Merab Dvalishvili says he has gained 19lb (1st 5lb) in just five hours after weighing in for his bantamweight title fight against Petr Yan at UFC 333 on Saturday.
The Georgian weighed 135lb (9st 9lb), which was the same as Russian champion Yan, before the pair’s co-main event fight in Abu Dhabi.
Dvalishvili later uploaded a video to Instagram showing the 35-year-old stepping on scales and weighing 154lb (11st 0lb).
“I’ve been drinking water and in only five hours I gain back 19 pounds, that’s what we do, let’s go,” he said.
“Now I’m back drinking and recovering. Now I’m going to start eating. Eat food first, then tomorrow you guys already know who I’m going to eat.”
Fighters typically cut weight by shedding water in the days before a bout, before rehydrating to regain weight – a process that can provide a physical advantage inside the octagon.
The UFC has taken a number of steps to make weight cuts safer over the years, including banning IV drips, which forces fighters to hydrate in a healthier way, and building the Performance Institute, which provides guidance for its athletes from professional health experts.
UFC fighters are recommended to lose no more than 8% of their body weight during fight week.
On fight night they are recommended to stay within 10% of their weight class.
Dvalishvili is aiming to win back the title he lost against two-time champion Yan last December.
During their face-off, the pair engaged in an intense but respectful stare-down.
In the main event, champion Alexander Volkanovski and Movsar Evloev both made weight before their featherweight world title contest.
Australia’s Volkanovski is looking to earn a record ninth win in UFC featherweight title fights against Russia’s Evloev, who is undefeated in 20 bouts.
On the undercard, British flyweight Lone’er Kavanagh takes on Uzbekistan’s Ramazan Temirov.
The 27-year-old Kavanagh is aiming to bounce back from defeat by American Brandon Royval in July.
By Lisa Hanawalt Drawn and Quarterly: 250 pages, $25
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While growing up in Palo Alto, it was not uncommon for animator Lisa Hanawalt to pretend she was a horse. This game of make-believe was a way for Hanawalt to escape her “burdensome and awkward” body, as she writes in her candid new illustrated memoir, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses And Sex.” “But when I was a horse, I was powerful, graceful, and gorgeous.”
Although Hanawalt might be an unapologetic horse girl, she really hates a horse pun. So when it came time to choose a title for the book, she decided to keep it literal. “This is just the most true version of what this book actually is,” Hanawalt says about the utterly confessional nature of her book’s title, which groups two seemingly unrelated subjects that her mind wanders to when she’s bored. “They’re the two most mentally engaging things I can imagine,” she writes as a self-described “anixous lil freak.”
“I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex” by Lisa Hanawalt
(Drawn & Quarterly)
Sitting in her Los Angeles home, the designer of such adult animated touchstones as Netflix’s “BoJack Horseman,”“Long Story Short,” and her personal creation “Tuca & Bertie” is drinking from a mug of tea as we chat over Zoom. When I ask what people’s responses have been so far to her book’s cheeky title, she says, “They just laugh. A lot of them are just like, ‘Well, I have to read that.’”
In many ways, “I Can’t Stop” represents a culmination of Hanawalt’s shtick for truth-telling via colorful anthropomorphized characters. The 43-year-old’s sketches are famously loose, bright and unrefined. Topics like weird body stuff, sex and horniness are never off the table. A typical drawing might feature an animal-human hybrid (say, a bird head on a human body) doing something utterly mundane while Hanawalt’s inner monologue appears in thought bubbles to reveal an intensely personal thought most people would never say out loud, let alone publish in a book.
“They all have personal things in them, some more overtly than others,” Hanawalt says about her particular oeuvre, which includes 2013’s “My Dirty Dumb Eyes,” 2016’s “Hot Dog Taste Test,” 2018’s “Coyote Doggirl” and 2020’s archival collection “I Want You,” as well as countless contributions over the years to publications like the New York Times, McSweeney’s, Vanity Fair and the now-defunct women’s humor blog the Hairpin.
“I think [‘I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex’] fits in with ‘My Dirty Dumb Eyes’ and ‘Hot Dog Taste Test’ in that it’s another kind of mishmash book, and it all goes together in my mind,” Hanawalt adds of her nonlinear storytelling, which in this book intersperses memories of couples therapy and egg-freezing with drawings of a sloth dancing with a bear. Or a deep dive on the filmography of Kevin Costner.
Hanawalt has never shied away from getting personal, but there’s no question that “I Can’t Stop” takes her disarming and revelatory style to a new level. “I think it just needed that extra layer of me going through a midlife crisis and breaking up with my partner and going through all this weird stuff. It’s a weird combo with the horse stuff because my love of horses is so pure.”
An illustration from “I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex” by Lisa Hanawalt.
