Category: Sports

“I think if the hair’s not there he’s gone,” said Storm legend Billy Slater on Nine’s coverage.

“There’s a plus for going bald,” Mat Thompson added, sparking laughter in the commentary box.

In a clash between the Bulldogs and Sea Eagles last season, Joe Stimson was penalized for a hair pull on Marty Taupau, leaving then Canterbury coach Trent Barrett raging.

In the Cowboys’ win over the Dragons on Sunday, crafty fullback Scott Drinkwater and rising second-rower Jeremiah Nanai bagged doubles as North Queensland broke a 19-year drought, winning its first game in Kogarah since 2003.

The Cowboys had lost three games at Kogarah Oval since 2003, but Todd Payten’s men thumped the Dragons to consolidate second on the ladder.

NRL Highlights: Dragons v Cowboys – Round 20

Stream the NRL premiership 2022 live and free on 9Now.

St George Illawarra lost a crucial game in its bid to snare a finals berth, leaving itself sitting precariously in 11th.

The Cowboys will face the Bulldogs, Roosters, Warriors, Rabbitohs and Panthers on the road to the finals, and the Dragons await clashes with the Sharks, Raiders, Titans, Wests Tigers and Broncos.

The Dragons are sitting one win outside the top eight and have a worse for and against than every team above them on the ladder.

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Commonwealth Games in pictures: Heartmelting moment Aussie para-swimmer learns of gold-medal feat, world record

Pena beat Nunes last December at Las Vegas to claim the title in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history.

Saturday’s fight was the first title defense for Pena (12-5) in the 135-pound division.

Brandon Moreno won the co-main event with a third-round TKO over Kai Kara-France in a scheduled five-round bout to take possession of the interim men’s flyweight championship belt.

Nunes dropped Grief three times in the second round, twice on right hooks and then with a left to the forehead.

Nunes took down Pena midway through the third round and kept her on the mat, punching to the head to open cuts along Pena’s hairline that left blood splattered on the mat.

Nunes had Pena on her back again for much of the fourth and fifth rounds. Her face was streaked with blood that stained much of the mat.

“I could have finished her, but I wanted to go five rounds with her tonight to prove I was better than her,” said Nunes, her right eye swollen nearly shut, using crutches to reach the interview session. “I could have gone six, seven rounds.”

Nunes came out and added a left-handed stance to her normal right-handed stance. She believes that she confused Pena.

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UFC president Dana White said Pena was taken from the arena after the fight to see a plastic surgeon about damage to her forehead.

“Julianna has a big chunk missing from her forehead,” he said.

“She’s going to see a plastic surgeon right now. … She got pretty banged up tonight.

“Julianna’s tough as nails,” he added.

“Her will to win is second to none.”

Nunes owned the bantamweight belt for more than five years before the December defeat, which snapped a 12-match winning streak that included nine consecutive title fights.

Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight between Moreno and Kara-France at 4:34 after Moreno, sporting a deep cut under his right eye with blood streaming down his face and onto his chest, landed a liver kick that dropped Kara-France. Moreno then finished him off.

Moreno (20-6-2), from Tijuana, Mexico, came in as the division’s top-ranked contender and Kara-France (24-10), from New Zealand, was second. Moreno was backed by a crowd that chanted “Mo-re-no!” and “Me-xi-co!” at times during the match.

Deiveson Figueiredo regained the flyweight belt from Moreno last January with a unanimous decision in a trilogy fight in the 125-pound division. But Figueiredo sustained a hand injury several months ago and could not make a title defense, resulting in the UFC creating an interim title fight.

After Saturday’s bout, Figueiredo entered the octagon carrying his championship belt and met with Moreno. Figueiredo said he’d like to host Moreno in his native Brazil for the undisputed title.

“I don’t care (where),” Moreno said. “Let’s go.”

Moreno said he would have told Figueiredo he didn’t appreciate his coming into the cage but didn’t want to set a bad example for his 8-year-old daughter.

Sergei Pavlovich was awarded a TKO in 55 seconds into a scheduled three-round heavyweight bout against Derrick Lewis, the oldest fighter on the card at 37 years old and a fan favorite from Houston.

