There's A New Record Holder For Gold Medals In One Winter Olympics — and more

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Yaroslav Amosov is picking up what Joaquin Buckley is putting down.

Having been ready to go since his successful UFC debut in November, Amosov (29-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC)) has been patiently waiting for a UFC call. That's why his ears perked when a recent clip of Buckley (21-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC) calling him out made the rounds on social media.

"When I was watching how he talks about me, everything was about respect," Amosov recently told MMA Junkie. "I respect him and I'm ready to fight with him. This will be good. He talked about White House. I'm not sure what we have for a card in the White House. I think this will be something specific, like only title fights. I don't know (the latest) with the news. But I'm ready to fight with Buckley. We can do this different date, different place. But I'm ready. ... Buckley, I will see you in the octagon. Thank you. You talk about me. I can talk about you. We're fighting. Let's go."

Perhaps catalyzing Amosov's determination to obtain a fight soon, is the fact that one fell through his fingers for seemingly unknown reasons. Amosov revealed the UFC had offered him a Bellator alum vs. Bellator alum clash with Michael Page for UFC London. However, it was announced weeks later that Page would fight on the event – but against up-and-comer Sam Patterson instead.

"I don't know what happened, but manager Andrew (Spivachuk) called me and he said, 'Hey, UFC has an offer for you: MVP in London," Amosov said. "This was before new year, a couple days maybe. I said, 'OK, I'm ready.' But I had just got back to my country in Ukraine. But I thought, 'OK, this is not a problem. I can go back to Florida. I can start training. I have time.' I was ready. But I have very light surgery – just a little bit to fix me, not something serious. I changed my date for this surgery because I was waiting for what the UFC can say. I waited two weeks and the UFC said to me, 'Now, he has a different guy.' I don't know if UFC canceled or he canceled. But this was an offer I had."

Whether he returns vs. Buckley, vs. Page, or vs. someone else, Amosov is focused on getting a ranking next to his name in the immediate aftermath. As things stand, Amosov scratches his head at some of the names listed – and one in particular, whom he isn't too fond of in more ways than one.

"Now in the top 15, I'm not understanding what happened in the rankings," Amosov said. "I'm not understanding why Shavkat (Rakhmonov) is now not in top 15, not in top five. But Colby (Covington) is in top 15? Colby is a crazy guy. He hasn't fought in how many (months). How many times is he not fighting? He's still in top 15. Maybe we need change. Shavkat to Colby."

"... (Covington) was training in ATT last time maybe a couple years ago, maybe five or six years ago. I saw him in ATT. But not every time. Just rarely. I know many guys not respect him. He's a bullsh*t guy. Many talk sh*t. This is crazy trash talk. I don't understand why he talks this. People don't like him because he's from America but not many American guys support him because he talks sh*t. Every time, sh*t."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Yaroslav Amosov responds to Joaquin Buckley, reveals UFC London matchup that fell through

Algeria: the good news is confirmed

Algeria: good news is coming

The absence of Samir Chergui is starting to be felt, but the outlook finally seems to be brightening. Sidelined with a hamstring injury during the group stage of the 2025 AFCON against Burkina Faso, the Algerian international defender has not played a single minute since December 28. Forced to withdraw from the tournament early, the Paris FC player then began an extended recovery period to avoid any risk of relapse.

However, the latest updates are encouraging. In a press conference ahead of the clash with Toulouse, Paris FC manager Stéphane Gilli spoke of an imminent return for his defender.

hinting at a gradual return to training over the coming days.

The focus now will be on regaining match fitness as quickly as possible. Paris FC still has several games to play before the March international break, during which Algeria will take on Guatemala and Uruguay in friendlies. For Chergui, every minute on the pitch will be crucial to get back on the national team radar and edge closer to a spot at the 2026 World Cup.

Bill Mazeroski, the Hall of Fame second baseman who won eight Gold Glove awards for his steady work in the field and the hearts of countless Pittsburgh Pirates fans for his historic walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, has died at the age of 89.

Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said, “Maz was one of a kind, a true Pirates legend … His name will always be tied to the biggest home run in baseball history and the 1960 World Series championship, but I will remember him most for the person he was: humble, gracious and proud to be a pirate.”

Mazeroski died Friday, the Pirates said. No cause of death was given.

‘Defensive wizard’

Elected to the Hall by the Veterans Committee in 2001, he was, by some measures, no superstar. Mazeroski had the lowest batting average, on-base percentage and stolen base total of any second baseman in Cooperstown. He hit just .260 lifetime, with 138 homers and 27 stolen bases in 17 years, and had an on-base percentage of .299. He never batted .300, never approached 100 runs batted or 100 runs scored and only once finished in the top 10 for Most Valuable Player.

His best qualities were both tangible and beyond the box score. His Hall of Fame plaque praises him as a “defensive wizard” with “hard-nosed hustle” and a “quiet work ethic.” A 10-time All-Star, he turned a major league record 1,706 double plays, earning the nickname “No Hands” for how quickly he fielded grounders and relayed them. He led the National League nine times in assists for second basemen and has been cited by statistician Bill James as the game’s greatest defensive player at his position — by far.

“I think defence belongs in the Hall of Fame,” Mazeroski said, defensively, during his Hall of Fame induction speech. “Defence deserves as much credit as pitching and I’m proud to be going in as a defensive player.”

A home run for the ages

But his career’s signature moment took place in the batter’s box, as the square-jawed, tobacco-chewing Mazeroski, a coal miner’s son from West Virginia, lived out the dream of so many kids who thought of playing professional ball.