(Drawn & Quarterly)
If Hanawalt ever felt embarrassment at being a horse girl (and she certainly has — as she got older, Hanawalt eased off of the horse games out of fear of being bullied), that shame has since evaporated. About eight years ago, as she faced a combination of career burnout and gut-health issues, Hanawalt started taking riding lessons in an attempt at self-care. “There’s something about riding that clears my head and eases my physical pain, for a moment,” she writes in a comic titled “How I Got a Horse.” When her then-partner (comedian and podcaster Adam Conover) noted how relaxed Hanawalt seemed when she’d return home from riding, he urged her to consider buying a horse of her own.
So Hanawalt reactivated her dormant Facebook account and began scrolling through local horse sale groups. That’s where she discovered Juniper (“Juni” for short), a 2006 Norwegian Fjord Mare. “I bought her somewhat impulsively,” Hanawalt says. “It was a huge lifestyle shift. Having a horse is often very stressful because it’s like a pet you have to rent an apartment for. It’s expensive, and they injure themselves … But then, being with her, I’m present in a way that I never am in the rest of my life. It just feels nice to care for another creature, human or animal.”
Spending time with Juni and a cast of new friends at the stables was physically and emotionally therapeutic for Hanawalt, particularly as new issues began to sneak up on her. For instance, she began to wonder if she still wanted to remain child-free. Simultaneously, her long-term relationship of 14 years was beginning to come apart. She describes in the book how she and Conover made a Hail Mary attempt at ethical nonmonogamy — an experience she’s glad to have had, even if Hanawalt jokes today about how she’s “a true polyamory fail.” She adds, “I don’t think it’s for me at all, and I never did. But I was willing to give it a go [as a] last-ditch effort to save something I really cared about. I think that’s the case for a lot of people.”
An illustration from “I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex” by Lisa Hanawalt.
(Drawn & Quarterly)
Hanawalt admits how anxious she was to talk about her breakup in the book — so much so that she considered avoiding it altogether. “I was dancing around it, and then I was like, ‘I don’t need to explain every little part of it,’” she says. Hanawalt even solicited creative feedback from Conover, who responded by playing her bits of a new stand-up special, which showcased his perspective of their breakup (that special will be the forthcoming “Big Divorce Energy,” out Oct. 23 on YouTube).
“It’s really nice that we still have that kind of relationship,” Hanawalt says of her ongoing connection and friendship with Conover. “Because I really value his opinion and input. He’s just a really smart, creative person, and that was always a strong point in our relationship. I also just wanted him to be OK with how I was representing us. I’m still very protective of that.”
The latter half of “I Can’t Stop” finds Hanawalt processing the end of her relationship, dipping a toe back into the dating world, and exploring fertility options such as egg-freezing. Despite its heavy subject matter — one especially tough passage looks back at a sexual assault Hanawalt experienced when she was an adolescent — “I Can’t Stop” is packed with absurdist doodles that keep the mood light without seeming dismissive. For example, as she describes how Juni behaves when she’s in heat, Hanawalt considers her own overwhelming “livestock mode,” which once included a hyper-fixation on Kevin Costner. This is all laid out in a section titled “Costner Watch,” where Hanawalt decides to consume every film the actor ever made.
Artist and author Lisa Hanawalt with her beloved horse Juniper.
(Annie Noelker / For The Times)
“Yeah, I was losing my mind,” Hanawalt laughs at “Costner Watch.” “I don’t know. It was a cope, in hindsight.”
As she prepares to celebrate the release of “I Can’t Stop” with a six-date book tour, Hanawalt can’t say for sure if she’s answered any existential midlife questions. She jokes that her eggs are “still on ice.” She’s working on several new animation projects, though isn’t sure at this point which, if any, will move forward. (It probably also doesn’t help that the animation industry is currently experiencing a severe downturn, with record-high unemployment among even the most seasoned creators. “It’s a weird time,” she says.) To round things out, Hanawalt says she’s “selling hats” and even working with a perfume maker to eventually release a “horsey-themed” fragrance.
Hanawalt also has no clue what being a self-proclaimed horse girl even means in the year 2026. The other horse people she hangs out with at the barn, where Juni lives, come from “every possible income level and political belief, and they’re all kind of shoved together,” Hanawalt tells me. “It’s kind of like ‘Lord of the Flies.’
“It’s just so fun to have a community with people and be able to trust them,” Hanawalt says of the friendships she’s made through caring for Juni. “We help each other. Just to be able to go out on the trail and talk about blow jobs or whatever with women I truly connect to … They’re some of the coolest people I’ve ever met in my whole life.”
All that is to say, Hanawalt has grown more comfortable in not quite knowing what’s next. “You’re never fully happy or fulfilled,” she says. “And that’s part of being alive.”
He is unwavering in his belief that the newly constructed Lakers can compete for an NBA championship this season and that is the conviction coach JJ Redick has instilled into his group.
It is why the Lakers play the game, Redick mused, and it is the standard this organization has set.
The Lakers have won 17 NBA championships — the second most in the league — with the last coming in 2020.
So, as the Lakers prepared to open the regular season Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena, Redick explained why he believes these Lakers are championship contenders.
