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What To Do After Fight Night Emmett vs Vallejos
by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 3/16/26 Photo by Chris Unger/ Getty images Kevin Vallejos vs Yair Rodriguez Zak Drapeau - Vallejos has shown me enough that he should be taken seriously and given a top fight, and Yair Rodriguez seemingly has nothing else going on. A step up to #3 may be a bit soon for the 23-year-old, but after dispatching Chikadze and Emmett in the fashion he did, I'm ready to get a better look at what this phenom can do against a higher-qualit

Sportz Nation Staff
Mar 16


United States Advances to WBC Finals After Win v Dominican
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/16/26 Photo by Sam Navarro/ Imagn Images After one of the best baseball games I've watched in a long time, the United States have moved on to the Finals of the World Baseball Classic and will face either Italy or Venezuela on Tuesday night. In the semifinals game, the heroes for the USA were Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony and Pirates Pitcher Paul Skenes. Anthony has been one of the hitters since the tournament started and leads the team in R
Zak Drapeau
Mar 16


Fight Night Emmett v Valejos Predictions
by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 3/13/2026 In our UFC 326 Predictions from last week which you can find here, Zak went 3-3 with 2 methods for 5 points. Matt went 2-4 with 2 methods for 4 points. Points to Date: Zak: 41 (27-11) Matt: 37 (24-14) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *All odds are courtesy of Ceasar's Sportsbook as of 3/13 Graphic by UFC via Official Poster of Fight Night Emmett v Vallejos 11 Josh Emmett vs 14 Kevin Vallejos (Vallejos - 600) Zak Dra
Zak Drapeau
Mar 14


Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen's First 2026 NFL Mock Draft
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/14/2026 On Friday, March 13th Matt Hylen and myself did our first Mock Draft together of the 2026 season. Follow us on X for in podcast form if you want to listen in live as we'll do several more of these before the actual draft. This Mock Draft was an exercise we wanted to do because of Free Agency. While the period only technically started 2 days ago, "legal tampering" started Monday and we've seen the majority of the bigger moves take place
Zak Drapeau
Mar 14


2026 NFL Draft Running Backs Rankings
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/12/2026 Photo by Rick Kimball/ ISD 1. Jeremiyah Love 6'0" - 212 pounds Notre Dame Big Board Rank: 2 Pro Comparison: Christian McCaffrey Jeremiyah Love is different from the other Top-End RB prospects before him like Jeanty and Robinson. While he is not a RB you can depend to get you 4-5 yards every carry, he may be the best "Home Run hitter" we've seen at the position in a VERY long time. As athletic and agile as we've seen in a 215-pound RB,
Zak Drapeau
Mar 12


UFC Best Ever Series: 10 Greatest Women in UFC History
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/11/2026 Photo by Josh Hedges/ Zuffa LLC via Getty Images 10. Jessica Andrade UFC Record - 17-13 Championship Record - 1-3 Holder of the most fights and wins of any Woman in UFC history, Andrade is one of the most underappreciated fighters in history. Her famous slam knockout of Rose Namajunas was her only title win in 4 tries but her 13-year career in the UFC when she was almost entirely within the Top-10 deserves a spot on this list. 9. Car
Zak Drapeau
Mar 11


2026 NFL Draft Quarterback Rankings
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/10/2026 Photo by Darron Cummings/ Associated Press 1. Fernando Mendoza 6'5" - 236 lbs. Indiana Big Board Rank - 7 Pro Comparison: Trevor Lawrence Mendoza's stock may have risen with his National Championship performance but I'm still not sold on him as a #1 prospect even though he'll go #1 overall. Mendoza is by far the best of a bad QB class and has a lot of what you're looking for in a Franchise QB. Mendoza has the size, the accuracy, a goo
Zak Drapeau
Mar 10


Best and Worst NFL Free Agents Moves SO FAR
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/10/2026 Best Moves Photo by Timothy T. Ludwig/ Getty Images - Tyler Linderbaum - Raiders 3yr/ $81 Million Spending 27 Million a year on a Center is unheard of and $9 Million per year more than the next highest but Linderbaum is worth it. Especially to a team like the Raiders that has struggled to build an O-line and has a Franchise RB to build around. Linderbaum was a Captain for Baltimore's O-line for years and now comes to Vegas as THE capt
Zak Drapeau
Mar 10


What To Do After UFC 327
by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 3/9/2026 Photo by Jeff Bottari/ UFC/ Getty Images Charles Oliveira vs Armen Tsarukyan 2 Matt Hylen - It may not have been in the typical BMF-style fans expect, but Charles Oliveira was absolutely dominant. In what could be considered the best performance of his career, a title eliminator should be next. Charles deserves a get-back fight against Armen Tsarukyan. With the Lightweight title already booked, the winner of this fight

Sportz Nation Staff
Mar 9


UFC 326 Predictions
by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 3/6/2026 In our predictions from last week which you can find here for Moreno v Kavanaugh, Zak went 5-1 with 3 methods right for 8 points. Matt went 5-1 with 3 methods right for 8 points. Points to Date: Zak: 36 (24-8) Matt: 33 (22-10) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook as of 3/6/2026 Graphic by UFC via UFC.com 3 Charles Oliveira vs 4 Max Holloway (Holloway -225) Zak Drapeau The B

