Gilbert Burns will deal with potential clash against teammate Kamaru Usman after he gets through Tyron Woodley - MMA Fighting | Canada News Media
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Gilbert Burns will deal with potential clash against teammate Kamaru Usman after he gets through Tyron Woodley – MMA Fighting

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In a perfect world, Gilbert Burns would fight for the UFC welterweight title without going through Kamaru Usman.

Ahead of his showdown with Tyron Woodley at UFC on ESPN 9, Burns definitely understands the lay of the land in the division. A win over a former champion would almost certainly land the Brazilian in the conversation for the next title shot, which would then put him in direct opposition with Usman.

Truth be told, Burns would rather not even think about that possibility right now because Usman has been instrumental in his preparation to get ready for Woodley as well all of his other recent fights in the UFC. Burns considers Usman a close friend and they’ve been teammates for several years, which is why he prefers not to think about a fight between them until it actually becomes a reality.

“He’s helping me for this fight,” Burns said about Usman when speaking to MMA Fighting. “We just sparred three rounds. He’s going to be my main training partner for this fight. I don’t know. Things are going to get weird but I love the guy. I have a lot of admiration for that guy. I don’t want to think about that right now. I need to beat this guy, the former champion, he’s tough and I need to beat this guy first.

“After this, I’m going to call Kamaru and say ‘bro, those sparring sessions are getting the work in now.’ For sure, I’m going to respect him. I love the guy a lot. But I’m going to think about that after I beat Tyron Woodley. I’m sorry Kamaru, we might have to fight cause I want to be the best. But I love the guy a lot. No bad blood. The opposite. I just see Tyron Woodley next. After that, we’ll do what we need to do.”

There have been a few occasions in the past where a title fight between teammates has drawn battle lines in the gym.

Rashad Evans and Jon Jones got in a very public war of words after previously training together before they were scheduled to meet with the UFC light heavyweight title going up for grabs. While it wasn’t nearly as nasty, Woodley had to deal with a similar situation when he faced fellow American Top Team member Robbie Lawler for the belt back in 2016.

For his part, Burns doesn’t want any of that to happen with Usman or their gym at Hard Knocks 365 in Florida.

If they are forced to face off, Burns knows it would never be about anything more than competition and he’s never going to say a bad word about Usman just for the sake of hyping a fight.

“It’s business,” Burns said. “We might train together. It might get a little weird but we might train together. He wants to be the best. I want to be the best. We have exactly the same coaches, except for strength and conditioning and jiu-jitsu. We have Henri [Hooft], Kami [Barzini], Greg Jones, same team, same management.

“I’ve been training with him since 2012 or 2013 when I moved to the Blackzilians. I saw his whole career. He saw my whole career. My job is to beat Tyron Woodley. He’s the champion. All the pressure is on me. I need to win and then we’ll see what we’ll do after.”

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Decathlon world champ LePage dealing with low of missing Olympics while rehabbing

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It’s still difficult to put into words for reigning world decathlon champion Pierce LePage.

The 28-year-old from Whitby, Ont., had to withdraw from the Paris Olympics due to a herniated disc in his back. LePage suffered the injury in the spring but pushed to still compete. However, on July 17, he announced on social media that he would not be in Paris and needed surgery.

“I feel like there’s regret obviously — like, yes, I want to be there and things like that,” LePage said. “But I feel like there’s a lot of people and a lot of fans, friends, support, family, all the people that feeling I kind of let down, let myself down, let my coach down so I felt pretty guilty about that for a long time and still, you know going through the motions.

“Obviously it’s tough. I’m world champion. I had a lot of hopes and a lot of goals going into the Games,” he added. “It’s hard to put into words what I felt, but yeah, it sucked. But I was happy to push through as far as I could with the injury.”

LePage tweaked his back in the “end of March, early April,” doing an exercise in the gym. About two weeks later, while training for the long jump, he landed awkwardly, causing the herniated disc in his back.

LePage competed in several individual events in 2024, mostly indoors, but not a decathlon. He was also granted a medical exemption to not compete at Canadian national trials in June.

He said he knew it was “over” after a warm-up for his final competition in July before leaving for Paris. His pole broke prepping for the pole vault and hit the mat, but for the next couple of days had “a lot of nerve symptoms and a lot of pain” that stopped him from even jogging.

“Athletes go through injuries. It’s not anything new and I’ve always been someone who’s always been able to compete through injury, regardless of how severe it is,” LePage said. “So I thought that when it happened that that must be another case of small setback. I’ll be able to do it if I have some pain, like that’s fine, I’ll do whatever.

