Any pay-per-view with two title fights is going to capture the attention of the sport, but on Saturday night at UFC 266, it’s the third fight on the card that has most fight fans talking. Nick Diaz will walk to the Octagon for his first fight since 2015 to face Robbie Lawler in a rematch 17 years in the making. What can we expect when he returns?
In the main event of UFC 266, Alexander Volkanovski defends the featherweight title against Brian Ortega. The two spent plenty of time together during the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, but will that experience impact the outcome? Ortega’s last title fight didn’t go his way — will this time be different?
Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi, Mike Coppinger, Jeff Wagenheim and Carlos Contreras Legaspi separate what’s real and what’s not ahead of Saturday night’s pay-per-view.
Okamoto: Look, the only answer to this — the real answer to this — is, “I have no idea.” No one does. Diaz wasn’t even that active when he was … active.
Prior to that bogus suspension for marijuana in 2015, which ultimately led to his six-year absence, Diaz had only fought once in the span of 22 months. And when his career was derailed by a — I’ll say it again, bogus — suspension, he veered hard into a civilian lifestyle.
Diaz has not always lived the life of a professional athlete over the past six years. He’s had somewhat of a tortured relationship with fighting in general. He doesn’t love it, but he knows he’s good at it and it’s his means of income. Trying to figure out Diaz’s level of motivation, his reasons for fighting or even his enthusiasm around this return … it’s impossible. And I think that obviously matters a lot, when trying to guess what he’ll look like on Saturday. Because if Diaz doesn’t truly want to be here and he has reservations about being here, that will show.
And if that is the case, then no, we won’t be impressed. We’ll probably say he should never do this again.
I’m genuinely excited and curious about Diaz’s return, but I’m going in with no expectations. This has an equal chance of going really well or really badly.
Brian Ortega will make the most of his second title fight and win
Raimondi: When Brian Ortega first challenged for the UFC featherweight title, against Max Holloway at UFC 231 on Dec. 8, 2018, he was 27 years old and already being dubbed as the UFC’s next golden boy. Ortega was hanging out with actor Robert Downey Jr., getting endorsement deals with high profile companies like Body Armour and — with his good looks, charisma and exciting fighting style — seemed primed to be the promotion’s newest crossover star.
That all hit a speed bump when Holloway beat Ortega by fourth-round TKO. Holloway hit him with everything he had, but Ortega kept coming until the doctor pulled the plug before the fifth round. Ortega showed a ton of heart, but he also showed he wasn’t quite ready yet to become champion. And perhaps those lofty expectations were too much, too soon.
It is no longer too soon for Ortega, which is why I’m saying “real” to this statement. He’s 30 years old and going into this next title challenge, against Alexander Volkanovski on Saturday at UFC 266 in Las Vegas, like a new man. He’s changed up his coaching staff. His striking game has improved drastically. Ortega really showed marked growth in his unanimous decision win over rival “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung last October. It was arguably the best performance of his career, a fight he controlled from the opening bell.
In four consecutive fights from 2015 to 2017, Ortega finished his opponents in the third round. In almost all of those bouts, Ortega was either losing on the cards when he earned the stoppage or had at least lost a portion of the fight. The showing against “Zombie” was a complete one — and actually the only fight to go to decision of his UFC run. Things were never out of Ortega’s hands then. Jung was supposed to be the better striker, Ortega the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist. But Ortega befuddled Jung on the feet with a new southpaw stance and crafty techniques and tactics.
Provided he brings that same style against Volkanovski — combined with his innate finishing ability — we could be talking about Ortega, finally, as UFC champion, nearly three years after he was perhaps prematurely crowned as the future 145-pound king.
Wagenheim: Shevchenko is a 14-to-1 favorite, so it’s a good bet she’ll beat Murphy. But finish her? Let’s look at Shevchenko’s recent history.
The champ has won seven fights in a row, dominating every one of those bouts but alternating between finishes and decisions. The three recent opponents who have gone all five rounds with Shevchenko — Jennifer Maia, Liz Carmouche and Joanna Jedrzejczyk — are all sturdy and resilient. So is Murphy. In 19 career fights, she has never been finished. Then again, Murphy has never been locked inside a cage with Valentina Shevchenko.
Murphy has won five straight and been in a bunch of competitive fights. Half of her most recent wins have come by split decision. I don’t expect her to put up a close fight against Shevchenko, but survive she can.
If I were a betting man, I’d hate to spend 25 minutes holding my breath while hoping for a Shevchenko’s opponent to merely make it to the final horn so I could cash a ticket. But that’s where my money would be. The above statement is not real.
The main event will not be the most exciting fight of the night
Legaspi: Anyone who still thinks that the only chance for Ortega to beat Volkanovski is by submitting him is really wrong. The rivalry between this two fighters has grown for almost a year, and the fact that it was postponed and their time on The Ultimate Fighter only added fuel to that fire.
