Jones wins UFC title after layoff
Jon Jones ended a threeyear sabbatical from the UFC, moved up to its highest weight class and emphatically won the heavyweight belt with a first-round submission over Ciryl Gane.
The 35-year-old Jones took Gane to the mat and won with a guillotine choke at 2:04 in UFC 285.
“I’m so excited,” Jones said. “I’ve been working for this for a long time. A lot of people thought I wasn’t coming back. I’ve been faithful to my goal, faithful to my mission.”
For Jones, this was his first fight in three years and his first in the heavyweight division.
Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, who won the October race at Las Vegas, won the pole for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 . ... Chase Elliott is out indefinitely after undergoing a three-hour surgery to repair a fractured tibia, Hendrick Motorsports general manager Jeff Andrews said. ... Austin Hill overtook
Chandler Smith just before the final lap to win the NASCAR Xfinity Cup Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway . ... F1 champion Max Verstappen took the pole ahead of Red Bull teammate
Sergio Pérez for the seasonopening Bahrain Grand Prix . ... Romain Grosjean opened his third season in IndyCar by winning the pole in qualifying on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.
Daniil Medvedev won his 18th tour-level title and third in a row by beating Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-2 in an all-Russian final at the Dubai Championships in United Arab Emirates . ... Marta Kostyuk reached her first career WTA final by winning five of the last six games and beating Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-3 at the ATX Open in Austin, Texas . ... Nicolas
Jarry and Tomas Martin Etcheverry advanced to the final of the Chile Open. Jarry beat Jaume Munar 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1 and Etcheverry topped third-seeded Sebastian Baez 7-5, 6-3 . ... Alex de Minaur rallied to beat Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the Mexican Open.
Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
withdrew from playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic because of inflammation in his right knee . ... Left-handed reliever Will Smith
agreed to a one-year, $1.5million contract with the Texas Rangers and will report to spring training . ... Justin Verlander gave up one run and struck out three in three innings in his spring debut for the New York Mets.
Ducks assistant coach Mike Stothers, who previously coached the Kings’ top farm team for six seasons, was diagnosed with Stage 3 melanoma of the lymph node, the club announced. He is scheduled to undergo treatment and surgery at UCI Health.