B4
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 6, 2019
The best ever? Jones, Nunes could make cases at UFC 239
By GREG BEACHAM
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Any
attempt to choose the most
dominant active fi ghter in
mixed martial arts inevita-
bly leads to a choice between
two champions: Jon Jones or
Amanda Nunes.
Any discussion of the
greatest fi ghters in MMA
history must include Jones
and Nunes as well. They
simply have been too good
for too long — and beaten
too many fellow giants of
the sport — to be left out.
When they fi ght on the
same card Saturday night in
Las Vegas, the joint show-
case provides an opportu-
nity for fans to see greatness
at its possible peak. UFC
239 is also another chance to
see whether Jones or Nunes
will fi nally fall from the
perches they have occupied
for so long atop MMA.
“It only takes one fi ght,
one punch, one slip to
change a lot of things,” Jones
said this week.
Right before Jones (24-
1, 1 no-contest) defends
his light heavyweight title
against Brazil’s Thiago San-
tos (21-6) in the main event
at T-Mobile Arena, Nunes
(17-4) faces former cham-
pion Holly Holm (12-4) in
the fourth defense of her
bantamweight belt.
While Jones and Nunes
are both favored to win, their
AP Photo/Erik Verduzco, File
In this March 1, 2019, fi le photo, Jon Jones poses during the ceremonial UFC 235 mixed mar-
tial arts weigh-in event in Las Vegas.
matchups come with signifi -
cant worries. Both challeng-
ers overcame major obsta-
cles simply to reach this
stage, and they’re unlikely
to be daunted by the aura of
the greats standing across
from them.
“He has a lot of great
accomplishments, but he’s
just a man like me,” Santos
said. “I know what we need
to do to beat him.”
Santos was a middle-
weight less than a year ago,
but he moved up to light
heavyweight last Septem-
ber and promptly knocked
out three straight oppo-
nents to earn this title shot.
His 8½-inch reach disad-
vantage against Jones could
be his biggest obstacle,
because Jones knows how
to use his oversized frame to
full advantage against any
opponent.
Santos is an extremely
muscular light heavyweight,
and he likely has more raw
punching power than any-
one Jones has faced recently.
The champ is appropriately
wary of the prospect of an
early knockout.
There also is the small
possibility of fatigue becom-
ing a factor. Jones, who
turns 32 later this month, is
in his third fi ght in just over
six months. He is still mak-
ing up for the lost time and
income of his late 20s, when
he managed to be eligible for
just four fi ghts in a fi ve-year
span amid numerous failed
doping tests and outside-
the-cage misbehavior.
“It’s a really good story, I
know,” Jones said. “It has its
drama, and I’m hoping it has
a happy ending.”
Nunes is fi ghting for the
fi rst time since she became
a two-division champion
with her stunning 51-second
knockout of Cris “Cyborg”
Justino. Although Holm has
lost four of her last six fi ghts,
she got this title shot on the
strength of her talent and the
fame that still lingers from
her shocking upset of Ronda
Rousey nearly four years
ago.
Holm was a professional
boxer for years, but Nunes
is a formidable puncher
who easily dispatched the
aggressive Cyborg. Holm
isn’t likely to wade into an
immediate brawl, as Cyborg
did, and her kickboxing acu-
men is likely to force Nunes
to be more patient.
But Nunes has shown the
discipline and mental tough-
ness to stick to a game plan,
and Holm will be forced to
be resourceful.
“I’m ready for anything
she can bring to me,” Nunes
said. “We’ve studied her,
but more important, I know
what I need to do. I’ve been
here before.”
The two title fi ghts are
just the main attractions on
a star-studded card for the
UFC’s annual International
Fight Week pay-per-view
show. Here are more things
to know about UFC 239:
Shut Him Up: The big-
gest personal grudge on the
card is between unbeaten
welterweight Ben Askren
and veteran challenger
Jorge Masvidal. They have
exchanged insults through-
out the promotion of a fi ght
that’s likely to lead to a title
shot for the winner. “In all
my fi ghts, I’ve never had
this many people come up
to me and beg me to end a
guy,” Masvidal said. “I had
somebody ask me to turn his
face into a sinkhole, to leave
one side of his face no longer
looking like the other side.”
Return Of The Rock:
Former
middleweight
champ Luke Rockhold
makes his light heavyweight
debut in his return from a
17-month absence against
Poland’s Jan Blachowicz.
Rockhold believes he can
easily beat almost anyone at
205 pounds, but Blachowicz
is a powerful puncher.
Go Diego Go: UFC vet-
eran Diego Sanchez has been
in rare form before his show-
down with Michael Chiesa,
cutting wrestling-style pro-
mos and theatrically staring
down his opponent at every
opportunity. The brawl-lov-
ing Sanchez is rarely in a
boring fi ght, but Chiesa has
looked dangerous with his
move to welterweight.
Gilback: Gilbert Melen-
dez hasn’t won a fi ght since
October 2013, but the loqua-
cious 37-year-old veteran
returns from a 22-month
absence to fi ght Arnold
Allen in the fi nal prelimi-
nary bout on ESPN before
the pay-per-view show
begins.
