Another short-notice gamble has ended in a pink slip.

Today (Weds., Feb. 25, 2026), Sherdog reporter Tom Feely revealed Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) newcomer Gianni Vazquez has been released following his unanimous decision loss to Javid Basharat at UFC Vegas 113 earlier this month (Feb. 7, 2026) inside the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.

For what it’s worth, Basharat was also released following the fight, making it a rare double exit.

Vazquez (13-5-1) accepted the bout against Basharat on just two days’ notice and, all things considered, delivered a respectable performance against the highly skilled Bantamweight contender. But there was one major issue: he came in four pounds heavy at 141 pounds.

Missing weight — especially by that margin — is rarely tolerated by the promotion, and it appears to have cost him his roster spot.

Complicating matters further, Vazquez spent most of his career competing at Flyweight (125 pounds), making the miss at 135 pounds even more puzzling. At 31 years old, and after grinding out five straight wins to finally earn a UFC opportunity, his Octagon run may have come and gone in a single appearance.

Elsewhere, former Ultimate Fighter competitor Nathan Fletcher has also been let go. The Liverpool native — and training partner of Paddy Pimblett — went 1-2 during his UFC stint. Fletcher (9-3) submitted Zygimantas Ramaska in his promotional debut but dropped consecutive decisions to Caolan Loughran and Rinya Nakamura.

Fletcher has already re-signed with Cage Warriors, while Vazquez now looks to rebuild outside the Octagon.

Feb. 25—FARGO — On a 20-degree night in February 1969, following a snowstorm that clobbered much of North Dakota, 600 people stood outside the Civic Memorial Auditorium in Fargo, waiting and hoping they’d be lucky enough to see the hottest show in town.

They weren’t.

Inside, the Harlem Globetrotters had reached capacity. In all, 3,357 people got there earlier to claim general admission seats — for a whopping $1.50 to $3 apiece.

For a couple of hours, those lucky enough to get inside the Civic watched the iconic team “clown their way” to a 94 — 79 exhibition victory.

This kind of love for the team — which marks its 100th anniversary this year — wasn’t unusual.

“The Harlem Globetrotters have always proved to be a top attraction locally,” The Forum reported in October 1953. Stories in the decades since echoed the same sentiment.

The Harlem Globetrotters traces its roots to Chicago’s South Side in 1926, when players from Wendell Phillips High School competed out of the Giles American Legion Post No. 87. They first played as the Savoy Big Five before promoter Abe Saperstein bought the club in 1927 and began touring as the “New York Harlem Globe Trotters.” Harlem invoked the cultural capital of Black America; “Globetrotters” suggested a worldwide reach that was, at first, more aspirational than anything.

In their early years, they were a serious competitive team, often playing hometown squads wherever they traveled. They won the World Professional Basketball Tournament in 1940 and, in 1948, stunned the Minneapolis Lakers at a time when professional basketball was still segregated.

By 1950, Globetrotter Chuck Cooper became the first Black player drafted into the NBA. Soon after, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton became the first Black player to sign an NBA contract.

But Saperstein understood that dominance alone wouldn’t sustain crowds.

“Saperstein recognized early … that the fans would soon tire of an exhibition in which a home team was trounced thoroughly,” Forum sportswriter Eugene Fitzgerald wrote in 1953.

Comedy — often credited to Reece “Goose” Tatum — was woven into the act. Buckets of water and confetti. Trick balls and trick shots. Magical dribbling exhibitions. All with “Sweet Georgia Brown” as the soundtrack.

“Abe was the business agent, the coach, chauffeur and sixth man,” Fitzgerald recalled. The Trotters traveled in a Model T Ford equipped with side curtains for protection against the elements — protection that surely came in handy on Upper Midwest tours.

Fitzgerald admired Saperstein not just as a promoter, but as a person. In a 1953 column, he recalled running into Saperstein on a New York City street. From nearly a block away, Saperstein spotted the Fargo sportswriter calling out, “Hey Eugene!” proof that even smaller cities and their people were on Saperstein’s radar.

They first played in Fargo-Moorhead 95 years ago.

“The Globetrotters … visited Fargo first in 1931,” Fitzgerald wrote in 1966. “They haven’t missed a year since.”

Saperstein, Fitzgerald added, had “a soft spot for this area,” where the Trotters did flourishing business meeting hometown teams.

In the 1930s, the Globetrotters played a three-game series against a North Dakota All-Stars squad made up of former NDAC (now NDSU) and UND standouts — names like Emmett Birk, Bob Finnegan and Russ Anderson. The All-Stars beat them two out of three.

