AC MILAN REACHES CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QF WITH 0-0 DRAW AT SPURS

LONDON (AP) — of the commission, which regulates combat sports in Nevada, says approving the league was a mistake.

AC Milan advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League after holding 10-man Tottenham to a goalless draw yesterday.

Brahim Diaz’ strike in the first leg of the round-of-16 matchup was enough to separate the teams as even the return of manager Antonio Conte could not inspire a comeback from Spurs.

Seven-time European champions Milan cruised through the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which saw Cristian Romero sent off in the second half.

Harry Kane’s 94th minute header was the closest the home team came to leveling the score on aggregate — before Milan substitute Divock Origi hit the post in a frantic finish.

Conte was back on the sideline for Tottenham after spending two-anda-half weeks in Turin recovering from gallbladder surgery.

Chris Nowinski, cofounder and CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, agrees, calling slap fighting “one of the stupidest things you can do.”

“There’s nothing fun, there’s nothing interesting and there’s nothing sporting,” Nowinski said. “They’re trying to dress up a really stupid activity to try to make money.”

White and the competitors remain unfazed, comparing commentary on slapping to the negative reaction the UFC faced in its infancy more than 20 years ago.

“I think it’s definitely overblown with the topics of CTE and the damage that we’re taking,” said Ryan Phillips, a Power Slap League fighter. “I think a lot of people still just don’t understand that it’s still a slap.”

Concerns about concussions leading to CTE, which can cause violent mood swings, depression and memory loss, aren’t confined to combat sports. The disease has shown up in the brains of former rugby players, and the NFL and college football have taken steps to cut down on blows to the head by changing rules regarding tackling and other hits. CTE can only be detected during an autopsy.

Despite the naysayers, White said he believes slap

Frankie Montas said Wednesday his shoulder wasn’t fully healthy when he was acquired by the New York Yankees at the trade deadline last season, but the right-handed starter said he tried to “push through” after joining his new team.

Montas, who went 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts last season after being obtained from Oakland, is recovering from shoulder surgery that will keep him from throwing until at least late May. “I was trying to push through,” Montas told reporters in his first comments since surgery two weeks earlier. “I got traded to a new team and wanted to show what I could do. Things didn’t go the way I was expecting.”

The Yankees placed Montas on the injured list in late September after his second cortisone injection of the year, knocking him out of the AL Division Series. He was on the roster for the AL Championship Series, but pitched only one inning in the opener against Houston.

Montas said he kept experiencing discomfort when trying to begin a throwing programme during the offseason. While he tried to avoid surgery, he said fighting will follow a similar trajectory to mixed martial arts, which the late Sen.

John McCain referred to as “human cockfighting” in 1996, when the UFC didn’t have weight classes or many rules. McCain’s criticism helped force the organisation to become more structured, leading to its widespread acceptance.

White said the ratings of the TBS reality show “Power Slap: Road to the Title” bear out the early popularity of what to many is still a curiosity.

White said he realised there could be a market for the sport in the U.S. when he clocked the millions of YouTube views of slap fighting videos from eastern Europe in 2017 and 2018. The videos were that was the best option, and that he is confident that he will pitch this season for the Yankees.

“Trust me, I’m one of the guys that wants to be out there pitching right now and showing what I can do,” he said. “But things didn’t work out that way, so just trying to rehab and come back so I can help with whatever they want me to do.”

New York acquired Montas and reliever Lou Trivino from the Athletics on August 1 in exchange for four prospects.

JUDGE IN LEFT

Aaron Judge played his first game in left field since he was a minor leaguer nearly seven years ago. The record-breaking slugger could end up playing quite a few games there for the New York Yankees this season.

Judge was in left field for the first five innings of the Yankees’ 4-0 exhibition loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, though he had no putouts. Manager Aaron Boone has said he would like to use Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield for 40-60 games this season if the slugger is healthy. That would mean shifting Judge to left at times because Gold Glove winner Harrison Bader, acquired at last year’s trade deadline, is expected to get the bulk of the starts in center.

On way to setting the AL record with his 62 home runs last season, Judge started 74 games in often poorly produced, the slap matches unregulated. White became convinced that fights with written rules and shot with professional video equipment could convert many internet viewers into dedicated, paying fans.

The Nevada commission gave slap fighting some much needed legitimacy when it unanimously sanctioned the sport in October and a month later awarded White a license to promote it.

But White’s enterprise was hampered when he was captured on video slapping his wife on New Year’s Eve. White apologised, but has acknowledged it damaged efforts to get the league off the ground. White is no newcomer to controversy: Former UFC fighters Kajan centre field, 54 in right field and 25 more as DH. He signed a $360 million, nine-year contract during the offseason. The last time Judge had played left field before Wednesday was for Triple-A Scranton/WilkesBarre against Syracuse on August 7, 2016. Judge’s only putout in that game was an eighth-inning flyout by Michael A. Taylor.

JANSEN’s WBC WAIT

Kenley Jansen could still be part of his fourth WBC with the Netherlands team — if it advances to the semifinals in Miami.

“So hopefully we’ll get there to Miami so he can join us from Fort Myers for the final round,” Netherlands manager Hensley Meulens said before the team began pool play in Taiwan on Wednesday. Second-round games would be played in Japan.

