BRISTOL, Tenn. – While Donny Schatz genuinely enjoyed the thrill of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway again Friday, the frustrations of his year continued to mount.

Schatz finished fifth in night one of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series Bristol Throwdown and remains winless in 14 races on the circuit this season.

It’s the longest Schatz has started the year without a World of Outlaws win since 2011, when he went 16 races before racing to a victory on tour.

Being stuck on 299 series wins, one ]shy of joining Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell as the only drivers to win 300 World of Outlaws sprint car features, weighs on him, too.

The bright side is that Schatz hung around the front on Friday and has a shot to change the trajectory of his season Sunday in the $25,000-to-win finale.

It’s just that some obstacles are harder to look past than others.

“We’ve had a lot of issues,” Schatz said. “We need the motors to run the way we need to at the end of the race, when it gets slick. They’re not the best at being able to throttle and accelerate. Once you slow down, it’s hard to get them back going. We’ve changed some things to try and fix that. We’ve unfortunately found the wrong direction.

“It’s not a simple fix to try and change those things at lightning speed.”

The 10-time World of Outlaws champion finds himself mired in seventh in the series standings, 178 points behind leader Brad Sweet.

Friday snapped five straight finishes outside the top 10 for Schatz, who moved around the track well enough for his first top-five result in over a month.

“They had a great race track,” Schatz said. “There were guys moving around. You just unfortunately can’t get rid of some of the dumb things that happen on the race track … guys brake-checking on starts.”

That’s when Schatz opened up about his latest frustration that hurt his night from eyes: the inside line not getting up to speed because of ill-timed starts.

“The series needs to do a better job of trying to eliminate those things,” Schatz said. “They don’t really rule that with an iron fist. And they should, especially around this place.

“When I mean that, I say, they told us before the night that they are going to go to single-file restarts because they feel it’s safe. I get that,” Schatz continued. “It really is. But the original start, you have to get past it. We had a terrible start in the dash. The car we were behind brake-checked when he started to go and did the same thing in the feature, and it affected the whole inside row.

“I have a choice,” Schatz added. “I can either smash into the guy in front of me or try to be sensible and not run into him. You might have to change that.”

Friday, in some ways, resembled Schatz’s season in a nutshell: periods of speed, but when he needed to make something happen, he just couldn’t for whatever reason.

Because of the mailing slowdown caused by COVID, it has been tougher than normal to order and upgrade resources. For Schatz and his No. 15 Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing team, they have made due with what they have for the time being.

“I was kind of hoping to get win [No.] 300 tonight and get past that, but I guess we’ll have to focus on Sunday,” Schatz said after the race Friday. “We were pretty solid around here. I thought we had a real fast car there through the middle part of the race. I might have burned up the motor.

“Right now, it’s the worst time in the history of racing to try to get any parts from anybody,” Schatz noted. “We’re unfortunately the victim of circumstance.”

PORT ROYAL, Pa. – Steve Buckwalter found traction on the bottom groove before anyone else Saturday evening at Port Royal Speedway, and it led to pay dirt.

Buckwalter led the final 18 of 25 laps at the Juniata Valley half mile to score his first sprint car win of the year during the track’s weekly $4,000-to-win 410 sprint car feature.

It was the 43-year-old’s sixth career 410 win at Port Royal and first since April 2, 2016.

In slick racing conditions, Buckwalter kept his No. 17b rolling on the bottom and coasted to a .700-second victory from sixth over Dylan Cisney, who started eighth.

“It gets so slick, there are like four or five guys who can get grip down the straightaways,” Buckwalter said. “We’ve had some motor issues there the last few weeks. We were having some trouble getting off the corners. … We’ve got it running now.”

Buckwalter made sure to get to the front quickly on Saturday. He raced to third by lap five and joined a three-car breakaway along with pole-sitter Tyler Reeser and Justin Whittall in clean air.

On lap seven, Buckwalter skirted by Whittall on the bottom of turns one and two for second. The next circuit, he again got through turns one and two smoothly, which set up the go-ahead move on the following corner.

Buckwalter buried it under Reeser, who ran two grooves off the fence, in turns three and four to seal the deal. He did have to get through lapped traffic the remaining 12 laps, and since the feature ran nonstop, things got tricky toward the end.

With three laps to go, everyone moved to the bottom and Buckwalter couldn’t advance through traffic anymore. Cisney started to slowly close in, but time ran out.