“But just the nature of the injury is that if it’s pushing on your nerves, you can’t get the results you want out of it.”

LePage, who will be one of 11 RBC Olympians who will be part of this year’s RBC Training Ground National Final on Saturday in Halifax, had surgery in August and says his progression in rehab has been good, although he doesn’t have a recovery timeline. However, he plans to be back well before the 2025 world championships in Tokyo next September.

LePage was coming off a massive 2023 season, claiming the first international title of his career in Gotzis, Austria, then winning his first world title in Budapest, Hungary, some months later. His mark of 8,909 points in Budapest was a personal best, world lead and sixth-best all-time score.

He also became the first Canadian to win a world title in the event. LePage earned his first worlds medal in 2022, with silver, behind world-record holder Kevin Mayer of France.

He finished 2023 as the top-ranked decathlete in the world, still holding that position until the Paris Olympics.

The 2023 season showed how tough LePage would be to beat, especially when healthy. He finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 dealing with a torn patella in his right knee. At the 2022 worlds, he competed through a torn patella in his left knee.

Many expected Canada to decathlon win gold and silver in Paris. Damian Warner of London, Ont., was the reigning Olympic champion heading into Paris and earned silver behind LePage at the 2023 worlds.

However, Warner withdrew with just a couple of events left in the decathlon in Paris after failing to clear the opening height of 4.60 metres in the pole vault on all three of his attempts. Warner fell from second to 18th, with no chance of climbing back into the mix.

LePage pointed to reasons for both men to be driven for redemption in Tokyo next year.

“I’m the world champion. I want to defend my title next year,” he said. “I’m sure Damian feels similar thoughts on not wanting to stop right there.

“No one likes to not finish decathlon. That is definitely drive to doing it again and kind of redeem ourselves, I suppose.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

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Pro Women’s Hockey League announces plans to expand by 2 teams for 2025-26 season

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The six-team Professional Women’s Hockey League is launching its expansion process with plans to add two franchises for the start of the 2025-26 season, a league executive announced Tuesday.

Speaking at the ESPNW Summit in New York, senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer said the league will begin sending requests for proposals to several markets starting as early as next week, while also accepting applications.

”(We’re) looking for the right market size, right fan base, right facilities, right economic opportunity — so a lot of research to be done over the next couple months,” Scheer said, without specifying which markets the league might be targeting. “But yeah, looking to continue to build the league and grow the number of teams.”

Among the U.S. expansion candidates are Detroit and Pittsburgh, where the PWHL hosted neutral site games during its inaugural season last year. Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia would also be regarded as candidates after both were considered before the league established teams in Boston, New York and Minnesota. Denver and Seattle are also considered potential candidates.

In Canada, where the league has teams in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, Quebec City has already announced its intention of being a candidate for an expansion franchise. Calgary would be a potential option with the city previously being home to the Inferno from 2011 to 2019, before the Canadian Women’s Hocky League folded.

Scheer also announced the league plans to hold neutral site games in nine markets across North America, and is considering holding an outdoor game. Scheer added the league is also working on holding games in Europe, without specifying when that might happen.

The PWHL’s second season opens on Nov. 30, and features an expanded schedule with each team playing 30 games — up from 24 last year. The league has yet to announce where it’s neutral site games will be played.

Quebec City councilor Jackie Smith announced earlier on Tuesday that the PWHL has agreed to play a neutral site game at the city’s Videotron Centre on Jan. 19. The PWHL’s schedule has Ottawa playing Montreal on that day, with the site yet to be determined.

Smith called the development the first step in Quebec City landing an expansion team.

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AP Women’s Hockey:

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Canada’s Eltorgman falls to Israel’s Poleshchuk at Cambridge Classic squash tourney

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TORONTO – Canadian squash player Salah Eltorgman dropped a 7-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 decision to Israel‘s Daniel Poleshchuk in quarterfinal play Tuesday at the Cambridge Group of Clubs Classic.

Eltorgman, from Toronto, was the lone Canadian left in the men’s draw of the Pro Squash Association tournament, which is a companion event to the Canadian Women’s Open.

The lone Canadian remaining in the women’s draw, Hollie Naughton of Mississauga, Ont., was scheduled to play Melissa Alves of France in the quarterfinals on Tuesday evening.

Naughton, the world No. 26, is ranked three positions higher than Alves, who dispatched top-seeded Nele Coll of Belgium on Monday.

Semifinals will be played Wednesday in the Allen Lambert Galleria at Brookfield Place.

The finals are set for Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

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