NDAC coach Bob Lowe even suggested the homegrown players might win four of six in a prolonged series — proof that good things can happen when arch rivals work together.

Eventually, Saperstein began touring with regular opponents — the Washington Generals, New York Nationals, California Chiefs, Boston Whirlwinds and the House of David — ensuring spectacle without bruising hometown pride.

By the late 1950s, the stops had grown into full-scale events.

In February 1958, 4,500 fans packed Concordia’s auditorium for a night that started with an opening game between the “Galloping Gophers,” made up of University of Minnesota senior football players, and Concordia freshmen. (The newspaper never clarified whether they were freshman football players, freshman basketball players or first-year volunteers they grabbed from the campus cafeteria. Either way, Concordia won 49 — 34.)

Then came the main attraction. The Globetrotters defeated the House of David — a beard-wearing group of former college players— 79 — 50. Halftime featured unicyclists, baton twirlers, a trampolinist and Lilly Yokoi, billed as “the ballerina of the bicycle.”

By the 1960s, the Globetrotters fielded three touring units, performing in 69 countries, before two Popes and once before 75,000 fans in Berlin.

For those who couldn’t see them in person, ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” became appointment television. Viewers would sit through “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” before enjoying the controlled chaos on the court. This was as much of a must-see on Saturday for kids as “Fat Albert” and “Hong Kong Phooey.”

Famous names passed through the roster: Meadowlark Lemon, Marques Haynes, Curly Neal, Goose Tatum, Geese Ausbie — and Wilt Chamberlain, who played with the Globetrotters before becoming one of the NBA’s most dominant players.

In 1985, the Globetrotters made history again when Lynette Woodard became the first woman to join the team, followed by others who helped expand the act and its audience even further.

Through it all, Fargo-Moorhead fans kept turning out. The venues grew larger (including Fargodome and Scheels Arena). Tickets were reserved, so no more waiting out in the cold.

Marissa Aldeen of Moorhead remembers an extra special outing to see the Globetrotters in 2020 with husband Jason and children Simon, then 10, and daughter Harper, then 6.

“Harper and Ice (player Brittany “Ice” Hrynko) had bonded during the meet and greet before the game. During the game, Ice invited Harper to sit courtside with her,” she said. “We had no idea she would end up on the court with the players doing a trick. That was super cool!”

Justin Terjesen of Kulm, N.D., first discovered the Harlem Globetrotters watching them in Scooby-Doo movies. He attended his first game in Bismarck and later saw them in Fargo.

“The Harlem Globetrotters are absolutely amazing, hilarious, and are so great entertaining us fans with laughter,” he said.

The venues may be warmer now, and the tickets more than $3. (Most now range in price from about $20 to $100.)

But the anticipation feels much the same.

Nearly a century after they first laced up sneakers in Chicago, the Harlem Globetrotters are still doing what they’ve done here since 1931 — drawing crowds, drawing laughs and occasionally drawing a line out the door.

On that February night in 1969, 600 people learned a lesson Fargo fans have understood for decades: If the Globetrotters are coming to town, don’t be late.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Texas Tech had the best college defensive line money could buy last season.

Ends David Bailey and Romello Height each had double-digit sacks totals and were ranked among the top 15 in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Tackles Lee Hunter and Skyler Gill-Howard each relished their opportunities to take on blockers and let teammates fill in the gaps.

The immediate payoff came with the Red Raiders celebrating their first outright league title since 1955, their first Big 12 crown and their first College Football Playoff appearance.

Four of the five transfers who helped transform Texas Tech into a national power received a different reward — appearing at the NFL’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis.

“All five of those guys we had come in, they’re really good football players, tremendous football players, and pretty much they’re all here getting ready for the combine,” former teammate Jacob Rodriguez said Wednesday.

“Shoot, they’re even better human beings. The people that they care about, the way they came in the program and made a difference in the program was really special.”

Rodriguez benefitted, too.

Playing behind the speedy pass rushers and big, beefy interior linemen, the linebacker had the best season of his college career — 128 tackles, seven forced fumbles, four interceptions and two fumble recoveries. His draft prospects soared and Rodriguez finished fifth in Heisman Trophy balloting.

Still, it was a costly proposition for Texas Tech, which paid an estimated $7 million to get the five game-changing linemen. Nearly half of that total reportedly went to Bailey, who some dubbed the highest-paid defensive player in college football’s NIL era.

Bailey, of course, insists he was worth every penny and few at Texas Tech would quibble with him given the results.

“They should have paid the inside linebackers a little bit more,” he said. “They were the leaders of the defense, everything ran through them.”