Prior to Saturday, Buckwalter posted just one top-five and two top-10 finishes in 14 sprint car races this year.

Thanks to special circumstances, Buckwalter enjoyed his first sprint car win since last July, when he won at Williams Grove Speedway. His initial plan was to race at Lincoln Speedway, but the track moved up the start time to 4 p.m. to try to beat potential precipitation.

Port Royal moved its start time up, too, and Buckwalter decided to change his plan.

“I guess it was the right move,” Buckwalter said. “This is why I was hired: to win races. I feel like I should be winning a lot more than we are but it’s just so tough up here. It’s just so damn slick, you can’t get enough speed up the straightaways to get this thing stuck in the corners.

“Four or five guys got it figured out and we’ll keep working.”

Whittall finished third. Tyler Bear and Danny Dietrich, who started 11th, completed the top five. Anthony Macri raced to sixth from 14th and earned hard charger honors.

Blane Heimbach, Logan Wagner, Gerard McIntyre, and Kody Lehman closed the top 10.

Reeser, who led the first seven laps, faded to 18th.

Jason Shultz won the accompanying United Racing Club feature over Ryan Smith and Macri.

The finish:

1. 17b-Steve Buckwalter, 2. 2c-Dylan Cisney, 3. 67-Justin Whittall, 4. 25-Tyler Bear, 5. 48-Danny Dietrich, 6. 39m-Anthony Macri, 7. 12-Blane Heimbach, 8. 1-Logan Wagner, 9. 33-Gerard McIntyre, 10. 47k-Kody Lehman, 11. 55-Mike Wagner, 12. 2-A.J. Flick, 13. 5w-Lucas Wolfe, 14. 45-Jeff Halligan, 15. 13-Justin Peck, 16. 98-Jared Esh, 17. 33w-Mike Walter II, 18. 35-Tyler Reeser, 19. 19m-Brent Marks, 20. 19-Curt Stroup, 21. 57j-Jeff Miller, 22. 0-Rick Lafferty, 23. 29-Michael Bauer, 24. 6-Ryan Smith.

YORK HAVEN, Pa. – C.J. Leary withstood a bevy of bombs from both Justin Grant and Chris Windom to score his first victory of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season during a rare matinee performance Saturday at BAPS Motor Speedway.

In the process, Leary also provided the first victory by a Ford engine with the series since Bobby East’s triumph at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway in July of 2011.

Furthermore, Leary’s win gave car owner Bill Michael his first career USAC National Sprint Car Series victory.

Michael took his team on the road with USAC for the first time this year after previously winning a record 39 USAC Southwest Sprint Car Series features, most notably with driver R.J. Johnson, earning four consecutive USAC Southwest sprint car titles from 2013-’16.

“It’s huge for Bill and me,” Leary said. “With a new team, you obviously want to win right out of the box, but he let me build whatever I wanted. He said you can build whatever chassis and whatever shocks you want, but the only thing he made sure of was that we were going to run a Ford.

“The objective is to win a championship and he wanted to give it his best shot. Bill Michael, he’s a helluva guy.”

With a win in their back pockets, Leary and Michael feel that – as the lone rangers in the Ford camp – if they find that sweet spot as the season moves along, they’ll have a leg-up on the field in the Michael Motorsports/Kodiak Products – Gray Auto – Valvoline/DRC/Cressman Ford.

The car, driver and engine were inserted into a tricky test during the afternoon affair, which was pushed forward by four hours due to a high probability of inclement weather in the forecast for later that night, during the originally scheduled race time.

With track position key on this particular day, outside front row starter Leary took control of the 30-lap race from the get-go, driving by pole sitter Matt Westfall in the first two corners while Chase Stockon, then Justin Grant, slotted into second.

Leary was gone at that point, snipping his way through traffic with a full-straightaway lead in hand by lap 12.

Attempting to maneuver through a clogged lane of the race track, Leary dissected his way high and low around the competition, at times teetering over the cushion and brushing Hoosier rubber with the likes of Thomas Meseraull, who momentarily put Leary precariously sideways in turn three at the midway point.

With Grant cutting Leary’s lead in half, a yellow for debris in turn two reset the deck and cleared the traffic from Leary’s path.

As it turned out, traffic was arguably a safer position to reside in rather than being a sitting duck as the leader on a restart.

