Audio By Carbonatix

Sara Hughes made a surprising decision to pick Ally Batenhorst as her new beach volleyball partner. The soon-to-be 23-year-old is bailing on a promising indoor career in an attempt to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Although this kind of switch is not uncommon, it is still an earth-shattering move in the world of volleyball.

One of the best indoor players in the world will kick off her shoes to join the former world champion on the sand. Nobody saw it coming!

Sara Hughes is already established as one of the top players in beach volleyball.

Sara Hughes is no stranger to the beach. The former top-ranked recruit in both disciplines of the sport chose to play beach volleyball for USC in college and at one point won 103 matches in a row. The Trojans won multiple national titles while she was on the team.

At 5-foot-10, Hughes is considered one of the best defenders in the world. The 30-year-old seems to get a touch on every single ball. It’s insane!

Hughes played with multiple different partners as a professional over the last eight years. She and Kelly Cheng ultimately chose to go their separate ways after a shocking upset loss to Switzerland at the Olympics last summer and an injury.

With the sour taste of Paris now in her rearview mirror, these next four years will focus on Los Angeles.

Enter Ally Batenhorst.

Batenhorst began her college volleyball career at Nebraska and later transferred to USC. She only played indoor for the Trojans but she played both indoor and outdoor for the Huskers, with a 39-28 career record on the sand.

One of the ways UFC fighters connect with fans is by sharing live reactions to numbered fight cards on social media – a tradition that former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has embraced for years.

With the dust barely settled from UFC 318, fans are already turning their attention to the highly anticipated clash between Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319, set for August 16. The South African champion will make his third title defense in what promises to be a thrilling middleweight showdown.

“Dricus gets it”

Adesanya, who held the belt during two separate reigns (2019-2022 and 2023), offered his take while watching the UFC 319 promo.

“I still think Dricus gets it, late finish…” the 36-year-old said. “Dricus is just chaotic. Chaotic good. Chaotic evil. That’s literally what this fight might be. Chaotic good versus chaotic evil​.”

The matchup is shaping up to be a must-watch. Du Plessis is riding high after back-to-back wins over legends Sean Strickland and Adesanya himself, and he’ll be looking to further cement his legacy.

Meanwhile, Chimaev is aiming to prove his elite status and keep his undefeated record intact by capturing UFC gold.

UFC 319: Du Plessis vs Chimaev – main fight card:

• Dricus du Plessis vs Khamzat Chimaev – middleweight
• Geoff Neal vs Carlos Prates – welterweight
• Jared Cannonier vs Michael Page – middleweight
• Tim Elliot vs Kai Asakara – flyweight

How to watch UFC 319

Viewers in the U.S. will be able to watch Du Plessis and Chimaev’s UFC middleweight title fight on ESPN+ PPV. The main card at UFC 319 – an event which is to be hosted by United Center in Chicago, Illinois – is scheduled to begin at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.

Related stories

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.

Petr Yan began his reign over the bantamweight division with a brutal win over arguably the greatest featherweight fighter of all time.

This coming Saturday, Russian fan favorite Petr Yan returns to action at UFC Abu Dhabi when he takes on surging bantamweight contender Marcus McGhee.

Initially when the fight was booked, not only were UFC fans confused by the matchmaking but Merab Dvalishvili even questioned the fight booking, stating that the division is ‘very stuck’.

Not only that but to make matters even more confusing, before he accepted the bizarre fight against ‘The Maniac’, Yan claimed he was promised a title fight.

Yan brutally finished Jose Aldo to begin his short bantamweight title reign

‘No Mercy’ Yan has long been considered as one of the best active bantamweight fighters and his former foe Sean O’Malley even named him as the hardest-hitter he’s ever faced.

When the Russian striker debuted in the UFC in 2018, it became immediately clear that he would likely one day compete for the 135lb title.

And it was just two years later when he was finally granted his title shot when he was booked to take on Jose Aldo for the vacant title at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi.

Initially the event was set to take place in Perth but it was moved to the famous Fight Island due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two fighters came out fast immediately and it became clear that it was going to be a tremendous fight. The Russian almost finished the fight in round one but Aldo was saved by the bell.

Despite Yan’s success in round one, the former featherweight champion turned it on in rounds two and three and began to dominate the exchanges.

But then in round four, Yan once again took over in the fight and dominated the Brazilian, hurting him on several occasions. And in round five, he finally got the finish when he dropped Aldo with an uppercut and subsequently finished the fight with ground-and-pound.

