon Fiorot. Given Zhang's recent dominance, it would be difficult for anyone to pick against her.
Zhang's second run as strawweight champion has been even more impressive than her first, and her dismissal of Suarez has placed her squarely in the conversation as the greatest woman ever to compete at 115 pounds. Suarez entered the fight unbeaten and as a highly decorated wrestler and was expected to use her ability to pin Zhang's shoulders to the canvas. But after Suarez secured a takedown in the opening minute, Zhang successfully defended the next 14 attempts from the challenger. Each time her takedown try was fended off, it drained Suarez.
In the last two rounds, it was clear that Zhang's experience was too much for Suarez to overcome. Before this fight, Suarez had been dominant against the rest of the division, rarely dropping a round and overpowering whoever stood across from her. But against Zhang, Suarez was in over her head. She found out the hard way that Zhang is head and shoulders above the rest of the division.
Zhang departing for flyweight would open up strawweight to a new champion, and she would have the opportunity to become the biggest star in women's MMA. -- Hale
The Australian fans showed up; the fights, not so much
In the opening fight of UFC 312, Australian Quillan Salkilld knocks out Anshul Jubli and the crowd loves it.
This was not a card featuring the pick of the talent from Australia and New Zealand. It was lacking significant star power from the region. Still, the UFC was able to pull a near-capacity crowd in what was the second of a three-fight deal with the New South Wales government.
What local tourism operators -- and more importantly, the fans -- will be crying out for next time around, however, is a far better lineup of talent inside the Octagon and not sitting in Row 1, as Alexander Volkanovski, Israel Adesanya and Jack Della Maddalena all were. That was partly down to timing, scheduling and the nature of the UFC, with Della Maddalena and Kiwi Carlos Ulberg set to fight in separate bouts in London next month, when wins for each man could secure them title shots at welterweight and light heavyweight, respectively.
The best the Oceania region could offer at UFC 312 was a 19-second KO from "Dana White's Contender Series" graduate Quillan Salkilld, whose thumping right hand floored Anshul Jubli in the first fight of the day. The fans who were still making their way to the arena during that one were denied any other real local highlights thereafter, though another Contender Series graduate, Jonathan Micallef, did emerge victorious from an entertaining fight with Kevin Jousset, and Jake Matthews finally strung back-to-back wins together.
But it was slim pickings for fighters from the region otherwise, as Jack Jenkins was submitted in Round 3 and Jimmy Crute was judged to a controversial majority draw with Rodolfo Bellato.
UFC president Dana White has long been a fan of the Australian market, and there have been far stronger cards, such as in Perth last year and in 2023, and even last time out in Sydney, where Strickland upset Adesanya. But the stars just didn't align for UFC 312, and the locals will demand a higher-caliber card next time out. -- Bruce
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