There, Grant fired his shot with a slider in turn one, going all the way past Leary and over the turn two cushion, which opened the door for both Robert Ballou and Windom to skate by.

Windom quickly snared second from Ballou with a slide job of his own in turn three moments later. All that was a major help for Leary, who raced away from the skirmish behind him with a clear view ahead.

“After Justin bombed me getting into one, I thought he was going to get upside down and collect me and whoever else was behind me,” Leary said. “I turned, crossed him over, and got back out in clear air, and I felt we had the car to beat on an open track. Even in lapped traffic, I felt pretty solid.”

However, the “great escape” that netted Leary a massive 5.467-second advantage was short lived when, on lap 21, Ricky Lewis and Brandon Mattox collided in turn one, flipping both over.

Joey Biasi also got caught up in the melee, spinning to a stop. All drivers involved were uninjured.

During the red flag period, Leary received a message from his father, Chuck Leary, a winner himself in the USAC Silver Crown Series who was in a similar position a time or two behind the wheel. He lent a bit of a “heads up” to his son in this case.

“After the red came out, my dad ran all the way around the race track to tell me to be prepared on the restart for another bomb,” tipped C.J. “He told me to think about protecting and sliding yourself. I contemplated for three or four minutes while riding around whether or not I should slide myself or keep doing what I was doing.

“As it turned out, I slid myself and almost gave it away.”

Windom, from second, used a massive run off turn two to set himself up for a slider attempt on Leary in turn three. Windom cleared Leary but snagged the cushion.

Leary turned down underneath Windom and the two banged wheels, with Leary getting himself back into the lead while Windom fell to third and Grant regained second.

“Chris actually made a mistake getting into three and four, and over rotated, and I think he thought I was going to be coming around the outside of him,” Leary explained. “He cleared me by a mile, but we made contact and I just drove off from there, and in clear air, our car was so good.”

As neither of them were close enough to levy a credible challenge after that, Grant and Windom could only look in the distance as Leary pulled away for a 2.651-second victory over Grant, Windom, hard charger Alex Bright and point leader Brady Bacon.

Saturday marked Leary’s 12th series win, tying him with Eric Gordon for 46th on the all-time list.

The finish:

1. C.J. Leary (2), 2. Justin Grant (5), 3. Chris Windom (7), 4. Alex Bright (16), 5. Brady Bacon (11), 6. Robert Ballou (8), 7. Steven Drevicki (6), 8. Jake Swanson (13), 9. Paul Nienhiser (15), 10. Thomas Meseraull (22), 11. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 12. Chase Stockon (3), 13. Matt Westfall (1), 14. Mark Smith (18), 15. Isaac Chapple (12), 16. Briggs Danner (20), 17. Nash Ely (19), 18. Tanner Thorson (14), 19. Ricky Lewis (10), 20. Brandon Mattox (9), 21. Joey Biasi (17), 22. Billy Ney (21).

Brooke Henderson chased down Jessica Korda and Jin Young Ko, shot 4-under 67 and then held on for a one-shot victory at the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open. Here’s everything you need to know:

Leaderboard: Brooke Henderson (-16), Jessica Korda (-15), Hannah Green (-14), Jin Young Ko (-14), So Yeon Ryu (-12), Angela Stanford (-12)

How it happened: Saturday’s finale at Wilshire Country Club was set up to be a final-group duel between Korda and Ko, but the standout pair combined to play the first 12 holes in 4 over with just one birdie as Henderson, the third player in that final threesome who started the day four off the lead, rocketed up the leaderboard. Henderson birdied the 11^th hole, her fourth birdie of the day, to take her first lead and a hole later doubled that lead by chipping in on the par-3 12^th. She parred two of her next three holes – both par-5s – but a birdie at No. 14 helped provide a cushion, which helped as Henderson bogeyed the 17th before pulling off a clutch up-and-down par from behind the green at the par-3 finishing hole. After Korda birdied the last, Henderson had to sink a 2-footer to avoid a playoff, which she did.

What it means: Henderson entered the double-digit wins club on Saturday, securing the 10^th LPGA title of her career and first since 2019. Henderson’s victory ties the current world No. 6 with Ariya Jutanugarn, Paula Creamer and Shanshan Feng for eighth on the LPGA’s active wins list. Henderson has captured at least one win in six of the last seven seasons, with 2020 being the only year during that span in which she didn't win.

