By: Kevin Thomas
(Photographs by Zuffa LLC, Cary Edmondson, & Getty Images © 2023)
Friday May 5th, 2023:
One Fight Night 10 - Johnson v.s Moraes III
Astros v.s Mariners
Saturday May 6th, 2023:
Lakers v.s Warriors - Game 3
UFC 288 - Sterling v.s Cejudo
Sunday May 7th, 2023:
Hurricanes v.s Devils - Game 3
Maple Leafs v.s Panthers - Game 3
Stars v.s Kraken - Game 3
FRIDAY MAY 5:
ONE Championship's U.S. Debut. ONE Fight Night 10 - Johnson vs. Moraes III
ONE Championship will start the weekend off with a historic moment for mixed martial arts. The promotion will hold its debut event in America. ONE Championship is a wildly successful fighting promotion with a massive following in the Eastern part of the globe. The company is known for having multiple different styles of competition such as grappling, MMA, Muay Thai, and more.
The card is headlined by ONE Flyweight World Champion Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson (24-4-1) who will be defending his championship against Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes (20-4-0).
These two combatants will surely bring the pace and the action as they seek to end their trilogy definitively. Moraes changed the perception of what fans thought was possible when he knocked out Johnson in their first bout in April of 2021 with a violent knee. Johnson had never been knocked out in his professional career prior to that moment. Johnson then regained his championship belt with a vicious flying knee knockout of his own during their second fight in August of 2022.
This could also be the last fight of Johnson's storybook career as he has hinted to The Score. Johnson wants to make what could be his last, maybe his most entertaining yet. He said during a ONE Championship promotional event, "My black ass is either going to knock him out, or my black ass is getting knocked out."
The stacked card also features recently married Muay-Thai superstars Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Stamp Fairtex. In addition to, former prodigy Sage Northcutt. As well as the dominant and lovable grappler, Mikey Musumeci.
ONE Fight Night 10 - Johnson v.s. Moraes III begins at 8 p.m. ET
Houston Astros v.s Seattle Mariners
A showdown between two American League squads will happen in Seattle when the Mariners face the Houston Astros for a weekend series.
The Mariners are coming off 4 straight road wins and will be looking to continue their winning ways. The Astros are .500 in their last 10 games and are looking to build some momentum as the young baseball season progresses.
Taking the bump Friday night will be two of the league's most talented pitchers as Luis Castillo and Cristian Javier look to earn victories.
Castillo's 1.82 ERA is currently ranked 6th amongst qualifying pitchers. He is currently 2-0 in his 6 starting opportunities. Javier has a 2-1 record in his 6 starts. Javier has registered a 3.48 ERA to this point and is falling short of pre-season projections. Javier looks to gain some personal momentum with a quality start Friday night. Castillo is looking to continue his hot start.
Both teams are sitting at around the .500 mark for the season and are looking to climb the standings. This divisional matchup could be the catalyst for a hot month of May for one of these two teams with aspirations that go beyond simply making the playoffs.
The series between the Astros and Mariners will begin at 10:10 p.m. ET.
SATURDAY MAY 6:
Lakers v.s Warriors - Game 3
The Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors will face off at the Crypto.com Arena now tied 1-1 in their best-of-7 series. Sports fans around the globe have been lucky to witness these two uniquely talented rosters face off thus far and the fireworks should continue Saturday night.
In game 2, the Warriors won by 27 points. A performance led by the shooting ability of Klay Thompson (30 pts, 8-11 3pt, 11-18 fg) and the all-around point guard prowess of Stephen Curry (20 pts, 12ast, 4reb). The Splash Bros put on a show Thursday in the bay to even up the series. Draymond Green did a great job of facilitating in addition to Curry's offense with 9 assists of his own.
For the Lakers, the performances of Lebron James (23 pts, 7 reb, 3 ast) and Rui Hachimura (21 pts, 5 reb, 4-6 3pt) were the only two that stood out. Anthony Davis, who was a star in game 1 of this series, was not the same beast. Davis put up 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and a team-high 4 turnovers. In a game where the Warriors starting center, Kevon Looney only played 12 minutes due to an illness, A.D. managed single-digit rebounds and 1 offensive rebound.
The Lakers managed to only turn the ball over 9 times. However, they shot just 29.4% from beyond the arc and 42.6% from the field. That's not a winning recipe no matter how well you take care of the ball.
