Aaron Tau’s flyweight bout against Namsrai Batbayar at UFC 325 in Australia on Saturday has been cancelled after a mishap at the weigh-ins.
New Zealand’s Tau, who stepped on the scales in Sydney behind a curtain which allows fighters to shed the weight of their clothes, first weighed 122.25lb (8st 10.25lb).
The result was met by confusion by commentators Chris Weidman and RJ Clifford on the live broadcast, who questioned how Tau could be 3.75lb under the flyweight limit when using the curtain – a trick typically reserved for tight weight cuts.
The curtain was then removed and Tau was made to step on the scales again by UFC officials, before weighing 129lb (9st 2lb) which was 3lb over the limit.
The UFC later announced that the fight had been removed from the card.
During the broadcast, UFC commentators compared the mishap to former light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier’s “towel trick” in 2017.
After weighing 1.2lb over the 205lb (14st 6lb) light-heavyweight limit for his title fight against Anthony Johnson, Cormier later clocked exactly 205lb but could be seen resting his hands on the towel which was being held by UFC officials to cover his body.
Cormier initially denying any wrongdoing, but later admitted that he “may have grabbed the towel” to relieve the excess weight.
Turkiye’s main Kurdish football team has been fined for “ideological propaganda” in favour of Kurdish forces in northern Syria, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has said.
Amedspor FC, which is based in Diyarbakir, the main city in the Kurdish-majority southeast, was fined 802,500 Turkish lira (nearly $18,500) and its president slapped with a 15-day suspension from all football activity, the TFF said in a statement late on Thursday.
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At issue was a 20-second clip on its social media accounts showing a woman having her hair braided set to a soundtrack featuring the widely used Kurdish slogan “Jin, jiyan, azadi” – which means “Woman, life, freedom”.
Over the past week, hair braiding has become a symbolic show of solidarity with Syrian Kurds as Damascus has pressed a military offensive in northeastern areas formerly part of the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration.
In recent weeks, social media has been awash with clips of women braiding their hair in response to a video showing a Syrian soldier holding up a plait he claimed to have cut from a female Kurdish fighter in Raqqa that was recently taken by the Syrian military.
Although the claim could not be independently verified, it caused an online backlash.
The TFF said the club was guilty of “damaging the reputation of football” by “making ideological propaganda”.
Contacted by AFP, Amedspor President Nahit Eren said he had appealed against the decision, but made no further comment.
Eren – former head of the Diyarbakir Bar Association – had on Tuesday posted on X about “efforts to embroil our club in various controversies”.
Gary Anderson has hit out at the rise of influencers in darts after his World Masters first-round match.
The two-time world champion beat Niels Zonneveld 3-2 at Arena MK on Thursday.
In his post-match interview with the media, Anderson said: “I don’t [watch] YouTube, but I’m watching – what do you call them? – influencers. ‘How to play darts’ – I’ve never seen the bloke in my life,” Anderson said.
“I’ve watched him play darts, he’s absolutely rank at it, so why watch him?
“Who is he? They’re actually pros and they actually know about darts, do they?
He added: “Kids need to learn they can go buy a set of darts that cost you 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 quid, instead of spending hundreds of pounds on darts, and play the game.
“Just let them play darts and enjoy it. Buy a £20 set of darts and go and enjoy your game of darts. End of, easy.”
While it is unclear who Anderson was referring to, his rant follows the announcement that YouTuber and I’m a Celebrity Winner ‘Angry Ginge’ is considering entering PDC Qualifying School, which is open to any darts player aged 16 and above to compete to win a PDC tour card.
The influencer, who’s real name is Morgan Burtwistle, said he could attend the event in Milton Keynes next year to test himself on the oche against the sport’s elite.
Burtwistle is a close friend of Luke Littler and was recently at Ally Pally supporting ‘The Nuke’ during his World Championship win.
Former pro Matthew Edgar does not agree with Anderson, telling the Mission Darts Podcast that Burtwistle’s journey would be good for the sport.
“I think it would be good for the game,” he said.
“If he was to show some progression from where he is now, it will show people that it’s a potential avenue and it’s an actual journey. So I’m all for it, to be honest.”
Carlos Alcaraz overcame cramps and injury to fend off Alexander Zverev in an epic, momentum-swinging five-setter to become the youngest man in the Open era to reach the finals of all four Grand Slam events.
At 22, he’s aiming to be the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.
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He reached his first Australian Open final the hard way, winning 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in 5 hours, 27 minutes on Friday.