Rounds of the day: Several players shot 5-under 66 on Saturday, including Hannah Green, who finished the tournament tied for second. Jeongeun Lee6, Mel Reid, Esther Lee and Alison Lee also closed their weeks in 66.

Shot of the day: The roars were well earned by Henderson here.

Biggest disappointments: We’ll give this one to both Ko and Korda, who each coughed up several shots and couldn’t keep Henderson from blowing by them and grabbing the trophy. Both players shot 72.

Winning quote: "I think as I age I'm getting more nerves. ... I'm just really happy with how everything turned out. It's nice to get the win and get some confidence back" – Henderson

Valentina Shevchenko has long been billed as one of the best strikers in all of MMA, male or female. On Saturday, she decided to give everyone a reminder that she is nowhere near a one-dimensional standup fighter.

Shevchenko dominated Jessica Andrade with her wrestling and then finished in violent fashion with elbows on the ground. The result was a TKO victory for Shevchenko at 3 minutes, 19 seconds of the second round at UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Florida.

With the triumph, Shevchenko defended her UFC women's flyweight title for the fifth time. She has been champion since Dec. 8, 2018.

"I like to surprise people," Shevchenko said in her postfight interview. "They don't expect this from me, but here I am. I can do everything."

In her previous bout, Shevchenko struggled a bit with wrestling and physicality against Jennifer Maia at UFC 255 in November. Shevchenko ultimately won by unanimous decision against Maia, but it was a small weakness she undoubtedly wanted to correct before fighting the similarly strong Andrade. And things were never close Saturday night. Shevchenko was 6-for-6 on takedown attempts.

"Opponents trying to figure out a weakness of mine?" Shevchenko said. "Don't waste your time. There is none."

Shevchenko took Andrade down over and over in the first round, ragdolling her shorter foe around the Octagon. The second round was more of the same, until Shevchenko was able to slip into the mounted crucifix position and land elbow after elbow to Andrade's head, until referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in to stop it.

"My plan was to come into the Octagon and destroy my opponent," Shevchenko said.

ESPN had Shevchenko ranked No. 2 and Andrade No. 6 on its women's MMA pound-for-pound list coming in. At women's flyweight, ESPN has Shevchenko and Andrade ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.

The bout took place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, the first UFC event during the COVID-19 pandemic with a capacity crowd.

Shevchenko (21-3) has won seven straight and is one of the most dominant champions in the UFC, regardless of gender. The Kyrgyzstan native, who lives and trains out of Las Vegas, has the most wins in UFC women's flyweight history with seven. Shevchenko, 33, sports a 10-2 UFC record and has only lost to one woman: Amanda Nunes (twice), the UFC women's bantamweight and featherweight champion. Only three fighters have more title fight wins in UFC history than Shevchenko: Jon Jones, Nunes and Jose Aldo. Shevchenko has six, tied with Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Stipe Miocic.

Andrade (21-9) was coming off a first-round TKO over Katlyn Chookagian in October. The Brazil native held the women's strawweight title in 2019, after knocking out Rose Namajunas with a slam at UFC 237. Andrade, 29, has the most fights in UFC women's history (19), across three weight classes: bantamweight, strawweight and flyweight.

Folks, Rose Namajunas has done it again.

Less than four years after winning the UFC's strawweight championship in a shocking knockout of Joanna Jedrzejczyk in New York, Namajunas (10-4) knocked out Zhang Weili with a left head kick just 1:18 into the opening round. The 115-pound title fight co-headlined UFC 261 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

"I did it again," said Namajunas, through tears. "I am the best."

Namajunas, 28, has essentially grown up in UFC title fights. She fought in the UFC's inaugural strawweight title fight in 2014 at the age of 22, and lost to Carla Esparza. She won the belt against Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217 in 2017, and then surrendered it to Jessica Andrade in 2019. During that time, she's also openly talked about the pressure of public life and retirement.

In beating Zhang, she has now taken out two of the most dominant strawweights in the history of the sport. Jedrzejczyk (16-4) holds the division's record for most title defenses with five. Zhang (21-2) sees a 21-fight win streak snapped, going back to 2014.

Namajunas, who fights out of Denver, dropped Zhang in the center of the Octagon with a head kick, and then pounced on her with right hammerfists. Zhang appeared to go unconscious from the shots, and then immediately disputed the stoppage with referee Keith Peterson.

Even after seeing the replay, Zhang, at least initially, said through a translator she believed she was still conscious at the time of the stoppage.