“Well, I think that every season,” he said. “Unless somebody blatantly tells me that we’re not trying to win, I think that every year. That’s why I say I’m confident. I said the same thing last year and for all of January and February that we were going to figure it out at some point and we did. And then we had some injuries. So, being a championship-level team or being a — I don’t like the word ‘contender’ — but being a team that can make a run and can play in the playoffs and can play different ways in the playoffs, those things take time and it doesn’t mean you’re going to be in the NBA Finals.
“It’s just not the way this works, particularly with the way the playoffs work in terms of just matchups and what you can exploit and what you can’t exploit versus certain teams. But I think because of our talent, because of our fit, because of our depth, I really like our team.”
Luka Doncic said his first glimpse of what the Lakers could become was when he invited his teammates to his home country of Slovenia for a bonding experience.
As the unquestioned leader of the Lakers now that LeBron James has departed to Philadelphia, Doncic organized the trip. It was basketball, golfing and rowing. It was dinners and get-to-know-you conversations.
It was over these four or five days in August that Doncic also saw a Lakers team with championship potential.
“Since the first day. That simple,” Doncic said. “Since the first day everybody came together in Slovenia, I believed that we can win a championship.”
Yet this is a team with nine new players and Redick is trying to incorporate them on a Lakers team that is playing in the uber-tough Western Conference that most experts believe the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are the creme de la creme of the NBA.
The Lakers acquired Walker Kessler, a 7-foot-2 center they received from Utah in a sign-and-trade deal in which he was paid $130 million over four years and in which L.A. sent two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round swaps to the Jazz.
Lakers center Walker Kessler tries to block a shot by Warriors center Yaxel Lendeborg during a preseason game last week.
(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
The Lakers added depth in Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Kevon Looney.
They join Doncic, Austin Reaves, Jake LaRavia, Adou Thiero and others to form the 2026-27 Lakers.
“I think in terms of integrating all the new guys that have been available, which I think is everybody except for Collin in live play, it’s been pretty seamless,” Redick said. “It’s a smart group. … We’ve been able to probably install more, particularly on the defensive end, than we have in the last couple years.
“Last year we had six total practices in the preseason because of the amount of games and the back-to-backs and the travel and all that. And we played opening night, so that’s another day that we didn’t get to practice. So I think we end up with 12 [practices] this year. We get double the amount of practice time, so I think that’s a blessing when you have new guys.”
The starting five is still unclear.
Doncic, Reaves and Kessler are the sure things, but the other two spots are not certain. Those three started alongside Williams and Thybulle in the final preseason game against the Denver Nuggets on Friday night. Grimes started the first four preseason games.
Lakers guard Luka Doncic, left, bring the ball upcourt under pressure from Nuggets guard Christian Braun their final preseason game on Friday.
(Ben Liebenberg / Associated Press)
“I think we have a lot of guys that could start,” Reaves said. “Unfortunately there’s five guys that are gonna start. Like JJ said a while back, he’s pretty sure of three of them. The other two, regardless of who we roll out there, we have high confidence in.”
Reaves is the longest-tenured Laker entering his sixth season and he knows the high expectations that come with playing for the iconic franchise.
Last season, he had James to lean on, Marcus Smart was steady and Rui Hachimura was part of the fabric.
But they are all gone and now Reaves, who signed a four-year, $180-million contract extension, is one of the leaders.
“Yeah, I don’t know anything else,” Reaves said. “This is what I came to, but obviously it’s the Lakers, and it’s one of the most covered sports organizations in the world. So they’re gonna praise you when you’re doing good and not when you’re not.
“So you just gotta [know] whatever that goes on outside these walls doesn’t really matter. It’s just what goes on inside these walls. And if anybody has any questions, I’ll give them the best knowledge I have. But like I said, they’re high character guys that care about the right things. So, I think that’ll take care of itself.”
Lakers guard Austin Reaves gets past the Warriors defense for a left-handed layup during a preseason game last week.
(David Becker / Associated Press)
The Lakers were 53-29 last season, finishing fourth in the West and getting knocked out in the second round by the Thunder.
They have two more days of practice before the journey begins.
“I think you’re always trying to get better,” Redick said. “And even later in the season, you tweak plays, you tweak the offense and you tweak coverages. It’s just constantly evolving. There’s no like, ‘Oh, we’re done. Now we’re going to go play.’
Match of the Day pundits Shay Given and Dion Dublin analyse Brighton’s emphatic 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace, with Dublin saying the Seagulls could be in the title race.
When Joe Cascione walked into the athletic director’s office at Los Angeles Mission College with the idea of starting a women’s tennis team, he knew how it would sound. He had spent his entire life in baseball—27 years as a coach—and had never coached women or a racquet sport.
“I told him, ‘I have an idea. I’d love to start a women’s tennis team. I don’t have any background in tennis, but I think I can surround myself with people who know the technical side of the sport, and I love it so much that I think we can do well,’” recalled Cascione, a successful former baseball player at Pierce College and Cal Lutheran.
It was understandable that few understood the decision.