For combine observers, this is life in a new world — one where more than 300 invitees no longer arrive dreaming of big paydays and joking about how some players might pocket less cash after turning pro.

“I never had to deal with that,” 53-year-old New York Jets coach Aaron Glenn said, discussing the absence of NIL deals during his college days in the early 1990s. “I do know it’s a real thing and a lot of these players are taking pay cuts (to play in the NFL). But I will say this is what they deserve, probably, because of the amount of money they bring to the college.”

Just how much has changed?

Wednesday’s interview room could have doubled as an entrepreneurs roundtable.

At one point, defensive tackle Cam Ball explained why he spent all five seasons at Arkansas and how he’s attempting to honor his late father’s passion for barbecuing. Ball grew up moving grills for his father’s Atlanta-based catering company and once his NIL deals kicked in, he continued to help his father though no longer needed need the paycheck.

Today, eight months after his father, Charles, died, Ball and his girlfriend are still cooking. Ball continues to perfect his secret, vinegar-based sauce with seasonings and trimmings his father taught him, while his girlfriend takes care of things such as baked beans and macaroni and cheese.

“Every now and then I would help with the grills on his truck, I started to become more curious about it,” Ball said, with a large silver chain and a large photo of his father dangling near his heart. “When I got to college, I started experimenting on my own how to do things, how to cook, how to season meats because he taught me how to do all those things. We had NIL in my second or third year, so I didn’t really need the money, I just wanted to get the experience.”

Former Bearcats defensive tackle Dontay Corleone, naturally, has an NIL deal with a Cincinnati restaurant that features “The Godfather” burger.

And Hunter explained how he’d used his NIL money to buy his mother a house and a car, to care for his 5-year-old daughter, Kaylee, and to help his brother start a trucking business by purchasing two 18-wheelers.

“It feels amazing,” Hunter said. “There’s still more, now I’m working to get (my brother) a bigger truck. That’s my goal, to provide for my family and the people I love.”

Texas Tech gave Hunter that opportunity last season and he and the school both cashed in. Now the question is will that continue in the NFL?

While Bailey could be a top-five selection and Hunter and Rodriguez are both ranked in the top 10 at their respective positions, the futures of Height and Gill-Howard are more uncertain. But at Texas Tech, there’s no doubt about their overall value.

“I think we had the best defensive front in the country this year. It was a lot of fun to play behind those guys and play with them,” Rodriguez said. “They should have paid them more, I guess. They were as advertised and better.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

DETROIT (AP) — The Oklahoma City Thunder will be missing four starters for their matchup of conference leaders against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.

Oklahoma City won’t have its four leading scorers: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdomen), Jalen Williams (hamstring), Ajay Mitchell (abdomen) and Chet Holmgren (back), along with sixth-leading scorer Isaiah Hartenstein (calf). The only player from the top six that will play in Detroit is Isaiah Joe, who averages 11.0 points, and the only regular starter will be Lu Dort.

The game was billed as a possible NBA Finals preview, with the Western Conference-leading Thunder at 45-14 and the Pistons leading the East at 42-14.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

The Cleveland Cavaliers will look to pick up their second win in as many nights as they take on the Milwaukee Bucks.

I’ll be in the comments throughout the game sharing my thoughts. Come talk with me and the rest of your fellow Cavs fans there.

Go Cavs!

Get out your pens to mark your calendars, because there’s now an event at Yankee Stadium during this coming season that you won’t want to miss. Just a short while ago, the Yankees announced that this coming September 26th, they’ll be holding a ceremony to formally retire CC Sabathia’s No. 52 and give him a plaque in Monument Park.

Sabathia pitched for the Yankees from 2009-19, helping them to the 2009 World Series title and a number of other playoff appearances. He was a three-time All-Star in pinstripes and he finished top five in Cy Young voting three times while a member of the team. Last summer, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot, and will forever don a Yankee logo on his plaque in Cooperstowjn.

During his 11 seasons with the Yankees, Sabathia was a stellar pitcher for the team, evidenced by what I’ve already cited and also ranking in the top ten in the franchise lists for wins, strikeouts, and more. However, he also became a revered clubhouse leader. When he first got there, he joined in a veteran heavy era, where the clubhouse was led by the likes of then captain Derek Jeter. While never officially named one, by all accounts he served somewhat of that role as the Yankees transitioned to an era led by now captain Aaron Judge. He also always had his teammates’ backs.