"I didn't see her moving," Namajunas said. "I wasn't sure if she was gonna come back from that. A couple hammerfists I let go, and she was out."

It's a very quick, stunning way for the Chinese strawweight to lose her title, which almost mirrors the way she first captured it. Zhang, 31, took the belt in 2019 by knocking out Andrade in just 42 seconds in Shenzhen, China.

It is the eighth knockout by head kick in UFC title fight history.

In a surreal twist of fate on Saturday, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman appeared to suffer the same gruesome leg injury in a loss to Uriah Hall that Anderson Silva suffered during a fight against Weidman nearly eight years ago.

Hall (17-9) defeated Weidman (15-6) via TKO just 17 seconds into their 185-pound contest at UFC 261, when Weidman's lower right leg snapped after Hall checked his very first leg kick. The sequence was eerily similar to the way Weidman defeated Silva in a UFC title fight in December 2013.

According to the broadcast, Weidman was admitted to a local hospital and will undergo surgery on Sunday to repair the injured right leg.

Hall remained stoic as Weidman, 36, left VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville on a stretcher.

"I've got nothing but respect for Chris Weidman," Hall said. "He's truly one of the best. It's a crazy story, that he was the first man I fought that defeated me [in 2010], that introduced me to fear. I didn't know what fear was. Then we went different paths. He was the first person to defeat Anderson [in the UFC], and I was the last. It's crazy how we ended up here again.

"I wanted to put on a great performance, but man, I feel so bad. I hope he's OK. I wish his family well."

A native of Long Island, Weidman shocked the world in July 2013 by knocking out Silva with a left hook at UFC 163 in Las Vegas. Weidman ended Silva's reign of 10 successful title defenses, and the UFC booked an obvious, immediate rematch later that year.

In the second round of the rematch, Silva's leg visibly shattered when Weidman checked a low leg kick. Silva immediately fell to the ground in pain and was ultimately diagnosed with a broken fibula and tibia. Following some speculation his fight career was over, Silva returned with the help of a metal rod inserted into his left leg. He continued to fight in the UFC up until October, when Hall defeated him in a fourth-round TKO.

Including Saturday, there have been only three instances of a broken leg due to a checked kick in UFC history. The first incident occurred in December 2008 and involved lightweight Corey Hill. Like Silva, Hill also returned to competition. He fought 11 more times, before retiring from the sport in 2015.

Hall, who is originally from Jamaica and now fights out of Dallas, officially picks up his fourth win in a row. This fight marked a big one in his career, as he suffered his first pro loss to Weidman when they were two prospects fighting out of New York. The 36-year-old is 4-5 overall in his last five contests.

UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman dominated Jorge Masvidal last year over five rounds, but he wasn't satisfied with that performance -- he thought he could do better.

Usman put a stamp on his rivalry with Masvidal on Saturday night, dropping him with a crushing right hand and following up on the ground for a knockout victory at 1:02 seconds of the second round in the main event of UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Florida.

With the victory, Usman defended his 170-pound title. It was the first time the famously durable Masvidal had been finished by KO/TKO since 2008.

"Jacksonville, Florida -- y'all said you wanted violence?" Usman said in his postfight interview. "You're welcome."

ESPN had Usman ranked No. 2 in the world on its best pound-for-pound MMA fighters list coming in. At welterweight, ESPN has Usman at No. 1 and Masvidal at No. 7. Now, Usman has to be considered one of the best in the world currently, and the questions will begin about where he stands on the all-time list.

"With my fundamentals, I am the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet right now," Usman said.

The bout took place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, the first UFC event with a capacity crowd since the COVID-19 pandemic. A crowd of 15,269 was in attendance, according to the UFC.

At UFC 251 last year, Usman (19-1) beat Masvidal via unanimous decision in fairly one-sided fashion. But Masvidal came into that fight on just six days' notice after Usman's initially scheduled opponent, Gilbert Burns, tested positive for coronavirus. Usman, 33, now has his fourth straight title defense and his 14th straight UFC victory.

Usman has the second-longest winning streak in UFC history. Only Anderson Silva has more consecutive wins in UFC history (16).

"You elevated me," Usman said of Masvidal. "You made me get into the workshop. ... I told everybody I'm still getting better. The sky is the limit for me as long as I'm doing this."

