It’s been 26 months since Brendan Loughnane fought in the UFC’s Contender Series in Las Vegas. But even two years later, that night continues to define his career.
Loughnane (21-3) faces Movlid Khaybulaev (17-0-1) in a PFL featherweight semifinal on Friday in Hollywood, Florida. The 31-year-old is riding a seven-fight win streak and enters the 2021 playoffs as the No. 1 seed in his division. He is in his 12th year as a pro.
But for so many on the outside looking in, those 12 years boil down to that one moment in 2019.
“I’m always gonna be that guy,” said Loughnane, who defeated Bill Algeo on the Contender Series but was denied a contract by Dana White for not being enough of a “killer” — the UFC president believed Loughnane wasn’t actively looking for a finish. “If I walk into a new gym, it’s, ‘Oh, wow. You’re the guy from Contender.’ It’s not, ‘Wow, you’re the guy who is 21-3 as a pro.'”
Loughnane, who hails from Manchester, England, is used to this reality now, and he says it doesn’t really bother him. He can’t allow it to bother him. It’s part of who he is. It’s never going away. Regardless of anything Loughnane does between now and the end of his career, that moment will always be part of his story.
That story, however, is still being written. To be clear, it’s not as if this has become Loughane’s motivation. He’s not fighting to simply be remembered as more than “the guy from Contender.” But at the same time, he was forced to reassess his career after what happened in Las Vegas, and it put him on a path that led him to these PFL semifinals.
“To solidify myself as a world champion, after all those years of hard work and being told I couldn’t do it, would just solidify my career.”
Brendan Loughnane
“I actually found an Instagram post from 2013 where I wrote down all of my goals,” Loughnane said. “And after the Contender fight, I’d accomplished all of them. So, at that time, there was a massive reassessment of my career, and ultimately it came down to becoming a world champion.
“That’s the one thing that’s eluded me in my career: a piece of gold. The PFL’s $1 million prize is $1 million, and I’m not brushing it off. But money comes and goes, and it will always come and go. To solidify myself as a world champion, after all those years of hard work and being told I couldn’t do it, would just solidify my career.”
A PFL championship in 2021 would not only solidify Loughnane’s career, it would solidify everything he’s been through since the start of last year.
Perhaps no one was more eager for the start of the PFL’s 2020 season than Loughnane. His career was in limbo in 2019. After he was denied a contract with the UFC, Loughnane signed with the PFL — but not early enough to compete in the promotion’s 2019 season.
In January 2020, Loughnane moved to Thailand with a plan to make that his home base for the entire year. Of course, all of that was disrupted by COVID-19 and the cancelation of the PFL’s 2020 season.
At that point, Loughnane committed to leveling up his training no matter where in the world it required him to be.
“I just kept my foot on the gas,” Loughnane said. “I was sparring [with UFC bantamweight] Petr Yan for his title fight against Jose Aldo. I was sparring [with UFC lightweight] Rafael Fiziev. I headed to the U.K. in July because borders were closing, and then when England started to close, I went to Dubai and trained there for six months.”
The United Kingdom continued to maintain strict lockdown rules that varied as different waves of the pandemic struck through 2020 and early 2021. Loughnane made a few stops back in England, but for the most part his journey and preparation for the 2021 PFL season has kept him far from home.
“It’s been a bit of a roller coaster, to be honest,” he said. “I’ve trained for this fight in Las Vegas, so this is my third country in a space of less than a year. I’ve got no roots, really. I haven’t been home since last September. I’m in someone’s spare bedroom, training three times a day. I’ve just been flying around the world as this nomad martial artist.”
Thus far, the results have been good. Loughnane kicked off 2021 with a first-round knockout of UFC veteran Sheymon Moraes, less than three minutes into the fight. Then, in a bloody, physical battle with Ultimate Fighter alum Tyler Diamond, Loughnane emerged with a majority-decision win.
As he prepares for Khaybulaev, the truth is that Loughnane’s career has already become much more than one moment on the Contender Series. But these next two fights are an opportunity to showcase just how far he’s come.
The undefeated Khaybulaev is not a household name, but he’s a suffocating wrestler from Dagestan with no glaring weaknesses. If Loughnane beats him, he will face either UFC veteran Chris Wade (19-6) or former NCAA champion wrestler Bubba Jenkins (16-4) in the final.
