Photo: Swatch Nines

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Swatch Nines surf returns to Waco, Texas June 23-25 and the athlete lineup has been announced. Thirty-five surfers, skateboarders, and BMX stars will gather for the three-day progression session.

Surfers include Zoë McDougall, Coco Ho, Milla Coco Brown, Macy Callaghan, Juliette Lacome, Dimity Stoyle, Mason Ho, Balaram Stack, Noah Beschen, Matt Meola, Jacob Szekely, Blair Conklin, Chippa Wilson, Dylan Graves, Josh Sleigh, and Lyon Farrell.

The lineup of skateboarders will include Andy Anderson, Val LaForge, Gustavo Ribeiro, Gabriel Ribeiro, Greyson Fletcher, Clay Kreiner, and the five BMX athletes in Waco will feature Sam Pilgrim, Kevin Peraza, Matthias Dandois, Erik Fedko, and Dennis Enarson.

The Swatch Nines promotional webpage hasn’t released many other details aside from the new athlete lineup and new promo video, but then again, what else is there to reveal? Just show up and let ‘er rip.

“For nearly two decades, Swatch Nines has carved out a unique place in the world of action sports,” they wrote on YouTube. “With 17 years of innovative events across snow, skate, and surf, the concept is simple but powerful: bring together elite athletes, visionary designers, and partners to create a space that’s not about competing — it’s about pushing boundaries, capturing magic, and having fun.”

Global finance, innovation and leadership take center stage in Doha this week as the Qatar Economic Forum, powered by Bloomberg, returns for its fifth edition from May 20-22 at the Fairmont Doha. Under the theme “The Road to 2030: Transforming the Global Economy,” the forum underscores Qatar’s growing role as a hub for international dialogue and economic transformation.

More than 1,500 global leaders — including CEOs, investors, policymakers and cultural figures — will convene to explore five editorial pillars: geopolitics and trade, business outlook, energy and security, sports and entertainment, and technology and AI. This year’s lineup includes Michael R. Bloomberg, Mary Callahan Erdoes (JP Morgan), Tony Elumelu (Heirs Holdings) and Tan Su Shan (DBS Bank), offering high-level insights into the forces reshaping global capital, policy and industry.

Hosted by Media City Qatar in collaboration with Bloomberg, the forum aligns with Qatar National Vision 2030, emphasizing innovation, sustainability and economic resilience. With registration now closed, audiences can tune in to the live broadcast and follow key moments via social media.

Location: Fairmont Hotel, Doha

Dates: May 20-22

More details here.

CHICAGO — Egor Demin won’t be returning to BYU, but that doesn’t mean that he’s done with Utah.

Though he only spent one year in Utah under the tutelage of Cougars head coach Kevin Young, it turned into the perfect home away from home for the 2025 NBA draft prospect. So much so that the 19-year-old already has grand plans to eventually buy a house and retire in the Beehive State once his playing career is over.

“I love Utah. I see myself when I retire from my basketball career, going back to Utah, having a house over there, somewhere next to Travis Hansen in the mountains. I see myself living there after my career.”

—  Egor Demin

“I love Utah,” he said. “I see myself when I retire from my basketball career, going back to Utah, having a house over there, somewhere next to Travis Hansen in the mountains. I see myself living there after my career.”

It’s not just about the picturesque nature of Utah, but the deep connections that Demin made while at BYU. He wanted to end up in a place where he could not only find comfort and peace, but also where he would thrive on and off the court while preparing for the next stage of life — the NBA.

With Young having just taken over at BYU after years spent in the NBA coaching ranks, Demin feels like he is more prepared for the pre-draft process than he would have been had he decided to elsewhere.

“More than anybody could imagine, he prepared me for this moment,” Demin said. “More than I was expecting. Obviously I wasn’t underestimating him, I was expecting him to teach me and I was ready to learn as much as I can and be a sponge. But, yeah, I got so much from him.”

And the moment is here. This week, in Chicago, at the NBA combine, Demin has been ready and determined to prove himself in front of NBA scouts, front office executives and coaches.

In the early days of last season at BYU, Demin projected as a potential top-10 pick. But a minor injury and some major slippage in his shooting numbers had many worried that he could drop out of the lottery.

Despite that, recent mock drafts still have him projected as a lottery (top-14) pick and his shooting performance as well as his interviews with teams at the combine helped to relieve some of the worries.

In the the 3-point drills at the combine, Demin went 14-of-30 on off-the-dribble shots, 17-of-25 on spot-up shots, 14-of-25 in the 3-point star drill and 17-of-28 in the 3-point side drill and also hit 80% at the free-throw line.

Demin has already had interviews with the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards, Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder, he’ll have more interviews with teams as the week progresses and then a whole slate of in-person workouts after the combine is over.