Masvidal (35-15) is one of the biggest stars on the UFC roster. The Miami native was on a three-fight winning streak before falling to Usman last year. In 2019, Masvidal knocked out Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz in a span of eight months to become one of the hottest MMA athletes in the world. The latter was for the mythical BMF title at Madison Square Garden. Masvidal, 36, has been a pro fighter for almost 18 years, but has just recently become one of the most popular MMA athletes in the world.

"He's got my number, man," Masvidal said. "He beat me fair and square. God bless him, man."

UFC 261 featured three title fights and a ton of memorable moments. Some of those moments, like Rose Namajunas knocking out Zhang Weili to win the strawweight title, were filled with exhilaration. Other moments, like Chris Weidman breaking his leg on a kick attempt, were somber reminders about the risks these athletes take every fight.

But at the end of the card it was once again Kamaru Usman standing tall, hanging Jorge Masvidal the first knockout loss of his career. Usman's striking has reached another level and he's clearly one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Valentina Shevchenko proved very much the same with her dominant victory over Jessica Andrade. Shevchenko joked afterward that her opponents are looking for weaknesses, but there aren't any.

So who will step up next to face the trio of champions and Anthony Smith, who stopped rising prospect Jimmy Crute in the opening fight on the PPV card?

Kamaru Usman, welterweight (defeated Jorge Masvidal by second-round KO)

Who's next: Colby Covington

Covington is the obvious choice here, although I will say, there is a temptation to go with Leon Edwards -- only because Edwards has been willing to fight Covington, but never the other way around. It seems a little backwards that Edwards can never pass Covington in the rankings -- mainly because Covington isn't interested in facing him. That's not how this should work. But, at the same time, you can't completely blame Covington for being conservative with his No. 1 spot.

Covington has been the toughest challenge yet for the champ. He lost that fight in 2019, and has picked up a win in his only fight since. If he's at a point in his career where he's willing to wait it out and only get up for a title shot, that's his decision. And frankly, it looks like it's going to work. He is the No. 1 contender as of now, and I believe he will be Usman's next challenger.

Wild card: Winner of Leon Edwards vs. Nate Diaz on May 15

The UFC has already said Covington is next, but if negotiations hit a snag or that falls through for whatever reason, all eyes will turn to this five-round non-title fight on May 15.

If Edwards wins, he's a no-brainer to fight Usman. If it's Diaz -- look, clearly he wouldn't be deserving of a UFC title shot, and personally, I would rather see Usman fight Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson if somehow, some way, he didn't fight Covington or Edwards -- but we know how this sport works.

I will say this: If Diaz beats Edwards at UFC 262, he will have taken out a guy who is a legitimate No. 1 contender. So, even though his body of work wouldn't say title shot, that one result certainly would.

Jorge Masvidal, welterweight (lost to Kamaru Usman by second-round KO)

Who's next: Winner of Leon Edwards vs. Nate Diaz on May 15

Masvidal is now 0-2 in UFC title fights, but he still has plenty of big fights ahead. He has history with both Edwards and Diaz. If Covington ends up getting the next title shot, and Edwards beats Diaz, Masvidal vs. Edwards is a terrific fight for the UFC.

And if Diaz upsets Edwards, that's an even bigger fight for Masvidal -- the BMF rematch. That fight probably could headline another UFC pay-per-view, if the company wanted it to.

Wild card: Loser of Leon Edwards vs. Nate Diaz on May 15

I mean, I just really think Masvidal's next fight will be against one of these two. And if it's not the winner ... and my calculations are correct ... that means it would have to be the loser. Again, there's just history here. They are big fights. My guess is that Masvidal will fight the winner, but it could be either one.

Rose Namajunas, strawweight (defeated Zhang Weili by first-round KO)

Who's next: Winner of Carla Esparza vs. Yan Xiaonan on May 22

What is better than Rose Namajunas, huh? Man. So good. I've been covering this sport since 2009, and Namajunas owns two of the top moments in all that time as far as I'm concerned. This and Madison Square Garden in 2017 was nothing short of magic. I am very much looking forward to what this second chapter of Namajunas as a champion looks like, and I think it's pretty obvious it will start with the winner of this fight.

Esparza has a win over Namajunas. Yes, it was a long time ago, but it's there and she's deserving of a shot. So is Xioaonan, who has quietly been a wrecking ball in the division as of late.