“Everyone thought I was going through a midlife crisis,” Cascione said with a laugh. “They’d say to me, ‘What are you doing? You’re having a breakdown.’”
College administrators also wondered if it wouldn’t be better to have a women’s soccer team, given the demographics of the San Fernando Valley. But Cascione presented them with a list of potential players who could attend Mission College.
“At first I was against it,” recalled Steve Ruys, director of athletics at Mission College. “I told him that women’s soccer was better for this area. But he was persistent.”
In the front row, from left to right, bottom, are the Mission College sophomores: Jaelyn Rivera, Priscilla Grinner, CiCi Díaz, Kirsten Bonzon, Amy Nghiem and Natalia Ponce. In the second row, from left to right, top, are the four new team members: Dsyray Chan, Daisylynne Castaneda, Julieta Sierra and Lena Onejeme.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Four years later, the gamble paid off in a big way. Last April, the Mission College Eagles won the first California Community College Athletic Assn. (CCCAA) state team championship in the school’s history, and they did so with a perfect 25-0 record.
Not only did they win the community college’s first championship, but they did so with local players and against powerhouse schools—some of which even fielded international players. Unlike other schools, Mission College does not have its own tennis courts and rents courts at a nearby park to practice and play its home matches.
In CCCAA tennis, colleges face off against each other in team matches. Each match consists of a set number of singles and doubles matches, and the winner is determined by the team’s cumulative score.
In the final of a four-day tournament in Ojai, Mission College faced Sierra College — the top seed from Northern California and also undefeated — and won a dramatic match. The Eagles dominated the doubles, but Sierra fought back in the singles and took a 4-3 lead.
Then, Genesis Nochez (West Ranch) tied the series at 4-4, and everything came down to Josilyn Rivera (Birmingham) in a head-to-head match against Autumn Holmes of Sierra. To add to the drama of the day, Rivera lost the first set, bounced back with a 6-1 victory in the second and clinched the championship in a tiebreak she won without giving up a single point, for a final score of 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0).
In addition, the duo of Jaelyn Rivera (Birmingham) and Priscilla Grinner (Granada Hills) were crowned state doubles champions after defeating a Chabot College pair.
Amy Nghiem takes a shot during Mission College practice at El Cariso Regional Community Park in Sylmar.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“I had always thought about winning the Ojai tournament, but I never thought it would actually happen,” said Grinner, 19, a two-time CIF champion with Granada Hills.
“Winning that tournament meant everything to me and my family; it was like giving back to the community where I grew up, and that meant so much to me,” said Jaelyn, 20, Josilyn’s older sister.
Amy Nghiem was one of Mission College’s key players. The Granada Hills Charter alumna joined the Eagles alongside her teammates Grinner and América Fragoso, both from Granada Hills.
Cascione was also named Western State Conference coach of the year.
For the players, the sense of teamwork that the coach instilled was vital to building a competitive program.
“The coaches encourage us to be our best. Without our teammates, without that connection, without that camaraderie, and without all the time we spent together, it wouldn’t have been possible,” Grinner said of the championship.
Jaelyn Rivera serves during her team’s practice at El Cariso Regional Community Park in Sylmar.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Cascione stepped down as head baseball coach at Mission College in 2019 after 19 years at the helm of the program. Then came the pandemic — and with it, a year and a half to reflect on what the next step in his athletic and professional life would be. The answer lay in the other sport he had loved since childhood, as he had always played tennis in his free time.
“If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably choose to play tennis instead of baseball,” confessed Cascione, who was twice named State West Conference coach of the year in baseball. “Baseball was my life, and I owe it everything. But there’s something about tennis. When I was seven, I’d watch it on TV and enjoy every minute of it.”
But convincing the first female players to join a new tennis program — in the midst of a pandemic and without its own courts — was no easy task. In the community college system, recruitment is crucial, and competing against schools such as Glendale, College of the Canyons, and Pierce—which have their own facilities—is always an uphill battle for Mission College.
“I couldn’t tell them, ‘We’re going to be a good team,’’ Cascione said. “I really didn’t know. ”
Nor was it easy to convince a tennis player to join a program led by a baseball coach. That’s where another of Cascione’s strengths came into play: his candor.
“The only thing I kept telling them was, ‘You’re going to work hard, and you’re going to have a coach who’s going to push you to your limits and who’s going to be there for you every time we’re on the court,’” Cascione said. “There has to be a belief that, even when things go wrong, you’ll hear your teammates cheering you on. And that’s not something you mention just once or twice; it’s something we talk about almost every day in this program.”
Seven young women accepted the challenge in the first year and nine in 2023. Faced with a lack of dedicated facilities, Cascione applied the same philosophy he used when his baseball team had to rent a field: adapt and overcome the obstacle.
In its first season, in 2022, the team surprised everyone by finishing second in its division in the State Western Conference. Since that first season, Cascione has worked to bring the team-oriented mindset he preached in baseball over to tennis.