If the Yankees had historically been more selective in the numbers they’d retired in the past, you could argue that Sabathia would fall short of that cutoff. However, they haven’t, and CC is more than deserving, especially in light of his recent Hall induction. In addition to being an absolute gamer on the mound, literally going until he physically couldn’t, he’s an extremely likeably human. I personally cannot wait to see him get another day in the sun later this year.

Congratulations, CC!

Despite giving up 12 runs on 11 hits — including three home runs — Milwaukee managed to escape with a thrilling walk-off win over the San Francisco Giants. Brice Turang’s two-homer day powered the Brewers to a second straight victory.

After Carlos Rodriguez retired the Giants in order to start the game, Turang crushed his first home run deep into left field. The solo shot put the Brewers on the board in the bottom of the first.

Turang’s home run gave Milwaukee a lead they would relinquish half an inning later, when Luis Matos — who gave the Brewers plenty of trouble in the 2025 regular season — sent a Rodriguez cutter into the left field stands to tie the game at one run apiece.

Garrett Mitchell worked a walk in his first at-bat of the spring after going down in the count 0-2. The red-hot Brandon Lockridge doubled to right field to put runners on second and third, but Jackson Chourio grounded out to shortstop to end the second inning. Rodriguez wouldn’t come back out for the top of the third, with manager Pat Murphy going to Peter Strzelecki. Strzelecki hit the first batter he faced, Christian Koss, before retiring the next two hitters. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t get out of the inning unscathed. Strzelecki’s second pitch to Bryce Eldridge was a 91-mph fastball up in the zone, which Eldridge sent 391 feet for the Giants’ second home run of the game.

San Francisco would tack on five more runs off of prospect Garrett Stallings in the top of the fourth. After a Harrison Bader home run and a Jung Hoo Lee triple, the score was 8-1, and the game looked out of reach for the home team — but only briefly. The bottom of the fourth saw Giants pitcher Carson Whisenhunt (in for starter Adrian Houser) absolutely melt down, walking the first three batters he faced. Joey Ortiz then ripped a bases-loaded single into left field, scoring Andrew Vaughn from third and Luis Rengifo from second. Whisenhunt then walked Brandon Lockridge, and Giants manager Tony Vitello had seen enough. Right-hander Tristan Beck entered the game to face Chourio with the bases loaded.

Chourio worked an 11-pitch walk to keep the bases loaded for Turang. Beck’s first pitch was a slider low and away, and Turang was ready — crushing a 425-foot grand slam to center field. All of a sudden, the game was tied at eight.

Turang’s first home run today left the bat at 106.5 mph, and the grand slam had an exit velocity of 108.2 mph. Neither home run was pulled. For a player who appeared to be tapping into more power over the second half of last season, that’s an incredibly encouraging sign.

In the top of the fifth, Brewers No. 1 prospect Jesús Made entered the game defensively for Turang and wasted no time making his presence felt. In his first at-bat, Made smoked a triple to right field. He scored one pitch later courtesy of a William Contreras home run, putting the Brewers ahead 9-8. Meanwhile, prospects Tyson Hardin, Brett Wichrowski, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Manuel Rodriguez blanked the Giants over the next four innings.

By the top of the ninth, the score was 10-8 Milwaukee (thanks to an RBI single from Made). Edwin Jimenez, in the game for Rodriguez, was unable to get the save. Jimenez gave up hits to Grant McCray and Daniel Susac to start the inning. Jerar Encarnacion then hit a ground ball to prospect Brock Wilken at third base, but Wilken was unable to handle it, allowing McCray to score. Jimenez couldn’t bounce back after the error, allowing the Giants to tack on three more runs wrapped around a pitching change (to Stiven Cruz) before the inning finally, mercifully, ended with the score now 12-10.

After coming back from a seven-run deficit, it briefly looked like the Brewers were going to give this one away. That is, until Matthew Wood started off the bottom of the ninth with a double. Eddys Leonard then hit a bloop that dropped in for a single and the first run of the inning. Twenty-year-old Josh Adamczewski singled as well, putting runners on first and second for Luis Lara, who grounded into a force-out for the first out. The next batter, Freddy Zamora, lined a single into left field to tie the game at 12 and put the winning run at third. Outfielder Greg Jones lifted a fly ball to center that was deep enough to score Lara from third for the winning run, giving Milwaukee an exciting 13-12 spring victory.

Aside from Turang’s performance (2-for-3, two homers, five RBIs), Brewers fans have a lot to be excited about after this game. Made, who started last season in Low-A, looked the part today. Made went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored. Adamczewski, one of the biggest breakouts in the farm system last year, came up clutch with a single in the ninth. Ortiz is now hitting .273 this spring after his two-run (bases loaded!) single. Luis Lara scored two runs. Jackson Chourio worked an 11-pitch walk. The future is bright in Milwaukee.