That’s despite being two points away in the third set from a semifinal victory in a tournament where he hadn’t dropped a set through five rounds.
He was behind in the fifth set after dropping the first game and didn’t break back until Zverev was serving for the match in the 10th.
Alcaraz will next face either two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner or 10-time Australian Open titlist Novak Djokovic, who is bidding for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title. The long afternoon match delayed the start of the night’s semifinal.
The top-ranked Alcaraz was leading by two sets and appeared to be in the kind of form that won him the US Open last year and has helped him evenly split the last eight majors with Sinner.
But in the ninth game of the third, he started limping and appeared to be struggling with an upper right leg problem. After holding for 5-4, he took a medical timeout in the changeover. It may have been cramp, but he rubbed the inside of his right thigh and called for the trainer, who also massaged the same area.
Zverev was demonstrably upset, talking with a tournament official, when his rival was given the three-minute break for treatment.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz receives medical attention during his semifinal match against Germany’s Alexander Zverev [Jaimi Joy/Reuters]
Even with his limited footwork, Alcaraz was able to hit winners and get to 6-5 before the trainer returned in the changeover to massage the area again.
When he went back out, the crowd gave him rousing support. Zverev served a double-fault to open the next game, and Alcaraz lobbed and then slapped a forehand winner down the line to get to 0-30. But Zverev won four straight points to force the tiebreaker and then win it.
No 3 Zverev, the 2025 runner-up, retained his composure despite Alcaraz’s obvious discomfort on the other side of the net, and the crowd on Rod Laver Arena firmly behind the Spaniard.
He was in front for the entire fourth set, but Alcaraz stayed with him, until Zverev again took charge in the tiebreaker. More than four hours had elapsed when the match went to a fifth set, the first five-setter on the centre court in the 2026 tournament.
Alcaraz dropped serve in the opening game of the fifth set but hung with Zverev, getting five breakpoint chances without being able to convert.
The drama lifted in the sixth game, when Alcaraz sprinted across court to track down a drop shot and slid at full pace for an angled forehand winner. The crowd went crazy.
Alcaraz finally converted the break when Zverev was serving for the match at 5-4 in the fifth set.
Burkina Faso’s junta announced Thursday that it plans to dissolve all political parties, whose activities have been suspended since the military rulers seized power in 2022.
Captain Ibrahim Traore took over in a September 2022 coup after toppling another junta, and has sharply muzzled dissenting voices since then.
Parties were previously banned from holding public gatherings but still allowed to operate internally.
“The government believes that the proliferation of political parties has led to abuses, fuelled divisions among citizens and weakened the social fabric,” the presidency said in a readout of a cabinet meeting.
A draft law dissolving political parties will now be “sent to the Transitional Legislative Assembly as soon as possible,” said territorial administration minister Emile Zerbo.
The assets of dissolved parties would be transferred to the state, he added.
The decision, he continued, aims to “preserve national unity, strengthen the coherence of government action and pave the way for reforming political governance”.
Traore’s 2022 coup ousted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had taken power only nine months earlier.
READ ALSO: Akoko-Edo LG Chairman Oshionogue Impeached
After going into exile in Togo, Damiba was regularly accused by Burkina’s military rulers of planning coup plots and assassination attempts — the latest earlier this month.
Togo extradited him this month back to Burkina Faso.
The Chairman of Akoko-Edo Local Government Council, Hon Alabi Oshionogue, has been sacked by seven out of 10 councillors.
Oshionogue was impeached in a letter signed by the seven councillors.
Subsequently, the Vice Chairman of the local government, Hon Ayodele Fatimbi, has been sworn in as the new council boss.
The letter of impeachment reads, “We, the undersigned members of Akoko Edo Local Government Area Legislative Arm, hereby impeach you as the acting Local Government Council Chairman with effect from today, the 28th January, 2026.
“This decision is as a result of your abuse of office, high-handedness, embezzlement of Council funds, Anti-party activities, financial recklessness, forgery, and constant disobedience to constituted authorities”.
The councilors who signed the impeachment notice were from wards one, four, six, eight, nine, and ten.
Oshionogue, however, denied any wrongdoing, saying there are ongoing projects in each of the 10 wards of the local government area.
He was said to have been impeached, a few hours after lawmakers in the Edo State House of Assembly failed to hold a peace meeting with him and the seven aggrieved councillors.
READ ALSO: Edo Gov Okpebholo Reshuffles Cabinet
It was gathered that the Chairman was removed from office after a failed attempt by the other three councillors to suspend the seven councilors who signed the impeachment letter.