“I think he’s very articulate,” said Grinner, who hopes to transfer to Cal Lutheran after this year to play alongside her teammate Jaelyn. “He’s able to explain things to you and encourage you even when you’re feeling really, really down, and I think that’s one of his best qualities.”
Said assistant coach Yulia Zhytelna, “First and foremost, he’s a baseball coach, and on the court he shows exactly who he is — in the way he talks, how he cheers, and how he addresses the girls. He doesn’t try to hide anything; that’s just who he is, and I’ve loved that about him.”
Recruiting the talented Nghiem was one of the championship team’s greatest successes. Cascione himself gave her a tour of the school.
“It’s not a very big school, but they’ll go above and beyond for you. They’ll stand by you,” said Nghiem, who also highlighted the team’s culture of camaraderie. “We all went to practice every day. Even if you were sick, you were there. You didn’t have to practice, but you were there. You always supported each other.”
Mission College, located in an area with a strong Latino presence in the northern San Fernando Valley, competed against programs with a long history, their own facilities and international players —such as Glendale, College of the Canyons, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Santa Monica — so the coaching staff was key to instilling a positive mindset in the players, without letting them get pigeonholed.
“Not many people see us as a community capable of achieving something this big,” said Jaelyn. “So being able to bring the title home to this community really shows the people around us—our peers, our community, and our ethnic group — that it’s possible to achieve something when you put in all your effort.”
Cascione, originally from New York, has lived in the San Fernando Valley since childhood and attended St. Genevieve High in Panorama City. He emphasizes that his coaching staff, which is also deeply rooted in the community, understands the realities of their players’ lives.
“Many of these young women face challenges in various ways. Many hold down two jobs; some come from broken homes and need our support,” said Cascione, who was mentored by Bob Lofrano at Pierce College and Rich Hill at Cal Lutheran.
His assistants, Porfirio Cervantes and Zhytelna — a former Cal State Northridge player who is now a professional — also maintain strong ties to the Valley community.
“I’ve seen the girls’ motivation, especially among the freshmen,” said Zhytelna, the female voice on the coaching staff and a mentor to the players. “I’ve seen in their eyes that they want to give their best.
“At the end of the day, tennis is just a game, and you have to enjoy it — because that’s how the best experiences come about, when you’re enjoying yourself.”
At a community college, where the players change every one or two years, continuity depends on the culture being passed down from one generation to the next.
“The most effective way is through the players themselves,” explained Cascione. “The sophomores pass it on to the newcomers. We talk almost every day about being a great person, a great sister, a great daughter and they have to believe that all of that contributes to making a great tennis player and a great team.”
For Cascione, the success of the tennis program at Mission College — a school with fewer than 10,000 students — boils down to one word: belief.
“The moment you let someone tell you that you can’t, you’re letting negativity in,” said the coach. “Here, we dream big. Sometimes we’ll fall short, but we’re always going to give it our all.”
The results are already beginning to show across the entire athletics department. Mission College recently launched its men’s tennis program — also featuring local players — using the same formula that led to the women’s team’s success.
Mission College is currently in the first phase of construction on its own facilities, which will include soccer and softball fields. Phase two will include tennis courts.
Champion dominates fellow British boxer in London before facing a challenge from IBO champion Hrgovic.
Published On 18 Oct 202618 Oct 2026
Daniel “Dynamite” Dubois has retained his WBO heavyweight belt with a one-sided and devastating second-round stoppage of fellow British boxer Fabio Wardley in their world title rematch in London.
The 29-year-old champion made a storming start at the O2 Arena on Saturday, and Wardley’s legs gave way within 17 seconds of the opening bell as Dubois floored him with a straight right punch.
Wardley, 31, beat the count and could have been stopped at the end of the first round when he took a further brutal pounding on the ropes but was saved by the bell.
Dubois dominated Wardley during the WBO world heavyweight title fight [John Sibley/Reuters]
There was no escape from the onslaught of blows in the second round as Dubois picked up where he left off and Wardley took punch after punch until the towel was thrown in and referee Steve Gray brought the fight to a close.
“Fabio is a great warrior, coming in for a second time, but it was my time and my era,” said “Triple D”, never a man for long speeches. “I had my intentions, bad intentions, from the beginning.
“Our back was against the wall the first time. This time, we just had to go out there and show that we mean business, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Dubois dealt Wardley his first defeat as a professional in May when he came back from two knockdowns, the first after 16 seconds, to take the title in the 11th round of a thunderous and bloody clash in Manchester.
Dubois knocked down Wardley within the first 17 seconds of the fight [John Sibley/Reuters]
Wardley, promoted to WBO champion in November after Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk vacated the title, was acclaimed for his courage and refusal to give in the first time around, but on Saturday, he looked like a shell of the man seen in Manchester.
He now has a record of 20 wins and two defeats with Dubois on 24 wins with three defeats.
“I’ve always thrown myself in with the best competitors out there, the toughest, the biggest, hardest, meanest guys around. There’s no shame in testing yourself against the best,” he said.