Wild card: Joanna Jedrzejczyk

In a way, it makes perfect sense. Jedrzejczyk fought Zhang in a five-round war one year ago and came up just short in a split decision. We know who Jedrzejczyk is in this sport. We don't need to see her win a non-title fight to know what she brings to the table in a title fight. And she knows it.

She's made it clear she only has interest in a title fight. It all adds up. The problem is, of course, she's already lost to Namajunas twice. I don't think you can put this together for the third time with her coming off a loss, even though it wasn't a bad loss. But it's possible.

Valentina Shevchenko, flyweight (defeated Jessica Andrade by second-round TKO)

Who's next: Winner of Joanne Calderwood vs. Lauren Murphy on June 12

I almost put a question mark after this. Like, I guess? Calderwood. Murphy. Does it matter? Can she fight both in one night?

Calderwood is a very good fighter. Murphy, same. But what will the odds be between Shevchenko and either one of them? You can't set odds high enough! But hey, such is the situation at 125, right? And even though none of us believe Shevchenko is losing any time soon, the best this division can do is just offer up the next challenger one after another. Calderwood was supposed to fight her in 2020, the fight fell through and she suffered a loss. She's deserving of a shot. So is Murphy, with a win on June 12.

Just line 'em up. Let's go.

Wildcard: Zhang Weili

I can't come up with anything else. And hey, it actually isn't a bad idea, right? Zhang suffered a stunning upset against Rose Namajunas, and I'm sure she's going to want that one back. But if the UFC is looking for something to get us excited about when it comes to Shevchenko, they could do a lot worse than the now-former strawweight champ. I don't see it, but if it happened, I wouldn't be mad.

Anthony Smith, light heavyweight (defeated Jimmy Crute by first-round TKO)

Who's next: Winner of Dominick Reyes vs. Jiri Prochazka on May 1

It was a bit of an unusual end to Smith's anticipated bout against Jimmy Crute, only from the sense we don't see many fights end due to a nerve issue. But unusual or not, Smith deserves full credit. That jab was a thing of beauty, and something we really haven't seen from him before -- at least not one that's been that efficient.

Smith was an underdog coming into this one. After that brutal loss to Glover Teixeira last May, and another loss to Aleksandar Rakic just three months later, Smith was at a crossroads. And he was still at a crossroads coming into this one, even though he picked up a win over Devin Clark in November. And man, he looked great.

Reyes and Prochazka fight one week from now. Whoever wins, I imagine he'll still need one more victory to get a title shot. And it would make sense for that next challenge to be Smith.

Wild card: Magomed Ankalaev

Going into the fight, Smith said beating Crute was about defending his spot, and after this fight, he'd be looking to climb again. A fight against Ankalaev would be more of a, well... it would be another fight to defend his spot. But it's a fight that sure makes a lot of sense.

Ankalaev is climbing himself. He deserves to fight someone ranked ahead of him. I like the winner of the May 1 bout more, as it rewards Smith for winning his last two bouts. But since he's still less than a year removed from two poor performances against Teixeira and Rakic, it wouldn't shock me if his number gets called for the Ankalaev fight.

The already-depleted Denver Nuggets will be without starting guard Will Barton for "the foreseeable future," according to head coach Michael Malone.

Barton suffered a right hamstring strain early in Friday night's 118-97 loss to the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.

The veteran guard pulled up awkwardly after driving to the basket, grimacing as he passed the ball to a teammate. He hobbled his way over near the Nuggets' bench and went down on the baseline, grabbing at his leg. He exited the court and was ruled out of the game shortly thereafter.

Malone called the injury a "pretty significant hamstring strain" ahead of the Nuggets' game against the Houston Rockets on Saturday night. While a timetable hasn't been set for his return, Barton said you hadn't "seen the last of me this season" in a tweet on Saturday.

Lil setback. Be back soon. Ain't seen the last of me this season. GOD always looking out ??

— Will Barton (@WillTheThrillB5) April 24, 2021

Barton's injury leaves the Nuggets short-handed in the backcourt. Star guard Jamal Murray is out for the season after tearing an ACL at Chase Center less than two weeks ago. Backup point guard Monte Morris strained his hamstring earlier this week and has missed the past four games.

Barton is an important part of Denver's offense with his slashing and scoring ability, adding a dynamic isolation option to Nikola Jokic's floor game.

Barton, 30, is averaging 12.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 55 games this season.

ESPN's Royce Young contributed to this report.