Pavlovich landed a series of punches to Lewis’ head and upper body. Lewis finally went down but jumped right back up as referee Dan Miragliotta stopped it, as Lewis and the crowd both expressed their displeasure with the ruling.

White said the fight shouldn’t have been stopped.

“Miragliotta made a mistake,” White said. “It happens.”

Pavlovich (16-1) went in ranked 11th while Lewis (26-10) was fifth.

Alexandre Pantoja quickly finished off Alex Perez on a tap out only 1:31 into their scheduled three-round men’s flyweight matchup. Pantoja (25-5), ranked No. 4, got atop Perez (24-7), No. 6, along the fence and locked his arms across Perez’s jaw to force the submission.

Magomed Ankalaev scored a TKO at 3:09 of the second of three rounds over Anthony Smith in a men’s light heavyweight bout. Ankalaev (18-1), ranked No. 4, took down Smith (36-17), No. 5, in the first round and then pummeled him along the base of the fence early in the second round when referee Jacob Montalvo stopped the fight. Smith injured his left leg and was helped from the cage, but White said there was no fracture.

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Commonwealth Games in pictures: Heartmelting moment Aussie para-swimmer learns of gold-medal feat, world record

The race was immediately red-flagged.

Heimgartner’s car owner Brad Jones said he thought the Commodore would be a write-off.

“I don’t think that thing is going to be running again any time soon… he was certainly going pretty quickly when he hit him,” he said on Fox Sports’ coverage.

“Andre’s okay, which is the important thing, and then we’ll work out where we go from here.

“I’d be very surprised, as clever as my guys are, if we can get the thing going again. It just looks really badly damaged. Lucky no one was hurt.”

Tim Edwards, team boss at Tickford Racing said he was thankful both drivers were able to walk away from the crash.

“Thankfully both of them got out. Both of them look a bit sore, but anyway,” he said.

“The main focus is that he’s physically alright. We’ll talk about the mental side after today. It’s just one of those things – drivers stall. In those situations, you just hope everybody avoids them. It’s always a fine line.”

Off the race restart, pole-sitter Cameron Waters spun the rear tires on the oil-soak resin on the track surface at the crash site and was swamped into turn one.

Van Gisbergen then looked after his tires and took the lead via an undercut during the pit stop cycle. He won the race by 2.5secs.

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According to Adelaide Oval’s code of conduct, any person who engages in racial abuse “may be removed” from the venue.

“Depending on the severity of the behaviour, anyone evicted may incur a ban, suspension of membership and/or police charges,” the code says.

Addressing the media on Sunday, Saad said he wanted to use the incident to educate people on the peacefulness of his religion.

“[I’m] always grateful to be in this position, can’t complain,” he told reporters.

“Those things shouldn’t be said but hopefully the AFL and the clubs will deal with it.

“It’s disappointing, I guess we’ve just got to educate around making comments like that.

“At the end of the day I know who I am as a person and us as a Muslim community.

“As long as we can educate the person and move things forward.”

The Blues said in a statement they were comforting impacted members of their community.

“The Carlton Football Club is working with AFL Integrity and all relevant parties regarding an allegation of racial vilification in the crowd during Saturday night’s game at the Adelaide Oval,” it read.

“The club is fully aware of the seriousness of the alleged comments, and has been providing the appropriate level of support to its people as the matter is investigated.

“The club makes clear that vilification of any kind is disgraceful, unacceptable and has no place in society, let alone our game.”

In a separate statement, the Crows said they would not stand for any type of anti-social behaviour.

“We do not tolerate and strongly condemn any form of discriminatory behavior and it has no place in football or society. Adelaide Oval should be an inclusive and family friendly environment,” it read.

This latest occurrence of racism at the footy comes just months former Adelaide captain Taylor Walker completed a six-match ban for making a racist slur towards North Adelaide’s Robbie Young in a SANFL game last August.

In response to the incident, AFL House said the league would continue to advocate for diversity and inclusion.

“Football is a place of inclusion and belonging and there is no place for racist behavior in our game,” a statement read.

“Nobody in our game or in the community deserves to be discriminated against and vilified against due to their faith or race and there is simply no excuse for it.”

South Australia Police have confirmed officers and Adelaide Oval security took down the details of people allegedly involved in the incident.

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