Category News

Warning: Sexual abuse is described in this article.

Because she wants to give hope to young victims when telling her tale of sexual abuse, Kayla Harrison never holds back.

“The tunnel leads to a shiny gold medal,” the statement read. There is a UFC belt at the end of the tunnel, but Harrison asserts that Harrison must say something and that we must keep talking about it.

Harrison’s judo coach abused her when she was younger. He was detained, found guilty, and given a 10-year prison sentence after her mother reported it to the police.

As one of the best athletes in the world, Harrison has used her reputation as a two-time Professional Fighters League (PFL) champion and double Olympic gold medalist to raise awareness of child sexual abuse.

She published a book in 2018 with the intention of teaching parents how to recognize warning signs of child grooming and take preventative measures.

The 34-year-old has the most power to raise awareness of the problem right now.

At UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey, she will face fellow American Julianna Pena for the bantamweight title on Saturday.

“I’m no longer that 10-year-old girl, but that 16-year-old girl.” Now that I’m an adult, I believe that God has given me this story for a reason, and that I should use it to improve the world. Harrison said, “I want to talk about it.”

Holly Holm made her UFC debut in April, but Harrison made a decision-winner over Ketlen Vieira in October.

In her first fight of her reign, Pena, 35, defeated Raquel Pennington in a unanimous decision in October to claim the bantamweight title.

Pena has tried to use her previous opponents’ trash talk to gain a mental advantage, but Harrison believes it has helped her own stock rise.

Harrison remarked, “Julianna is the ideal villain to make me a hero.”

I’m not sure if it’s my dominance or just how physically strong I am, or perhaps because I haven’t wrestled in a while and not been as competitive as a person because I thought people weren’t all that interested in me.

Harrison made her professional debut in mixed martial arts (MMA) in 2018 and won 18 of her 19 professional fights.

She has largely been spurred on by her family since starting MMA despite having trophies and success during her glittering judo career.

When her stepdad, who was at the time looking after the children, suddenly passed away, Harrison adopted her niece Kyla and nephew Emery in 2020.

When asked what winning a UFC title would entail, Harrison replies, “This belt is for me, and she uses her mother’s experience to further her ambition.”

My children have taught me that life is much more than just gold and trophies and medals. Everyone frequently inquires about where my Olympic gold medals are kept, Harrison said, “because they’re all sitting in my sock drawer collecting dust.”

My kids certainly don’t care, no one cares. They are concerned when I return home. It’s all about having ice cream with them while playing Nerf gun wars with them because I’m so mum.

It has made me a better fighter and given me a new peace, understanding, and freedom.

In Game One of the NBA Finals, the Indiana Pacers defeated Oklahoma City Thunder in the final second of the series.

With 0.33 seconds left, his 21-foot shot gave the Pacers a 111-110 victory over the Pacers, which was their first of the series.

The Thunder led by 15 points in the fourth quarter, which was advantaged by the first two games, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s most valuable player, had the ball in his hands in the closing seconds.

With 12 seconds left, he missed a two-point attempt, but the Pacers grabbed the rebound, gave the ball to Haliburton, drove down the court, and the winning points came from there.

The 25-year-old has won three games and one overtime to make it four in the 2025 play-offs with a big-time score.

Despite turning the ball over 25 times, 20 of them occurred in the first half, Indiana prevailed.

Haliburton remarked, “It’s not the recipe to win.”

“We can’t turn the ball over very much,” he said. However, when May and June arrive, it is still important to simply obtain them.

Haliburton’s teammate Myles Turner said, “Some players will say they have it, but there are others who show it,” according to Myles Turner. He wants to hit that shot. He stays in the moment at all.”

With 38 points, Gilgeous-Alexander led the Pacers in scoring, followed by Obi Toppin with 17 and Pascal Siakam with 19.

Jalen Williams, the Thunder’s player, said, “We played like we were trying to keep the lead rather than to extend it or be aggressive.”

Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium Date: Saturday, June 7 Kick-off: 18:00 BST

Before the start of the World Cup qualifiers in September, Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill claims that the friendly against Denmark will give his young squad a higher level of opposition.

Denmark takes on Northern Ireland at 18:00 BST in Copenhagen, followed by a 19:45 kickoff against Iceland at Windsor Park on Tuesday.

O’Neill’s side have recently lost just three of their previous 13 international matches and advanced to League B of the Nations League, but the NI boss is aware that facing Denmark will give them a chance to improve their standing.

In their autumn qualifying group for World Cup, Northern Ireland will face Germany, Slovakia, and Luxembourg.

After leading his squad through a training camp in Marbella ahead of the double-header, O’Neill declared, “Denmark are a tough team, a pot one team.”

We play in Luxembourg in September, and then we play in Germany, so it’s about getting more players and getting exposed to international football, and getting more exposure from the Nations League and what we’ll be facing in the World Cup.

Five months later, O’Neill’s men won 2-0 over the Danes in Belfast after losing 1-0 to Denmark in Euro 2024 qualifying in June 2023.

Brian Riemer, the team’s head coach, took over the reins in October of last year, but they have only won one of their six matches so far.

The onus will be on them because we are away from home. Only four games have passed since they hired a new coach. We will have to adapt to that because that is a slightly different style of play and they will be quite aggressive with how they want to press the game, O’Neill said.

“We scored two excellent goals on the counterattack when we beat them at home, and we’ll need to play again based on that.”

O’Neill thinks his players should approach high-quality opponents with confidence before playing.

They will observe the game at its highest level of international football, but we must act confidently that we can achieve a result there.

With six games where there isn’t much room for error, especially with a team like Germany, who typically dominate their group, that’s what we need to instill in the group of players.

We must convey to players that those are the games from which we can profit.

O’Neill explained that some squad members’ June games were the “most challenging” on the international calendar, with some coming to an end of May and others coming much more recently.

The players were all in different stages during the opening two days, but we are pleased with the work they’ve done.

We were unable to resign from the initial squad, which means that, aside from one or two minor niggles, we are in good shape.