Jansen is in his first spring training with the Boston Red Sox after the long-time closer spent last season with the Atlanta Braves.

“At the time we had to put out the roster on February 7, Kenley was not ready to throw at that time,” Meulens said. “He choose to get in shape first and join us later on if we get there. So we honor that decision. He switched teams, as well, but the last two times, also, he never came over here, so he always joined us in the last round.”

Johnson and Clarence Dollaway filed a lawsuit in 2021 against Endeavor, the organisation’s parent company, alleging that UFC takes an inordinate share of the profits. But White is charging ahead.

Three qualifying events have taken place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, ahead of the March 11 telecast on the streaming platform Rumble in which champions will be crowned in four weight classes.

Power Slap fights are typically three to five rounds. The fighters take turns hitting each other in the face with an open hand, and those on the receiving end stand with their hands behind their backs. A fighter has up to 60 seconds to recover and respond after receiving a blow. Fighters can earn up to 10 points based on the effectiveness of the slap and the defender’s reaction.

Fights can end in a decision, knockout, technical knockout or disqualification, such as for an illegal slap. All slaps are subject to video review. Each event has two referees and three judges.

Also present are a supervising doctor and a physician or physician’s assistant, plus three EMTs and three ambulances. White has touted the safety record of the UFC, but has not talked specifically about injuries in the Power Slap League.

PSG

FROM PAGE 15

Cup by Marseille last month. Shortly after having a goal ruled out for offside, and also inadvertently blocking a teammate’s shot, Choupo-Moting scored in the 61st minute to put Bayern on course for the quarterfinals and send PSG — which has never won the Champions League — out of the competition in the last 16 for the second year running.

Leon Goretzka and Thomas Müller teamed up to take the ball off Marco Verratti and Goretzka squared the ball for ChoupoMoting to apply a simple finish with goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma stranded.

Two substitutes then linked up to make sure of the win on the counter in the 89th, with João Cancelo surging down the right flank before playing in Gnabry to score.

Games between PSG and Bayern have helped define the career of Choupo-Moting, a latedeveloping 33-year-old forward who until this season was best known as a backup striker for Robert Lewandowski at Bayern.

Choupo-Moting played for PSG against Bayern when the German team won the Champions League final in 2020. After signing for Bayern as a free agent the following season, he scored once in each leg in a defeat onaway goals to PSG in the Champions League quarterfinals.

But the he could only watch on as his team failed to break down Italian champions Milan, meaning Spurs’ 15-year wait for a trophy goes on, having failed to win any silverware since the League Cup in 2008.

Tottenham is now left to battle for a place in the Premier League top four, which would provide a route back into the Champions League. Milan, meanwhile, can dream of an eighth title in Europe’s elite club competition.

Only Real Madrid has been crowned European champion on more occasions than Milan, which last won club soccer’s biggest prize in 2007.

Few expect Stefano Pioli’s team to break that drought this season, but it heads into the last eight after a defensively resolute performance subdued a Tottenham attack that was short of ideas.

While the finish was thrilling, the rest of the game had provided few chances for either side.

Tottenham had gone into the game on the back of bruising losses to second-division Sheffield United in the FA Cup and Wolverhampton in the Premier League.

While Conte’s return should have provided a boost, there was little sign of it as Spurs allowed Milan to cruise through the first half.

PSG was without Neymar, who played the first leg before sustaining a season-ending ankle injury, but had Mbappé, a substitute in the first game, back in the starting lineup.

The French champion pressed Bayern high up the field from the start, pressuring Bayern’s defense into some rash decisions. Bayern was lucky to escape without conceding when de Ligt made a desperate goal-line block in the 36th to clear Vitinha’s shot on an otherwise unguarded net. The chance came about when goalkeeper Yann Sommer tried to dribble forward under pressure from Achraf Hakimi, only to give the ball away to Vitinha.

Swiss goalkeeper Sommer — signed to stand in for the injured Manuel Neuer — paid tribute to de Ligt, telling broadcaster DAZN that he would reward the defender with “a truck load of Swiss chocolate.”

PSG coach Christophe Galtier blamed the team’s busy schedule and injuries to key players for the loss.

The injury list lengthened when captain Marquinhos went off in the 36th minute with what appeared to be a repeat of the rib pain which limited him in last week’s win over Nantes.

ANTHONY Davis

DAVIS’ 30 POINTS, 22 REBOUNDS LEAD LAKERS PAST GRIZZLIES

LOS ANGELES (AP)

— Anthony Davis had 30 points and 22 rebounds, Dennis Schröder added 17 points and nine assists and the Los Angeles Lakers moved into ninth place in the Western Conference with a 112-103 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night.

Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves scored 17 points apiece in the sixth win in eight games for the Lakers, who are surging since the trade deadline despite missing LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell to injury.

Jaren Jackson scored 26 points and Tyus Jones had 16 for the Grizzlies, who dropped to 0-2 without Ja Morant with their third straight loss overall.

Morant missed his second straight game since the Memphis superstar apparently took a gun into a strip club on the road and then flaunted it on social media last weekend. The two-time All-Star and the Grizzlies’ leading scorer is the target of two NBA investigations and a reported probe by Denver police.