Sportz Nation Staff
Mar 6


Zak Drapeau's NFL Mock Draft 3.0 Post-Combine
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/5/2026 Graphic by NFL via steelers.com 1. Fernando Mendoza Las Vegas Raiders Big Board Rank: 7 Mendoza is the clear pick here for the QB-needy Raiders. The top Quarterback by a landslide in his class, this pick is al but decided already. 2. Arvel Reese New York Jets Big Board Rank: 4 And now the NFL draft starts, (or so they say.) Arevll Reese has gathered the most hype around his potential so he should be the pick here. As a hybrid off ball l
Zak Drapeau
Mar 5


UFC Best Ever Series: 10 Biggest Draws in UFC History
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/4/2026 Honorable Mention - Jon Jones Jones is unquestionably the greatest combat athlete of all time in my opinion but with greatness does not always come popularity. In Jon Jones record-17 PPV Main Events he has never sold over 1,000,000 buys. Photo by Carmen Mandato/ Getty Images 10. Jorge Masvidal The owner of what may be the most viral moment in UFC history Jorge Masvidal, had a 3-year stretch between 2019 and 2022 that included the knee
Zak Drapeau
Mar 4


NFL Draft Top-100 Prospect Big Board Post-Combine
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/4/2026 My last Big Board came out on January 21st which you can read hereafter the CFP Playoffs which you can read here . Since then, I've had over a month of more research and film studies, The Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowls and then the NFL Combine last weekend. With only CFB Pro Days to go from now until the Draft starts on April 23rd, I have ranked my Top-100 prospects of this class. In general, this class is not as good as years prior. Whil
Zak Drapeau
Mar 4


What To Do After Fight Night Moreno v Kavanaugh
by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 3/2/2026 Photo by Jeff Bottari/ Zuffa LLC Lone'er Kavanaugh vs Brandon Royval The performance Lone'er Kavanaugh just put on in enemy territory is inspiring. To beat up a former champion and tough guy like Brandon Moreno was awesome to see and should earn him a Top-8 ranking among the Flyweights. For his next fight, I can see him fighting either Brandon Royval or Amir Albazi. With both men on two-fight skids, I'd normally side with

Sportz Nation Staff
Mar 2


Winners and Losers For Every Position at the NFL Combine
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 3/2/2026 Graphic by NFL via PFF.com Quarterback Winner: Drew Allar, Penn State Drew Allar couldn't test after Tearing his ACL only 4 months ago but BOY OH BOY did he show off his arm in on-file workouts. Multiple QBs showed off their accuracy this year as it is truly a group marked for their precision, but no other QB showed off his arm strength like Allar while still being on the money. Allar is fighting to be QB3 off the board come April behin
Zak Drapeau
Mar 2


UFC Predictions: Fight Night 268 Moreno v.s. Kavanaugh
by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 2/27/2026 In our predictions from last week which you can find here for Strickland vs Hernandez, Zak went 5-2 with 3 methods right for 8 points. Matt went 3-4 with 2 methods right for 5 points. Points to Date: Zak: 28 (19-7) Matt: 25 (17-9) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook on 2/26 Graphic by UFC for UFC Mexico Fight Night 268 6 Brandon Moreno vs Lone'er Kavanaugh (Moreno -210) Za

Sportz Nation Staff
Feb 28


UFC Best Ever: Biggest UFC "What If" Fights We Never Saw
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 2/25/2026 Photo Courtesy of @khabib_nurmagomedov/ Instagram First thing's first, this is a list about how much we wanted to see the fight, NOT about how great the fight would've been. So much get's put into the sport of MMA that we forget that the UFC is foremost a spectator sport. While we appreciate the purity of the #1 contender facing the long-anointed champion, we also want to see the fights we want to see. There's something different about
Zak Drapeau
Feb 25


NFL Draft Positional Rankings Pre-Combine
by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 2/11/2026 The NFL Combine is one of the biggest NFL Offseason events of the year and it starts tomorrow. A total of 319 college football prospects are heading to Lucas Oil Stadium for the combine as one of the last showcases ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft on April 23-25. Breaking the schedule of prospects into 4 different days based on positions, here's how the schedule for the Combine will go. Thursday: D-Lineman, Linebackers and Kickers Friday: S
Zak Drapeau
Feb 25


Fights to Make after FN Strickland vs Hernandez
by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 2/23/2026 Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC Sean Strickland vs Title Holder Matt - We all know Sean Strickland is good, but I don't think anyone expected him to look that good. Strickland may have looked better than he ever has before, completely shutting down a monster in Anthony Hernandez. With Strickland snapping Fluffy's 8-fight winning streak, big things should be on the horizon for him. A third fight against Dricus Du Plessi

Sportz Nation Staff
Feb 23


UFC Predictions: Fight Night 267 Strickland v.s. Hernandez
by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 2/20/2026 In our predictions from last week which you can find here , Matt went 4-2 on picks while correctly predicting 2 methods for 6 total points. Zak went 3-3 on picks and also predicting 2 methods for 5 total points Points-to-Date: Matt: 21 (14-5) Zak: 20 (14-5) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook Photo from Matt Bohm/ MMA Junkie via Yahoo Sports 3 Sean Strickland v 4 Anthony Hernand

Sportz Nation Staff
Feb 20
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