If everything goes according to his plans, Loughnane will return home for the first time in more than 15 months as a millionaire and PFL champion. Yes, he will still be the guy who controversially wasn’t given a UFC contract in 2019. But perhaps that will be a footnote in his career, instead of the leading line.
“I’ve said to myself I can’t go home until I’ve done it,” Loughnane said. “I just want to walk through my mum’s door with the belt and the check. I want to see my friends, see my god kids, my girlfriend — I want to see everything, and I want to do it with the belt. That’s what will make it for me. That’s the only way I’ll be content going home.”
Allar missed the second half of last week’s win over Wisconsin after suffering a left knee injury, but he was not listed on the injury report for the No. 3 Nittany Lions on Saturday morning.
Penn State coach James Franklin said earlier this week that Allar could be a game-time decision and that backup Beau Pribula would take snaps with Allar in practice.
Allar ranks 10th nationally with a QBR of 83.6. He has completed 71.3% of his passes for 1,640 yards and totaled 15 touchdowns with four interceptions.
Penn State starting defensive lineman Dani Dennis-Sutton will be a game-time decision, a source told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Dennis-Sutton, who is listed as questionable, is expected to warm up and try to play.
Information from ESPN’s Jake Trotter was used in this report.
WEST POINT, N.Y. — Army star quarterback Bryson Daily will miss Saturday’s game against Air Force with an undisclosed injury/illness, Army officials told ESPN.
Daily leads the country with 19 rushing touchdowns and leads all FBS quarterbacks with 909 rushing yards. He was unable to practice this week. The No. 21 Black Knights had a bye last weekend after beating East Carolina 45-28 on Oct. 19 to win their seventh straight game this season.
In the win over ECU, Daily carried the ball 31 times for a career-high 171 yards and accounted for six touchdowns, five rushing and one passing. The 6-foot, 221-pound senior has already set Army single-season records for touchdowns responsible for (26) and rushing touchdowns (19) in seven games.
With Daily sidelined, junior Dewayne Coleman will fill in at quarterback and make his first career start. Daily, one of four team captains, has been Army’s starting quarterback over the past two seasons and the main cog in a Black Knights offense that has eclipsed 400 yards of total offense in all seven games this season.
Army (7-0, 6-0) travels to North Texas next week for an AAC contest. They get a bye week on Nov. 16 and then face Notre Dame on Nov. 23 at Yankee Stadium.
There’s no timetable at this point on how long Daily might be out of the lineup, but Army officials don’t think it’s a season-ending setback.
Army, off to its best start in nearly 30 years, will be one of the top contenders for the Group of 5’s spot in the College Football Playoff if the Black Knights can win the American Athletic Conference championship.
The 2024 World Series ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the championship in a stunning comeback in Game 5, with Walker Buehler the unlikely pitcher to close out the 7-6 win over the New York Yankees. First baseman Freddie Freeman was handed the World Series MVP award for his record-tying 12-RBI performance.
But that doesn’t tell the full story of everyone who played a starring role in October — a postseason that featured a record six grand slams, among other wildness. So, to honor the best of the entire postseason, we’ve created our first MLB All-October Team.
From wild-card-round sensations to World Series standouts, here are the players our ESPN MLB panel of experts voted as the best of the best at every position along with some award hardware for the brightest stars of October.
Why he’s here: To be honest, it wasn’t a great playoffs for catchers — they hit just .184/.254/.310. Higashioka is the one catcher who did hit, belting three home runs and driving in five runs in the seven games the Padres played.
Honorable mention: Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers
1B: Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
Why he’s here: Freeman didn’t have an extra-base hit and drove in just one run in the first two rounds of the playoffs as he tried to play through the severely sprained ankle he suffered at the end of the regular season. He didn’t even play in two games of the NLCS and required hours of physical therapy before each game just to get on the field. But the five days off before the World Series clearly helped, and he homered in the first four games, including his dramatic walk-off grand slam in Game 1 that will go down as not only the signature World Series moment of 2024 — but a World Series moment for the ages.
Why he’s here: Torres had a solid October as he heads into free agency, although he had little competition here. Indeed, second basemen collectively hit just .219 with three home runs the entire playoffs — two of those from Torres — and drove in 24 runs, with Torres driving in eight himself. He had three multihit games and scored five runs in five games in the ALCS, while also taking walks to help set the table for Juan Soto.