Noah Lyles runs 19.50 in 200 meters, 4th best time ever
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
Associated Press
LAUSANNE, Switzer-
land — Noah Lyles raced to
the fourth-fastest 200-meter
time in history on Friday,
fi nishing in 19.50 seconds at
the Athletissima Diamond
League meet.
Lyles even ran into a
slight headwind on a warm
evening, going 0.08 seconds
faster than Usain Bolt’s
Lausanne track record set
seven years ago.
Only Michael Johnson
among American sprinters,
winning the 1996 Atlanta
Olympics title in 19.32, has
run the 200 faster than the
21-year-old Floridian.
“The track here is burn-
ing up,” said Lyles, who
leaned back and shouted
skyward before posing for
photographs next to the
trackside clock. “It was
about getting out strong.
There is nothing better than
seeing the accomplishments
of what you have put in.”
Bolt’s world record of
19.19 was set at the 2009
world championships in Ber-
lin. His Jamaica teammate
Yohan Blake ran 19.26 at
Brussels in 2011.
In other world-leading
performances Friday, Timo-
thy Cheruiyot of Kenya won
the men’s 1,500 in 3 min-
utes, 28.77 seconds, and pole
vaulter Piotr Lisek of Poland
cleared 6.01 meters.
The EO’s
Lyles had been tied for
eighth all-time for his 19.65
set at Monaco last year.
“Each year I’m making
a huge jump. I’m very satis-
fi ed,” said Lyles, who heads
to U.S. nationals in three
weeks at Des Moines, Iowa,
aiming to make the 2019
worlds team. They open
Sept. 28 in Doha, Qatar.
His season-best had been
19.72 as runner-up to another
21-year-old
American,
Michael Norman, in Rome
one month ago. Norman’s
time of 10.70 at the Golden
Gala meet had been the fast-
est in the world this year.
On an ideal night for
sprinting, two-time Olympic
gold medalist Shelly-Ann
Fraser-Pryce dominated the
women’s 100. Her 10.74 per-
formance was just 0.01 out-
side the world-leading time
Elaine Thompson and Fra-
ser-Pryce herself clocked at
the Jamaica nationals last
month.
The 32-year-old Fras-
er-Pryce, who missed the
2017 season to give birth to
her fi rst child, quickly ran
clear to fi nish 0.17 ahead of
Dina Asher-Smith, the Euro-
pean champion.
Asher-Smith and the 2017
worlds silver and bronze
medalists — Marie-Josée
Ta Lou and Dafne Schippers
— all clocked season-best
times trailing far behind Fra-
ser-Pryce, the 2008 and 2012
Olympic champion.
Umatilla County
Biggest
history in a
hardcover book
Special
Publication
of the Year
COMING
September 4th, 2019
$29.95 $44.95
Trust your advertising dollar to a company that has been in
the publishing business for more than a century.
plus tax & shipping
offer expires 10/16/19
• Proven Distribution network of 20,000 magazines
• Distributed in the East Oregonian, Hermiston Herald, Wallowa County Chieftan,
Blue Mountain Eagle, LaGrande Observer and Baker City Herald.
• Available in Hotels, Motels and RV Parks and Pendleton Chamber of Commerce.
• Collectible High Gloss Magazine
• Trust your advertising dollar to a company that has been in the Round-Up
Business for years.
• Early bird advertising rates available now, reserve your space now!
The East Oregonian is pleased to announce an all-new hardcover coffee-table book:
“Umatilla County Memories: A Pictorial History of the mid-1800s through 1939.”
We are thrilled to include photos of Umatilla County from our readers, in addition
to photos carefully selected from local partners from the mid-1800s to 1939. Pre-
order your 136-page commemorative book now and save $15.00 off the $44.95
retail price.
Order online and save with flat-rate shipping
Umatilla.PictorialBook.com
Pre-order by mail now (discount expires 10/16/19). Select an option:
☐ Ship my order to me
☐ I’ll pick up my order
$29.95 plus $6.95 shipping and handling per book.
$29.95 per book. Pick up order at the East Oregonian
Order will be shipped to the address below
off ice (211 SE Byers Avenue, Pendleton)
after 11/22/19.
after 11/18/19.
Quantity: ___ x $36.90 = $______ total
Quantity: ___ x $29.95 = $______ total
Payment method: ☐ Check/Money Order
Credit card orders can be placed online: Umatilla.PictorialBook.com
Name
Angela Treadwell
541-966-0827
Rowan Treadwell
541-278-2670
atreadwell@eastoregonian.com
rowan@eastoregonian.com
Grace Bubar
541-276-2214
Jeanne Jewett
541-564-4531
gbubar@eastoregonian.com
jjewett@hermistonherald.com
Audra Workman
541-564-4538
aworkman@eastoregonian.com
Send form and payment to:
East Oregonian
211 SE Byers Avenue
Pendleton, OR 97801
or call 800-522-0255
Address
City
State
Phone
E-mail
From the archives of Athena Public Library, City
of Echo, Milton-Freewater Area Historical Society,
Pendleton Round-up, Tamástslikt Cultural Institute
and Umatilla County Historical Society
Zip