The Pirates had not reached the World Series since 1927, when they were swept by the New York Yankees, and again faced the Yankees in 1960. While New York was led by Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, Pittsburgh had few prominent names beyond a young Roberto Clemente. They relied on hitters ranging from shortstop Dick Groat to outfielder Bob Skinner, and the starting pitchers Vernon Law and Bob Friend. Mazeroski, who turned 24 that September, finished the season with a .273 average and usually batted eighth.

The series told one story in the runs column and another in wins and losses. The Yankees outscored the Pirates 55-27 and 38-3 in the three games they won. Mazeroski’s counterpart on New York, Bobby Richardson, drove in a record 12 runs and was named the series’ MVP — even though he was on the losing team. Whitey Ford shut out the Pirates twice, on his way to a then-record 33 2-3 straight scoreless World Series innings for the Yankees ace.

The Pirates’ first three wins weren’t nearly so spectacular, but they were wins — and Mazeroski helped. He hit a 2-run homer in the fourth inning off the Yankees’ Jim Coates in Game 1, a 6-4 Pirate victory, and a 2-run double in the second inning off Art Ditmar in Game 5, a 5-2 Pittsburgh win. In Game 7, he saved his big hit for the end.

Some 36,000 fans at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field, and many more tuning in on radio and television, agonized through one of the fall classic’s wildest and most emotional conclusions. The lead changed back and forth as Pittsburgh scored the game’s first four runs, only to fall behind as the Yankees rallied in the middle innings and went ahead 7-4 in the top of the eighth. Pittsburgh retook the lead with five runs in the bottom of the eighth, helped in part by a seeming double play grounder that took a bad hop and struck Yankees shortstop Tony Kubek in the throat. But the Yankees came right back and tied the score at 9 in the top of the ninth.

The bottom of the ninth has been relived, not always by choice, by the two teams and by generations of fans. The New York pitcher was Ralph Terry, a right-hander whom manager Casey Stengel had brought in during the previous inning and would later acknowledge that he had a tired arm. The right-handed hitting Mazeroski, who had grounded into a double play in his previous appearance, was up first.

Terry started with a fastball, called high for a ball. After conferring briefly with catcher Johnny Blanchard, who reminded him to keep his pitches down, he threw what Mazeroski would call a slider that didn’t slide. Mazeroski got under it and belted it to left, the ball rising and rising as it cleared the high, ivy-covered brick wall, with Yankees left fielder Yogi Berra circling under it, then turning away in defeat. The whole city seemed to erupt, as if all had swung the bat with him, as if he were every underdog who longed to beat the hated Yankees. Mazeroski dashed around the bases, grinning and waving his cap, joined by celebrants from the stands who had rushed on to the field and followed him to home plate, where his teammates embraced him.

“I was just looking to get on base,″ he told The New York Times in 1985. ″Nothing fancy, just looking for a fastball until he got a strike on me. I thought it would be off the wall, and I wanted to make third if the ball ricocheted away from Berra. But when I got around first and was digging for second, I saw the umpire waving circles above his head and I knew it was over.”

ESPN has called it the greatest home run in major league history. It was the first time a World Series had ended on a homer, leading to enduring waves of celebration and despair. Pirates followers memorized the date, Saturday, Oct. 13, 1960, and the local time of Mazeroski’s hit, 3:36 p.m. Forbes Field was torn down in the 1970s, but a decade later fans began gathering every Oct. 13 at the park’s lone remnant, the center field wall, and listened to the original broadcast.

Meanwhile, Mantle would sob on the plane ride home in 1960, insisting the better team had lost. Ford would for years remain angry at Stengel — fired five days after the Series — for using him in Games 3 and 6 and making him unavailable to start a third time. Singer Bing Crosby, a co-owner of the Pirates, was so afraid he’d jinx his team that he listened to the game with friends across the Atlantic Ocean, in Paris.

“We were in this beautiful apartment, listening on shortwave, and when it got close Bing opened a bottle of Scotch and was tapping it against the mantel,” his widow, Kathryn Crosby, told the Times in 2010. “When Mazeroski hit the home run, he tapped it hard; the Scotch flew into the fireplace and started a conflagration.”

A team player

Mazeroski was a Pirate for his entire time in the majors and was a team man off the field. His wife, Milene Nicholson, was a front office employee whom he met through Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh. They were married in 1958, had two sons and remained together until her death in 2024.

William Stanley Mazeroski was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, during the Great Depression, grew up in eastern Ohio, and lived for a time in a one-room house without electricity or indoor plumbing. His father, Louis Mazeroski, had hoped himself to be a ballplayer and encouraged his son’s love for sports, even practicing with him by having Bill field tennis balls thrown against a brick wall.

Although a star in basketball and football, he favoured baseball and was good enough to be drafted by the Pirates at age 17 in 1954. Mazeroski was a shortstop for a team with numerous prospects at that position, and had switched to second by his rookie year, 1956. Even as a part-time player at the end of his career, he was a leader and steady presence on the 1971 team that featured Clemente and Willie Stargell and defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

After his final season, 1972, Mazeroski coached briefly for the Pirates and the Seattle Mariners and was an infield instructor for Pittsburgh during spring training. In 1987, the Pirates retired his uniform number, 9. The 50th anniversary of his Game 7 heroics was marked in 2010 by the unveiling — on Bill Mazeroski Way — of a 14-foot, 2,000-pound statue of one of Pittsburgh’s greatest everymen, rounding the bases, on top of the world.