The Brewers are back at it again tomorrow as they take on the Texas Rangers. First pitch is slated for 2:05 p.m. CT.

NBA Hall of Famer Chris Bosh revealed on social media Wednesday that he dealt with a recent health scare, which has left him with a different outlook on life.

The 41-year-old Bosh didn’t provide many details on the scare, only that it was “instant,” that he woke up covered in blood while preparing for a date with his wife and that he has no memory of the incident. The area around his eyes was also noticeably darker.

Bosh’s recollection:

“So I woke up covered in my own blood. It was crazy. It was fast. It was instant. There was no warning. I didn’t have any time to prepare for it. I was getting ready to go on a date with my wife and the next thing you know, I was, I was on the ground.

“I won’t get into specifics, but you can kind of see I’m still recovering [points to face]. I’m not gonna try to hide that one in case I look different, but it was a scary thing and it came fast … I’m lucky I came back. It was just darkness, it wasn’t anything else. I went to the darkness, I came back. I have no recollection. I have no memory other than coming back here. So, don’t wait.”

While Bosh didn’t specify what he dealt with, his history of blood clot issues is notable. His 2014-15 season ended due to a blood clot in his lungs and he never played a full season again, with the NBA ruling in 2017 he was unsafe to continue playing due to the condition. He kept trying to return to the league until his retirement in 2019.

Bosh did not say whether that clotting issue was a factor in this recent scare.

What he did say was he is no longer taking life for granted after coming so close to death:

“It made me really have a different outlook on life and how things go, what we do for ourselves, what we do for our family, how we live our lives. And no matter what it is, make sure you don’t wait. That’s the thing that I get from this. Don’t wait to take action, because it could come fast, it could come quick. I’m lucky to be alive and I feel great about that. And now I’m thinking about how I live my day to day life. That’s really it, but don’t wait.

“Don’t wait to take action. You might be wanting to get a promotion, you might want to try out for the team, you might want to go on that vacation. It might be so many different things that people want to do, that we want to do that we never do. So that’s what I get from all this. Don’t wait for it. You might want to start a business, don’t wait. Just do it. You might hit the deck, I don’t know.”

Bosh was an 11-time NBA All-Star in his career with the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat and won two titles with the Heat alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. He remains the Raptors’ all-time leader in rebounds and blocks and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

NBA Hall of Famer Chris Bosh revealed on social media Wednesday that he dealt with a recent health scare, which has left him with a different outlook on life.

The 41-year-old Bosh didn’t provide many details on the scare, only that it was “instant,” that he woke up covered in blood while preparing for a date with his wife and that he has no memory of the incident. The area around his eyes was also noticeably darker.

Bosh’s recollection:

“So I woke up covered in my own blood. It was crazy. It was fast. It was instant. There was no warning. I didn’t have any time to prepare for it. I was getting ready to go on a date with my wife and the next thing you know, I was, I was on the ground.

“I won’t get into specifics, but you can kind of see I’m still recovering [points to face]. I’m not gonna try to hide that one in case I look different, but it was a scary thing and it came fast … I’m lucky I came back. It was just darkness, it wasn’t anything else. I went to the darkness, I came back. I have no recollection. I have no memory other than coming back here. So, don’t wait.”

While Bosh didn’t specify what he dealt with, his history of blood clot issues is notable. His 2014-15 season ended due to a blood clot in his lungs and he never played a full season again, with the NBA ruling in 2017 he was unsafe to continue playing due to the condition. He kept trying to return to the league until his retirement in 2019.

Bosh did not say whether that clotting issue was a factor in this recent scare.

What he did say was he is no longer taking life for granted after coming so close to death:

“It made me really have a different outlook on life and how things go, what we do for ourselves, what we do for our family, how we live our lives. And no matter what it is, make sure you don’t wait. That’s the thing that I get from this. Don’t wait to take action, because it could come fast, it could come quick. I’m lucky to be alive and I feel great about that. And now I’m thinking about how I live my day to day life. That’s really it, but don’t wait.

“Don’t wait to take action. You might be wanting to get a promotion, you might want to try out for the team, you might want to go on that vacation. It might be so many different things that people want to do, that we want to do that we never do. So that’s what I get from all this. Don’t wait for it. You might want to start a business, don’t wait. Just do it. You might hit the deck, I don’t know.”

Bosh was an 11-time NBA All-Star in his career with the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat and won two titles with the Heat alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. He remains the Raptors’ all-time leader in rebounds and blocks and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.