In interviews, Demin wants teams to know how dedicated he is to working on his game and improving. He also wants NBA decision makers to know that he’s paid detailed and close attention to feedback regarding his shot and worked closely with Young to understand things that NBA teams will expect of him.

“The details of understanding what is a good shot and what is a bad shot, which is not always dependent on the defense,” Demin said. “A wide open shot can be a bad shot, speaking about the time of possession, the score — starting from there, and ending with your footwork, your rhythm, getting to the shot, your legs and energy.”

In the past, Demin might have considered every open shot a good one, but now he’s trying to think through the offense on an even deeper level. That’s often something that NBA coaches work on developing in young prospects throughout their first couple of seasons, so on that front, Demin is ahead of the game.

Those developments can only help to boost what teams think about Demin, but really, it’s his vision and passing that makes him a desirable prospect and that hasn’t changed. His ability to make passes, at the right time, on target and seeing the game multiple actions in advance has earned him comparisons to players like Luka Doncic, but Demin will tell you that it’s not his job to try to copy anyone else.

“Luka is pretty obvious — the big guards, passing — but obviously Luka is Luka and Egor is Egor, in a good way. I’m not trying to be like somebody else, I’m just trying to get pieces from different players and different personalities to build my own kind of project of where I’m seeing myself in the future.”

In the near future, Demin sees himself living out his dreams as an NBA player and helping a team to win. In the extended future he sees himself returning to where this process started, and hopefully staying close to those who helped him.

“I had a lot of fun being in Utah and I was going there to play basketball, and I found that, I found basketball over there,” Demin said. “But I also found a lot of good people and my new lifetime friends and mentors.”

Sean Brady has accepted his fate in the aftermath of UFC 315.

As of today, Philadelphia’s Sean Brady still remains at the top of the welterweight division with the #1 ranking next to his name.

In other instances, Brady would have likely received a title shot for how he dominated Leon Edwards at UFC London in March where he became the first fighter ever to finish the former champ.

However, that probably won’t be the case with all signs pointing to a super-fight between lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and newly-crowned welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena after JDM’s win over Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 last weekend.

So, where exactly does that leave the #1 contender Brady?

Sean Brady knows he’ll fight again for welterweight title shot

The odd man out at 170lbs, the 18-1 Brady figured the title fight wasn’t next even after shutting out Edwards like nobody else.

“I knew if Jack won that I’d be fighting again,” Brady said on The Ariel Helwani Show.

“I’m fine with [it].

“Of course I want the title shot, but there’s still Shavkat [Rakhmonov] there,” Brady added.

“There’s Islam saying he’s moving up. You have Kamaru [Usman] and [Joaquin] Buckley saying whoever wins that’s getting a title shot, so we’re all gonna have to fight.”

Sean Brady eyes Ian Machado Garry as next opponent

The welterweight division filled with young and hungry contenders, Brady looks no further than a fight against #6-ranked Ian Machado Garry.

Coming off a loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310, Machado Garry called for a title opportunity following his decision win over #13-ranked Carlos Prates earlier this month.

With a title fight not happening anytime soon for the top welterweights, Brady wants a crack at ‘The Future’.

“I’m gonna have to fight Ian Garry eventually,” Brady said regarding his next fight.

“Why not just do it now and just get it out of the way?

“If I’m as good as I think I am. I would fight Shavkat for the number one contender… He says he’s coming back in October [due to injury]. That really means he’s probably coming back the end of the year or even next year.

“Me and Ian had a little interaction at the fight from across the way… I was like, me and you, that’s what I think. I think me and you are gonna have to fight now because we can’t all wait around for a title shot,” Brady explained.

UFC light heavyweight Modestas Bukasukas is really taking it all in on his second run in the UFC coming off his victory over Ion Cutelaba at UFC 315 on Saturday night.

Bukauskas (18-6) entered the UFC the first time in 2020. After getting a first round finish in his first fight with the promotion he went onto drop his next three. He was subsequently cut from the UFC, but then made his return in 2023 after a 2-0 run back with Cage Warriors.

“It’s mad because 26 realistically in fighting isn’t like crazy, crazy young. You got guys now that are doing well, 26, but everyone’s journey is different,” Bukauskas told Cageside Press among other reporters at his post-fight scrum.

“I definitely feel that for me. Maybe that was part of my personal journey.”

The time away from the UFC was necessary in Bukauskas’ mind as it lit a fire under him to improve. Even a knee injury is seen as a positive in a way.

“I needed to do it better a little bit later. I needed to learn from those mistakes otherwise I would never be able to do what I’m doing right now. So I look at that as a blessing. I had to go through that,” he said.

“I’m actually very grateful that my knee got tore up, I’m very grateful that I got cut the first time around. Because it wouldn’t have given me the sense of urgency or even just the way that I approach the game.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Modestas Bukauskas above.