San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
EDWARDS RETAINING TITLE
Leon Edwards retained his welterweight title Saturday, beating challenger Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 by majority decision.
Judges scored the trilogy fight at the O2 Arena in London 48-46, 48-46, 47-47 in favor of the Jamaican-born Brit, who landed the cleaner blows as their third fight went the distance.
Edwards made an encouraging start, connecting with two heavy body kicks in the opening round.
The 31-year-old Edwards’ greater speed unsettled Usman, but the challenger took Edwards down briefly in round two before both fighters traded some heavy blows.
Usman grappled Edwards to the floor again early in the third and the latter was docked a point for grabbing the fence.
A similar pattern unfolded in the fourth, which was just as tight, with Edwards looking to keep his distance as Usman tried to get in close.
Edwards evaded two more takedown attempts in the final round and caught Usman with an uppercut, but took a hit to the body as his title defense went down to the wire.
Edwards had ended Usman’s long reign as champion with a kick to the Nigerian’s head and neck in the fifth round in Salt Lake City in August in UFC 278.
This was their third meeting, more than seven years after the first fight won by Usman.
American Justin Gaethje beat Rafael Fiziev in the lightweight category by majority decision, 29-28, 29-28, 28-28.
Locally
The San Diego Legion (4-1) defeated Rugby Atlanta 35-10 on the road at Silverbacks Park in Major League Rugby play. The Legion’s trys were scored by Tomas Aoake (seventh minute), Richard Judd (27th), Dan Pryor (51st), Nate Sylvia (76th) and Richard Judd (78th).
• The San Diego Gulls scored twice in the second period to tie the game but then the Iowa Wild scored four straight goals for a 6-2 AHL win at Pechanga Arena.
• After a 6-4 MASL victory over the Flash on Friday night, the San Diego Sockers will host the Empire Strykers at 5:05 p.m. today at Pechanga Arena.
• Wesley Berg scored four goals as the San Diego Seals scored a 16-9 victory at the Vancouver Warriors on Friday night in NLL play.
• The San Diego State men’s golf team finished in 11th place at Arizona’s National Invitational Tournament in Tucson, Ariz. The Aztecs shot a 1-over-par 289 in Saturday’s final round and collectively finished at 4under 860. Arizona won the tournament with a 24-under 840.
• In baseball, UC San Diego improved to 2-0 in Big West play with a dominating 14-2 victory over Long Beach State (10-7, 0-2) at home. The Tritons (11-6) recorded 12 hits. University of San Diego scored 10 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for a come-from-behind 16-9 victory over Pacific. San Diego State pitchers gave up 16 hits in a 12-6 nonconference loss to visiting Uconn.
• In softball, No. 5 Cal State San Marcos (14-7, 10-4 CCAA) dropped both ends of its doubleheader against No. 17 Cal State Dominguez Hills (15-6, 7-3 CCAA) by scores of 3-1 and 5-0 at home.
MLS
Two of the favorites in the Western Conference relied on their goalkeepers as Seattle’s Stefan Frei and LAFC’S John Mccarthy posted shutouts in a 0-0 draw at Seattle. LAFC remained unbeaten at 2-0-1, while Seattle slipped to 2-1-1.
International soccer
The goals just keep flowing for Erling Haaland and Manchester City, no matter the competition. Haaland bagged another hat trick to make it eight goals in his last two games as City eased into the FA Cup semifinals with a 6-0 home win over Championship side Burnley on Saturday. It was City’s sixth straight win in all competitions, having scored 23 goals in that stretch. In the late game, 15th-place Everton twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Chelsea.
• American winger Tim Weah was stretchered off the field in a neck brace as Lille won 2-0 at Toulouse in the French league. Weah got injured deep in stoppage time after a collision with Toulouse midfielder Vincent Sierro as they fought for the ball in the air. Weah had been selected Wednesday by interim U.S. coach Anthony Hudson for CONCACAF Nations League matches against Grenada and El Salvador. It was unclear whether Weah would be able to rejoin the national squad during the international break later this month, although Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier said on the Lille website that his teammate is “fine” and was able to celebrate the win.
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic became the oldest scorer in Serie A history at age 41 but had little else to celebrate after AC Milan was beaten 3-1 at Udinese. The result extended Milan’s winless streak to three matches in the Italian league.
College basketball
Western Kentucky hired
Steve Lutz as the Hilltoppers’ coach, quickly completing a national search a week after Rick Stansbury stepped down. Lutz guided Texas A&m-corpus Christi past Southeast Missouri State 75-71 on Tuesday for its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory — a First Four matchup of No. 16 seeds.
• Tyrin Lawrence scored the game-winning layup with 10 seconds left and racked up 24 total points to lead Vanderbilt (22-14) past visiting Michigan (18-16) 66-65 in the second round of the NIT.
• Landers Nolley II had 20 points in Cincinnati’s 79-65 victory against Hofstra (2510) on the road in the NIT. Nolley added six rebounds for the Bearcats (23-12).
• Minnesota hired West Virginia women’s coach
Dawn Plitzuweit to a sixyear contract, turning to another leader with strong regional ties to try to lift up the lagging program. Plitzuweit, who replaces Lindsay Whalen, has 16 years of experience as a head coach with a career record of 356-141 at four schools.
Also
Kate Douglass was involved in two more American records and Virginia dominated once again at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship at Knoxville, Tenn., winning the team title for the third consecutive year. Douglass lowered her American record in the 200-meter breaststroke and swam a leg on Virginia’s record-setting 400-yard freestyle relay team.
• Ohio State defender Sophie Jaques won the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the top player in women’s NCAA Division I hockey.