Why he’s here: Max Muncy set a record when he reached base 17 times in the NLCS, including a single-postseason-record 12 times in a row, but he went hitless in the World Series. Vientos, meanwhile, had a stellar first trip to the postseason, hitting .327/.362/.636 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 13 games. That followed a breakout regular season in which he posted an .837 OPS with 27 home runs in just 111 games. He looks like he’ll be a fixture in the middle of the Mets’ lineup for years to come.
Why he’s here: Edman was an under-the-radar pickup at the trade deadline, in part because he was still injured and hadn’t yet played for the St. Louis Cardinals. Most of Edman’s starts came at shortstop, especially after Miguel Rojas was injured in the NLDS, but his bat got him here. Edman was the NLCS MVP after hitting .407 with a record-tying 11 RBIs in the series. He had started at cleanup just twice in his career but was slotted there twice against the Mets, driving in seven runs in those two games. Then he went 2-for-4 in each of the first two games of the World Series, including a home run in Game 2, and finished the Fall Classic hitting .294/.400/.588 with six runs.
Why they’re here: Betts entered this postseason in a 3-for-38 postseason slump going back to the end of the 2021 NLCS — and it initially looked like it would be more of the same when he went 0-for-6 the first two games of the NLDS, including being robbed of a home run courtesy of Jurickson Profar. Everything turned in Game 3 when Profar almost robbed him of another home run — but didn’t. After that, Betts was in the middle of most of the Dodgers’ big rallies, hitting .321/.394/.625 with four home runs and 16 RBIs over the Dodgers’ final 14 playoff games.
Soto’s at-bats spoke for themselves: He never seemed to have a bad one. His big at-bat was the three-run home run in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the ALCS to send the Yankees to the World Series. Getting intentionally walked twice while batting in front of Aaron Judge speaks to Judge’s struggles, yes — but also to how locked in Soto was all postseason. He finished the postseason slashing .327/.469/.633 with 4 home runs, 9 RBIs and 14 walks in 14 games.
Hernandez actually began October on the bench, but we’ve seen him perform big in the postseason before, and he stepped up when Rojas was injured in the NLDS. Hernandez homered in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory to close out the Padres in the NLDS, had a big two-run home run against the Mets in Game 3 of the NLCS and got the series-turning five-run rally against the Yankees in Game 5 started with a leadoff single in the fifth as well as the series-winning rally in the eighth with another leadoff base hit. Overall, he hit .294/.357/.451 with 11 runs and six RBIs.
Why he’s here: The Yankees were often a two-man show in the postseason, just like they were in the regular season — except it was Soto and Stanton, not Soto and Judge. Stanton blasted seven home runs in the playoffs, including in the final three games of the ALCS (earning MVP honors) and in Games 1 and 5 of the World Series. He finished the playoffs hitting .273/.339/.709, and those seven homers are the most in a single postseason in Yankees history.
Why they’re here: Certainly, it seems as if the status of the starting pitcher in the postseason continues to decline — although, that doesn’t mean they’re not important. There were certainly some stellar individual outings along the way: Corbin Burnes allowed one run in eight innings (but lost 1-0) for the Baltimore Orioles; Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings (but that would be his only start); and the Padres’ Michael King fanned 12 to beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. Skubal had two scoreless starts against the Houston Astros in the wild-card series and Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, confirming his status as one of the best in the game — or maybe the best, as his soon-to-be AL Cy Young Award will attest.
Cole was really the one consistent starter throughout the postseason, making five starts with a 2.17 ERA. Unfortunately, that ERA doesn’t register the five unearned runs from the final game of the World Series when the Yankees’ defense turned into a comedy of errors — including Cole himself opening up the floodgates by failing to cover first base to get what would have been the inning-ending out.
Why they’re here: It also wasn’t the best of postseasons for closers — not even great ones. The Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase allowed five earned runs all regular season — and then eight in the playoffs. Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams blew that wild-card game against the Mets. All-Star Jeff Hoffman lost two games for the Phillies. Weaver, however, was the one consistent late-game performer and was great while often pitching more than one inning. He posted a 1.76 ERA across 15⅓ innings. Who knows how the World Series ends if Yankees manager Aaron Boone keeps Weaver in the game in the 10th inning of Game 1. (Weaver had thrown just 19 pitches.)
Treinen, meanwhile, capped his comeback season — he had missed almost all of 2022 and then all of 2023 — with a 2.19 ERA across 12⅓ innings, winning two games and saving three others. In the World Series clincher, he recorded seven outs and got out of a two-on, no-out jam in the eighth inning to preserve the Dodgers’ 7-6 lead before handing the ball to Buehler to close out the ninth.