“Daniel’s a testament to coming up short and coming again. I’ll be looking to do the exact same thing.
“Boxing is a game of fine margins. It can be done and over in a round or two, or it can go into a big old war like it was last time.”
The match was ended in the second round and Dubois declared the champion [John Sibley/Reuters]
Dubois was previously the IBF champion, losing the title to Usyk in London in July last year before coming back to take the WBO belt from Wardley.
Croatian Filip Hrgovic, the IBF champion after beating the United Kingdom’s Moses Itauma in August, was ringside on Saturday and challenged Dubois to a fight with both belts on the line.
“It was an easy night for Daniel. He did a good job, quick win. So he’s ready to fight me in March, right, Daniel?” Hrgovic said before promoter Frank Warren suggested he might have to deal with other candidates first.
Dubois beat the Croatian in June 2024 to take the interim IBF belt and was then upgraded to champion when Usyk vacated his title.
“I want to have a rematch with him. I want to get my old belt back and rule the division,” Dubois said.
IBF champion Filip Hrgovic holds his belt in the ring after the fight [John Sibley/Reuters]
A sell-out crowd of 19,000 packed the O2 Arena and made their allegiances clear.
Wardley’s charismatic yet measured personality has made him a popular figure. He looked full of purpose as he took his time on stage, fireworks exploding in front of him, his usual smile replaced by a look of determination.
Dubois, meanwhile, was greeted by jeers as he marched straight past the fireworks and towards the ring, wasting little time soaking up the occasion.
Actor Paddy Considine, comedian Rob Beckett, Oasis star Noel Gallagher and darts world champion Luke Littler were among the famous faces in attendance.
With 41 knockouts between the fighters, few expected the judges to be called upon. The feeling beforehand was that Wardley’s best chance lay in making another fast start, having dropped Dubois inside the opening moments of their first meeting.
But in a stunning reversal, it took just 17 seconds for Wardley to hit the canvas as Dubois backed him into a corner and landed a straight right.
Chants of ‘oh Fabio Wardley’ were quickly silenced as Dubois continued to unload punishing combinations. Another furious attack towards the end of the round left Wardley in deep trouble.
Trainer Ben Davison, criticised for not withdrawing Wardley sooner in their first contest, stood poised with a towel in his hand as his fighter survived to the bell.
There had already been concerns over whether Wardley had returned too quickly after the punishment he absorbed in May, when he was left bloodied and badly swollen.
And those fears appeared justified as the challenger struggled to cope with Dubois’ relentless pressure. Wardley’s hands were low and his punches wild and telegraphed, lacking the menace he had shown in Manchester.
Backed into the corner again in the second round, he was subjected to another barrage before Davison leapt up and threw in the towel.
The two men could hardly be more different outside the ring. Dubois was typically reserved throughout fight week, looking uncomfortable in the media spotlight. Wardley, by contrast, was relaxed and articulate, insisting he had learned from his mistakes.
But despite their contrasting personalities and fierce rivalry, there was mutual respect at the end of the fight.
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing set to begin after Senegal stripped of Africa Cup of Nations title by CAF.
Published On 7 Oct 20267 Oct 2026
The long-running saga over the winner of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title will move closer to resolution on Thursday when Senegal’s appeal, after being stripped of the title, is heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
Senegal are contesting the Confederation of African Football’s decision to declare Morocco champions, despite Senegal beating the hosts 1-0 after extra time in January’s final in Rabat.
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Senegal walked off the pitch for 14 minutes after a penalty was awarded against them late in regulation time, with several players returning to the dressing room in protest before they resumed play.
Morocco failed to convert the spot kick, sending the match into extra time, where Senegal scored the winner to secure victory.
However, they were stripped of the title two months later after CAF’s Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match by walking off the pitch, overturning the result and awarding a 3-0 victory to Morocco.
Senegal quickly followed with an appeal to CAS, which was lodged on March 25 but is only being heard on Thursday. Senegal want to be reinstated as winners, and a panel will listen to arguments from Senegal, Morocco and CAF.
“After the hearing, the panel will start its deliberations. At this stage, CAS cannot state when a final decision will be rendered but it will not be on the date of the hearing,” CAS said in a statement.
Three-man CAS panel to hear Senegal and CAF arguments
The panel will be presided over by French civil rights expert Gerald Simon, with assistance from Italian international law professor Luigi Fumagalli and Hamburg-based lawyer and professor of law at the University of Zurich, Ulrich Haas.
They are likely to hear arguments from Senegal that the Laws of the Game determine the referee’s decisions on incidents of play are final and cannot be challenged after the fact.
Also important is an interpretation of the articles of the tournament regulations on which CAF’s Appeals Board ruled in Morocco’s favour, which state that “if, for any reason whatsoever, a team refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee, it shall be considered the loser and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition.”
Senegal’s lawyers are expected to argue that the articles must be interpreted strictly and that a temporary departure from the field cannot be equated with abandoning the match, while Morocco are expected to argue for an opposing interpretation, according to which a team that leaves the field without the referee’s authorisation must be considered the loser and definitively eliminated from the competition, even if its departure was not permanent.