Ortega is coming off a striking clinic against one of the best in the division — and was gutsy enough to try the same in his first title fight against the self-proclaimed best boxer in the UFC, Max Holloway. Let’s not forget he was also the first one to knock out Frankie Edgar. Ortega probably has the best jiu-jitsu in the top of the featherweight division, but he barely tries to take down his opponents.
This fight could certainly play out as a long stand-up confrontation, because Volkanovski doesn’t want to risk it on the ground. So for me, this fight is likely to deliver a lot of excitement, and for that reason I’m going to say it’s “not real.” I can’t deny that the fans will go wild when Diaz steps inside the Octagon after his layoff, but it’s really hard to tell how competitive this rematch is going to be 17 years later.
There are many other fights that look promising, though. If Dan Hooker makes it for this week’s matchup against Nasrat Haqparast after days of dealing with visa issues, he will recover his spot among title contenders, provided he has a big performance. There’s also Merab Dvalishvili, who will try to make a statement by finishing an opponent for the first time in the UFC. He’ll have to do that against someone who loves to exchange in Marlon Moraes.
Coppinger: A takedown (or 10) certainly would help Blaydes’ efforts. After all, the NCAA wrestler is a far better grappler than his opponent. If Blaydes can control Rozenstruik on the ground — and along the cage — he can neutralize his foe’s awesome power and avoid the kind of shot that flattened him in his most recent loss to Derrick Lewis.
In Blaydes’ last win, a unanimous decision over Alexander Volkov, Blaydes scored 14 takedowns while allowing just one. His losses to Lewis and Francis Ngannou both featured exactly zero takedowns.
But Blaydes’ finish of Junior Dos Santos was also a stand-up affair, so Blaydes doesn’t need have to rely on his wrestling game to win. So for this fight, at least, I’ll say, “not real.”
If Rozenstruik is going to spring the upset, he surely needs to avoid being dominated on the ground. His takedown defense has proven formidable, with Rozenstruik able to avoid 80% of attempts.
Rozenstruik, a former kickboxer, is the more dangerous striker and loves to keep the fight on his feet. In fact, he’s never recorded a takedown in his eight fights in the Octagon. All of his wins have come via KO/TKO, with his two losses coming against the two best heavyweights in the world (Ciryl Gane and Ngannou).
After an epic Game 3 that went a record-tying 18 innings, Game 4 of the 2025 World Series will be a true test for both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays. Can the Dodgers ride the high of Freddie Freeman‘s walk-off home run to a third straight victory, or will the Blue Jays’ bats bounce back to tie the Fall Classic at two games apiece? What will Shohei Ohtani — who will be on the mound for L.A. — do for an encore after a history-making night at the plate?
LOS ANGELES — U.S. viewers for the first two games of World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays dropped 14% from last year’s matchup between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees, but Canadian and Japanese audiences set records.
Last year’s first two games averaged 14.55 million and this year’s first two averaged 12..5 million on Fox, Fox Deportes, Fox One streaming, the Fox Sports app and Univision, Major League Baseball said Tuesday.
MLB said the combined 32.6 million viewers for the opener in the U.S., Canada and Japan were its highest since the Chicago Cubs‘ ended their 108-year title draught by beating Cleveland in Game 7 of the 2016 Series.
Toronto’s 11-4 win in Game 1 averaged 13,305,000 and Los Angeles’ 5-1 victory in Game 2, which did not include Univision coverage, averaged 11.63 million, Fox said.
Los Angeles’ 6-3, 10-inning win in last year’s opener that ended with Freddie Freeman‘s grand slam was seen by 15.2 million, the most-watched Series game since 2019. The Dodgers’ 4-2 victory in Game 2 last year was viewed by 13.44 million.
Game 1 this year drew 7 million viewers in Canada and Game 2 was watched by 6.6 million, the two most-watched Blue Jays games on Sportsnet. The network is owned by Rogers Communications Inc., the parent company of the Blue Jays.
The opener also was broadcast with French-language commentary on TVA Sports and drew 502,000, that network’s most-watched game.
This year’s opener averaged 11.8 million on NHK-G, the most-viewed World Series game in Japan televised by a single network, and Game 2 averaged 9.5 million on NHK-BS for a two-game Japanese average of 10.7 million.
The two-game average in the U.S., Canada and Japan was 30.5 million.
Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.
LOS ANGELES — Toronto Blue Jays star George Springer was not in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s Game 4 of the World Series after leaving Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers with right side discomfort.
Springer, 36, suffered the injury on a swing in the seventh inning of Game 3, exiting not long after calling for the athletic trainer.
Springer underwent an MRI, but the team wasn’t forthcoming about the results, with manager John Schneider indicating only that Springer was “hour-to-hour.”
“I think swinging will be the key to kind of determine if he’s in there or not,” Schneider said earlier Tuesday, not long before the lineup was announced. “But he was the first one here, a lot of treatment, a lot of work, and George is going to do everything he can to be ready.”
Springer has been a key offensive cog and leader during the Blue Jays’ postseason run. He has four home runs this month to go along with an .884 OPS, including a three-run homer in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners.
He injured his right knee on a hit by pitch in that series but was able to start the next day.
