NGANNOU STOPS MIOCIC, CLAIMS UFC’S HEAVYWEIGHT CROWN

Francis Ngannou claimed the UFC heavyweight championship on Saturday night, stopping Stipe Miocic with ferocious punches early in the second round at UFC 260 in Las Vegas.

Ngannou (11-2) avenged his blowout loss to Miocic in 2018 by demonstrating everything he has learned in the ensuing three years during a dominant victory. The first UFC heavyweight champion from Africa flattened Miocic (21-3) twice early in the second, finishing the fight 52 seconds into the round.

The fight ended quickly after Ngannou won the first round. Miocic recovered from his first knockdown in the second round and even landed a right hand that stung Ngannou, but the challenger replied with a pictureperfect left hook, depositing Miocic roughly on the canvas again for the finish.

The 34-year-old Ngannou is a former aspiring boxer who discovered mixed martial arts after he left Cameroon for France. He rose rapidly through his new sport with his fearsome power and growing all-around skill, but Miocic interrupted his ascent by winning every round of their first bout in Boston.

In the co-main event of this pay-per-view show at the UFC Apex gym on the promotion’s corporate campus, former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley

lost his fourth consecutive fight when Vicente Luque

submitted him with a D’arce choke late in the first round.

Earlier, bantamweight Sugar Sean O’malley overcame an an early mental mistake for a vicious thirdround finish of Thomas Almeida.

Tennis

For up-and-comers like

Stefanos Tsitsipas, the draw at the Miami Open began to look a lot less daunting even before the tournament began. Rafael Nadal and

Roger Federer withdrew because of injuries, and Novak Djokovic decided against making the trip from his native Serbia.

The No. 2-seeded Tsitsipas is among those with the best chance to take advantage, and he looked the part against Damir Dzumhur, winning 6-1, 6-4. Tsitsipas will next face No. 28 Kei Nishikori, who outlasted Aljaz Bedene 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-4.

In women’s play, top-ranked Ash Barty and threetime champion Victoria Azarenka advanced to a round of 16 showdown.

Barty beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 and had a much easier time than in the previous round, when she saved a match point to beat qualifier Kristina Kucova.

Locally

Christian Gutierrez scored the golden goal 7:37 into sudden-death overtime, as the San Diego Sockers outlasted the Tacoma Stars 6-5 on Friday night at Toyota Arena in Ontario.

San Diego took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series, with Game 2 scheduled for tonight in Ontario. If the series is tied 1-1, a 15-minute mini-game would follow for Game 3.

The San Diego Gulls improved to 13-10-0-0 with a 2-1 win over the Tucson Roadrunners on Saturday night in Irvine. That came on the heels of a 4-2 AHL win over the Bakersfield Condors on Friday night.

Local colleges

The San Diego State women’s track and field team completed the Aztec Invitational, finishing in second place with 115.50 points, just behind USC’S 117 and ahead of Oregon’s 112. The Aztecs’ day was highlighted by Maya Brosch who won the 400-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 58.74 seconds and Jordyn Bryant, who took second in the discus throw with a toss of 172-5 (52.56m).

Seniors Roxie Wiblin and Thana Fayad combined for 40 kills to lead the No. 21

USD women’s volleyball team (12-4, 12-4 WCC) to a 23-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-17 victory over No. 20 Pepperdine (14-3, 14-2) at home.

The UC San Diego baseball team (6-9, 3-0 Big West) swept a doubleheader at Cal Poly (11-9, 3-4) by scores of 12-9 and 6-10.

The USD baseball team (16-4, 4-1 WCC) rolled to a 15-3 win over visiting Pacific (7-13, 0-5).

The SDSU softball team (14-8, 2-3 MW) split a doubleheader at home with UNLV (15-9, 4-1). The Aztecs lost the first game 1-0 but won the second one 7-6 in 10 innings.

The Aztecs baseball team (12-6, 7-4 MW) won the opening game of a doubleheader at San Jose State (1-1, 1-1), 6-4, but then dropped the nightcap, 12-7.