The hearing takes place behind closed doors.
Qualification for AFCON 2027 has already begun, with Senegal drawing the opening game of Patrick Vieira’s tenure as coach with Mozambique on September 25, before winning 1-0 in Ethiopia on September 29.
Morocco have won both of their opening games, beating Gabon and Lesotho.
For what must have felt like an eternity, Elfyn Evans feared history was repeating itself yet again.
At 3.05pm local time in Sardinia on Sunday, Evans could only stand and watch as another world rally title looked to be slipping from his grasp.
Evans was preparing in his head yet another runners-up speech – it would be his sixth – as he waited for Oliver Solberg to cross the finish line and be crowned world champion.
How could this be happening again?
Of the five previous times he had been championship runner-up, three had been decided on the final day and twice after he had taken a lead into the final event.
But at 3.06pm, for once the motor-racing gods were on his side.
With just two turns to go on the final stage of the final round and with victory in sight, Solberg somehow careered off the track into the Sardinian sand to hand Evans his first world title.
In the most dramatic of finishes, the 37-year-old from north Wales became the first British winner of the of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 25 years.
Only two British men had taken the title since the WRC’s 1977 inception, matching the exploits of legendary pair Colin McRae (1995) and Richard Burns (2001).
Louise Aitken-Walker was Britain’s first world champion when WRC ran a women’s version in 1990.
Natalia Silva was crowned the new women’s UFC flyweight champion as she claimed the vacant title with a unanimous decision victory over China’s Wang Cong at UFC 332.
Silva had been set to face Kyrgyzstan’s Valentina Shevchenko for the title before their bout was cancelled, with Shevchenko forced to vacate the belt last month because of injury.
But the Brazilian extended her winning streak to 15 bouts with a dominant victory against Wang over five rounds in Salt Lake City.
“I want to tell this to everyone… don’t give up on anything,” Silva said in her post-fight interview.
“This belt here is because God gave me the opportunity. I knew [Wang] was a tough fighter. This fight proved why she was challenging me.
“This is the beginning of Natalia Silva. I’m the new queen.”
The 29-year-old, who entered the bout as favourite, led the judges’ scorecards with tallies of 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46.
Shevchenko later congratulated Silva on social media and warned her not to get “too comfortable”.
“Well deserved Natalia! Congratulations,” Shevchenko wrote on X.
“It’s my pleasure to know that UFC Champion’s belt is now holding deserving martial artist – such as you are.
“But don’t get too comfortable – keep it warm, I’m coming soon for my belt.”
It was the first women’s main event in the UFC since Mackenzie Dern beat Amanda Ribas in January 2025, while it was the first time two women headlined one of the UFC’s flagship numbered events since June 2023, when Amanda Nunes defeated Irene Aldana.
Earlier, Britain’s Mick Parkin lasted less than four minutes in the octagon as he was knocked out by a knee from Johnny Walker on the Brazilian’s heavyweight debut.
A researcher falls down a rabbit hole of academia in “Chronovisor,” a singular indie that sneaks up on you. Filmmakers Jack Auen and Kevin Walker — who operate under the name Cosmic Salon — make movies in the belief that intellectual pursuits can be both exciting and cinematic. “Chronovisor,” a pleasurably hand-crafted curio, firmly asserts that the sensorial possibilities of film can seem infinite.
That said, the movie opens deceptively: Béatrice (Anne-Laure Sellier), a professor of philosophy at Columbia in New York, is clearly boring her two unseen colleagues over drinks with a monologue about her theories of memory and brain function. Alone afterward, however, with the camera following her as if she were a secret agent and the orchestral swell of Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” lending Hitchcockian tension, the real story begins to unfold in large, ornate libraries.
What draws Béatrice’s attention is a fantastical claim made by a Benedictine monk in an Italian magazine article from the 1970s. He insists he discovered an instrument with the power to pull images and sound from the whole of human history, presenting them on a television screen. With this time-shaping device called the Chronovisor, Father Pellegrino Ernetti professed to have seen footage of the crucified Christ and even enjoyed a lost play staged by an ancient Roman dramatist. At the end of a slow zoom shot, we see the article’s title in Italian until it’s translated for us in English: “A Machine Has Been Invented That Photographs the Past.”
With that, “Chronovisor” and its obsessed protagonist enter a trancelike, analog-heavy state in which obscure texts in myriad languages tease a concealed parascientific history of potentially great importance. In other words, get ready to read a lot and yet, surprisingly, to enjoy the immersion, as one might the hushed thrill of a surveillance sequence. As Béatrice’s amateur detective work pulls her in deeper, the strands begin to suggest a conspiracy, one marked by mysterious disappearances and the clandestine sway of the Vatican.