UFC 251 did over 1 million PPV buys making it the biggest outside of a Conor McGregor fight

Following Yan vs Aldo was a huge co-main event featherweight title rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.

And then in the main event, Kamaru Usman defended his welterweight title against Jorge Masvidal, completing a huge triple header of title fights.

With that, UFC 251 ended up being the UFC’s biggest ever event that wasn’t headlined by Conor McGregor, surpassing over 1 million PPV buys, making it one of the biggest events ever.

When I first saw the sports documentary Murderball in 2005, I thought for sure moviegoers would call it one of the best films of the year. (I did.)

Mainly shot on now-discontinued, digital video camcorders, this film shined a light on wheelchair rugby (originally named “murderball” when it was developed in — wait for it — quaint ol’ Canada), an extreme sport played in a dozen countries by quadriplegics with varying degrees of muscle strength.

The souped-up wheelchairs they use for these games are straight outta Mad Max: rebuilt, metal-and-aluminum doom machines that make the players look like they’re riding on top of Battlebots. They strap themselves in, slap sticky stuff on their gloves and prepare for a game that usually has players getting in some wild collisions.

Murderball created a promising amount of buzz at Sundance earlier that year, where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature. THINKFilm, the movie’s distributor, even roped in cable channels A&E and MTV (which dropped a Jackass Meets Murderball special) to help promote the film and get it in theaters.

The critics loved it. Entertainment Weekly raved about breakout star Mark Zupan, Team USA player and one of Murderball’s main figures, even calling him “this summer’s surprise action hero” on the cover. Eventually, it was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2006 Academy Awards, where it lost to more conventionally cheery audience favorite March of the Penguins.

Despite all the raves, awards, and heavy promotional backing, though, the $350,000 film only grossed $1.8 million. (THINKFilm was hoping for $10-12 million.) In the 20 years since its release, Murderball has become one of the forgotten gems of 21st-century cinema’s first quarter. (It certainly wasn’t on that ballyhooed, 100-best-films-of-the-century list The New York Times dropped a while ago.) Where audiences back then dismissed it, today’s streaming, binge-watching crowd most likely never heard of it.

The distributors didn’t expect able-bodied moviegoers to stay away in droves. “People seem resistant to seeing a film about so-called disabled people because they think they’ll feel bad,” THINKFilm president Jeff Sackman told The Globe and Mail a year later. “Well, guess what? If they saw it, they’d feel great.”

Just when it seemed as though the UFC heavyweight saga including Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall was over, things have once again been thrust into uncertainty.

After months and months of talks between Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones, UFC boss Dana White announced that the saga was over as Jones had officially retired from the sport.

Despite that, just a few weeks later Jones announced that he has re-entered the drug testing pool following an announcement from Donald Trump that he will host a UFC event on the grounds of the White House in 2026.

And with that, Jones revealed that he would fight whoever is the heavyweight champion come July 4, with Aspinall now standing as the undisputed champion.

Tom Aspinall confirms first UFC title defence is official as Jones is snubbed

However, although Jones is extremely keen to fight on the White House event, this past Saturday following UFC 318, White practically shut down any involvement from Jones, claiming that he cannot trust the former champion.

The UFC boss’ words came after he recently claimed that fans could see both Jones and Conor McGregor compete on the event, building up the hype.

White’s words didn’t sit well with Jones who expressed his disappointment a few hours later, stating that he will be ready for whatever comes next regardless.

And now just a day removed from White’s public snubbing of Jones, the British champion has confirmed that his first official title defence is confirmed after conversations with the UFC.

“Yes (my next fight is signed and locked in) it is. As far as signed, I can’t remember the last time that I physically signed a contract, they just ask me and I say yes and that’s it,” Aspinall told UFC on Eurosport.

“Usually I sign the contract on fight week, contracts actually don’t mean too much, the UFC ask you, you say yes, the verbal contract is all anybody needs from me,” he continued.

Aspinall thinks Alex Pereira’s team is hinting at a move to heavyweight

Although it is relatively unclear at this point who Aspinall will defend his title against, the most likely two contenders are Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov.

However, former UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has continued to tease a potential move up to heavyweight over the past few months, getting fans excited about that potential matchup.

“The guy and his team know what they’re doing on social media, they know how to make headlines which is good. I think as far as I’m aware, that’s quite normal for him and bigger light heavyweights to get up to 240-250lbs… Maybe he’s teasing it,” Aspinall continued.