In game three we should see even more action from two teams with enough experience to understand what it takes to win tough games in the playoffs. Expect big performances from Lebron James and Stephen Curry.
What in my opinion, might decide game three will be the play of Anthony Davis. If A.D. can provide the presence on both ends of the court that he did in game 1 then the Lakers could be a tough team to deal with. The Warriors will look to continue to build on the adjustments they made for game 2.
Game three between these star-studded squads will take place at 8:30 p.m. ET
UFC 288 - Sterling v.s Cejudo
For the first time since 2019, the UFC will pack the Prudential Center with fans and live action. In the main event of the evening, UFC Bantamweight Champion, Aljamain "Funk Master" Sterling (22-3-0) will defend his belt for the third time and seek to quiet the neigh-sayers. His challenger, Henry "Triple C" Cejudo (16-2-0), is making his return to the octagon after a 3-year layoff that saw him coach some of the sport's best talents (Jon Jones, Jiří Procházka, and Zhang Wei Li for example).
The champion Aljamain Sterling has already stated that he has bad intentions for the former champion Cejudo, “I hope he stays on the outside. I’m going to pick his ass apart. I really do think so. I think this might be my first stand-up KO.”(via MMAfighting.com). Sterling's last bout was a victory over T.J Dillashaw at UFC 280.
Henry Cejudo is bringing to the octagon his experience of winning an Olympic gold medal, becoming a two-division champion in the UFC (one of just four ever), and his new set of goals for after he faces Sterling. He has been vocal about his intentions of using Sterling as a "tune-up" fight on his way to his next desired bout, "Suga" Sean O'Malley who is waiting to face the winner of this bout between Sterling and Cejudo. Cejudo states that he will face O'Malley after winning over Sterling. He then wants to face featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski.
In UFC 288's co-main event, two highly confident and capable combatants head in to take the cage on short notice to decide who is next for UFC Welterweight Champion Leon "Rocky" Edwards (after Colby Covington). Gilbert "Durhino" Burns (22-5-0) takes on surging contender, Belal "Remember the Name" Muhammad (22-3-0).
This bout came together on short notice as the initial co-main event for this card (Oliviera v.s. Dariush) was taken off the card due to an injury to Oliviera. That fight was moved to June 10th in Vancouver.
Gilbert Burns has been one of the UFC's most active fighters this year. After his fight against Muhammad on Saturday Burns will have fought 3 times since January of this year. Coming off back-to-back wins he has been demanding about receiving a title shot. Burns insinuated after his last fight that if he did not receive a title shot he would leave the UFC. Burns also stated during a recent press conference, he was told that the fight between himself and Muhammad would be a number one contender's fight for the Welterweight championship.
Muhammad has been on a tear as of late winning 8 fights in a row (2nd longest active win streak in the welterweight division behind Edwards' 13) leading up to this fight versus Burns. Muhammad began his training camp for this fight during Ramadan. This fact means that he was unable to eat or drink until sundown despite still going through his normal training and workouts. Muhammad is looking to add another big name to his resumé and believes that this will be what earns him his recognition, telling Damon Martin of MMAFighting.com, "If you don’t give me my respect, you’re just a hater."
UFC 288 prelims begin at 8 p.m. ET and the main card PPV begins at 10 p.m. ET.
SUNDAY MAY 7:
NHL Playoff Triple Header
Wrapping up the weekend are three NHL playoff games beginning with game three between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New Jersey Devils at 3:30 p.m. ET (Game 2 Between the Hurricanes and the Devils takes place on Saturday). Followed by game three between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers at 6:30 p.m. ET. The night is capped off by the third meeting between the Dallas Stars and the Seattle Kraken at 9:30 p.m. ET.
The Maple Leafs will be looking to rebound as they currently trail the Panthers 0-2 in the best-of-7 series. The Maple Leafs lost both of the first two home games of the series. The Panthers, after taking game 7 in Boston during the previous round and both games on the road in Toronto to start the series, are back on home ice Sunday looking to take one step closer to advancing to the next round and going up 3-0 on the Leafs, forcing the leafs to face elimination.
To end the weekend, the Seattle Kraken face off against the Dallas Stars to see who can take control of the series that is currently tied 1-1. The Kraken took the first game on Dallas' home ice despite a truly unbelievable 4 goal performance from Joe Pavelski. The Stars were able to bounce back with a strong performance from Tyler Seguin (1G, 1A) in game 2 where they won 4-2.
Enjoy the weekend!
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