The question of what’s real and not isn’t only Béatrice’s to unpack — you may wonder yourself whether Auen and Walker have fabricated their esoteric source materials and invented the strange saga of Ernetti. They haven’t. Not entirely, that is, which is part of the woozy enjoyment. Enhanced by cinematographer Leo Zhang’s atmospheric 16mm grain and a natural onscreen performance from first-time actor Sellier (a real-life French scholar in behavioral science), “Chronovisor” hums with deep appreciation for research and evidence. We get both a tantalizing armchair mystery steeped in occult-ish authenticity, but also a sly commentary on our own relationship to the pursuit of curiosity.
If your own interpretation of Béatrice’s quest leads to the realization that this supposedly long-lost technology may already be with us, so be it. The filmmakers surely won’t disabuse you of that notion. They save their most disorienting trick for last: a reality-bending sequence that could qualify as video art. Whether it proves anything is, of course, up for grabs, but it surely helps “Chronovisor” remain wonderfully unclassifiable.
‘Chronovisor’
In English, French, Italian and German, with subtitles
It is a result that could be the catalyst Chelsea needed to push on and put pressure on Manchester City, who face Arsenal next in the WSL (Sunday, 16:30 BST).
Chelsea’s match-winner Alyssa Thompson said their victory over the Gunners was “amazing for team morale”.
Even Bompastor admitted Chelsea are “a different team from last season” and there are tangible examples of their improvements.
England midfielder Keira Walsh was a standout performer against Arsenal and it was her strike which was parried into the path of Thompson for the only goal.
Her new parternship with 20-year-old Lexi Potter is flourishing and has allowed Walsh to get further up the pitch and play with more freedom.
Bompastor said the 29-year-old was “a boss on the pitch” when she reaches those levels and it helps the team have “better foundations”.
Goalscorer Thompson has consistently delivered up front, while the arrival of summer signing Melvine Malard from Manchester United has given them an outlet.
The French striker missed their opening two matches with a minor injury but scored on her debut against Birmingham City and caused havoc against Arsenal.
“She’s massive for us. She puts in work off the ball and sets off the press,” said team-mate Walsh.
“Her awareness of people around her and her ability… She’s an incredible striker and she will be very good for us.”
That press, led by Malard, has moved higher up and teams have struggled to break through, while full-back Ellie Carpenter continues to overlap dangerously.
Katie McCabe, who switched from Arsenal to Chelsea this summer, has brought leadership and bite – an aggression that was lacking at times last season.
Most of all, the Blues look like a team who believe they should be champions and are willing to work for it.
It was in contrast to toothless Arsenal, who have one victory in their first four WSL games and scored just twice.
“We’ve got both sides to our game and we showed that tonight in spells. Everyone was fighting for each other. Every first and second ball was ours,” added Walsh.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick secured his fourth title of the season with a three-shot win at the French Open in Paris.
Fitzpatrick carded a one-under-par 70 to hold off the challenge of Spain’s Angel Hidalgo at Le Golf National.
The 32-year-old has already won the Valspar Championship and RBC Heritage titles on the PGA Tour this year, as well as the Zurich Classic team event in New Orleans alongside younger brother Alex.
He led by five shots going into the final day, but a run of 12 successive pars allowed the chasing pack to cut that advantage to two.
However, crucial birdies on the 13th and 15th pushed Fitzpatrick further clear and even a bogey at the last could not deny him an 11th European Tour title.
“Delighted to get it over the line, it was definitely a battle today,” he said.
“I didn’t have my best stuff for the first 12 holes and then managed to find some of my best stuff.
“In a way I was quite lucky – I left myself in some nice spots where you can still get up and down from, but I fully took advantage of that and did really well.”
Matthieu Pavon shot the best round of the day, with a seven-under 64 ensuring he finished tied for fourth alongside French compatriot Tom Vaillant, Spain’s Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra and Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan.
Championship titles are constructed on a bedrock of solid sessions interspersed with the occasional spectacular one – and Hain and Barnard’s efforts were the epitome of solid.
Resuming on 130-4, already five runs in front, they added 51 without loss in a morning session truncated by bad light.
Hain and Barnard did exactly what their team required, advancing steadily to lay the platform for a big lead and potential innings victory.
The Bears’ fifth-wicket pair continued to concentrate hard after lunch until, with the lead already 126, Barnard departed livid with himself at edging a big drive at a wide ball from Ben Green – just 12 shy of a century.
Chris Woakes chipped his second ball to mid-on, but Kai Smith and Manny Suthar enjoyed useful cameos before also falling to the persevering Hull.
They had accompanied the excellent Hain towards his century which was greeted by a standing ovation from the big audience, then Bamber added further useful runs before being bowled by a beauty from Patel.
Even then the Foxes’ frustration went on as last pair Hain and Olly Hannon-Dalby added 35.
Leicestershire opener Sol Budinger then came out firing, hitting 43 not out off 36 balls, But Bamber struck twice in three balls, trapping Sheridon Gumbs and then flattening Rishi Patel’s off-stump two balls late.
After a bad-light interruption, Woakes then pinned Steve Eskinazi lbw in the gloom to leave Warwickshire maybe only one strong session away from the title.
