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

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

by Joel Piton - Sportz Nation - 2/17/2026 With roughly two years of sample size now behind us, it feels like the right time to revisit what was widely labeled one of the weakest NBA draft classes in recent memory. That's a pretty bold narrative, and development in the NBA is rarely linear, especially for players barely old enough to buy a drink. In today’s environment, where immediate impact is what perception, patience has become increasingly rare. A player with early strugg

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

by Elias Meredith Sportz Nation - 2/23/26 SATURDAY: HOUSTON VS ARIZONA Photo by Maria Lysaker/AP Photo Saturday afternoon, the Fertitta Center on the campus of the University of Houston was the place to be for a preview of a potential Final Four matchup in March. The No. 4 Arizona Wildcats traveled east to face the No. 2 Houston Cougars in front of a packed house. Senior guard Anthony Dell’Orso tied a season-high scoring 22 points to get Arizona back to its winning ways after

Photo Credit to Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images Testing for the 2026 Formula 1 season is officially done and dusted. With teams getting hundreds of laps in over the past few weeks, all that's left is to wait until the opening weekend in Australia. Though testing does not provide a concrete picture of what fans can expect in terms of true pace, things can definitely be taken away after seeing the cars on track. I compiled what I believe to be the 5 biggest takeaways,

Joseph McLaughlin Sportz Nation - 2/21/26 Photo Caption: USA's Matthew Tkachuk (left) fights Canada's Branden Hagel (right) during the 2025 4 Nations Face-off in Montreal, Quebec. Credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images. And then there were two. After the past week and a half of action, the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics' Men's Ice Hockey Tournament enters its final day, and two nations are left standing. For the third time ever, the United States and Canada will meet in

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

Joseph McLaughlin Sportz Nation - 2/20/26 Photo Credit: Alexander Nemenov/Getty Images. After a thrilling finish to the quarterfinals, Team USA finds itself in the Milan Olympics Men's Hockey semi-finals and one game away from the Gold Medal Game after defeating Sweden 2-1 in overtime with Quinn Hughes scoring the game-winner. Now the Americans face off against a red-hot Slovakian team that has defied the odds to make it this far. Currently, betting odds heavily favor the Uni

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 2/20/2026 Norway Photo by Lars Baron/ Getty Images The 2026 Winter Olympics have become one of the biggest landslides in the event's history and it's thanks to Norway. In 2022 and 2018, Norway would set records in Most Gold Medals Achieved and Most Total Medals Received respectively. In 2026, they're on pace to break both of those. In fact, Norway has already set the record for Most Gold Medals in a single Winter Olympics in 2026 with 17 already

by Joel Piton Sportz Nation - 2/17/2026 Photo: Ben Mckeown/Duke The center position has flown under the radar throughout this college basketball season. Unlike recent years—there's no Zach Edey or Khaman Maluach dominating and commanding national attention, there hasn’t been a singular, NIL-driven superstar big man defining the conversation. That doesn’t mean the paint has been soft. Across the country, a new wave of centers have been anchoring winning programs, producing at

by Elias Meredith Sportz Nation - 2/20/2026 APPALACHIAN STATE VS MARSHALL Photo by Joseph Chapman/App State Men’s Basketball Media The Marshall Thundering Herd traveled south to face the Sunbelt Conference-leading Appalachian State Mountaineers at Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, North Carolina. The Thundering Herd’s upperclassman-underclassman backcourt of Jalen Speer and Landon Joseph each scored 24 in a 94-93 win over Appalachian State. In the first half, the game remai

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 2/18/2026 10. Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler Photo by Cooper Neill/ Zuffa LLC All Out War. Some of the fights on this list had incredible builds, some had titles on the line and some had crazy finishes. This fight had none of the above but did have 2 of the most competitive rounds I've ever seen. For the first two rounds, this fight in 2021 had slams, knockdowns and the crowd going wild from start to finish. Chandler proved he is one of th

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 2/18/2026 The 2026 Winter Olympics are by far the most watched occurrence of the event in American viewership history, averaging 25.7-26.5 million viewers per day (Milano Cortina via olympics.com ) . The 25th addition of the Winter Olympics have been the first to stream straight to Peacock which has attributed to the large spike in viewers so far. And with the marquee event of the Men's Ice Hockey tournament set to start today, viewership is exp

Joseph McLaughlin Sportz Nation - 2/18/2026 Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Imagn Images. After a successful set of preliminary matchups, Team USA gears up to play its first medal round game against Team Sweden in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Men's Hockey Playoff Quarterfinals. Team USA currently sits as the No. 2 seed in the Men's Hockey bracket after going 3-0 in group stage play. The Americans defeated the Latvians 5-1, the Danes 6-3, and the Germans 5-1 to earn a first

by Joel Piton Sportz Nation - 2/17/2026 Photo: Cooper Neill/Getty With All-Star Weekend in the rearview mirror and the playoff push looming, the NBA season has officially crossed the halfway mark. And while February is still quite far from June, we’ve seen enough basketball to start separating contenders from pretenders—and front-runners from the field. Of course, plenty can change between now and spring. But if the season ended this very second, who would be walking away wit

By Elias Meredith Sportz Nation - 2/16/26 SATURDAY: 1 ARIZONA VS 16 TEXAS TECH Photo by: Rick Scuteri/AP Photo The No. 16 Texas Tech Red Raiders visited Tucson, Arizona to face off against the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats. 2025 Big 12 Player of the Year, Junior JT Toppin had a monster game, dropping 31 points and 13 rebounds in an upset win. Texas Tech’s 78-75 overtime win against Arizona gives them their third consecutive victory. Arizona dropped their second straight game. Arizon

by Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 2/3/2026 Photo Graphic by PlanetF1 With the 2026 Formula One season right around the corner, the sport is looking extremely different from what it looked like just a year ago. From two new teams to entirely new regulations, F1 has entered a new era of racing. But how different does it look? What should fans expect before the season? What should fans know? Well, you've come to the right place, as I have gathered all information from various source

By Elias Meredith Sportz Nation - 2/14/26 WISCONSIN VS 10 MICHIGAN STATE Photo by Kayla Wolf/AP Photo Friday night, the No. 10 Michigan State Spartans visited the Wisconsin Badgers in a Big Ten bout at the Kohl Center in Madison. Wisconsin senior guard Nick Boyd scored 29 points in the 92-71 victory. Wisconsin has now won four of their last five, and Michigan State has lost three of their last four In the first half, Wisconsin took control early, exploding for a 15-0 run. Thi

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 2/14/2026 I feel like I need to say this before we get into the list: Brock Lesnar is one of the most famous Heavyweight in UFC history and a former champion but he was 4-3 (1NC) in the UFC which is no where near enough to make this list. 10. Tim Sylvia Alright youngens, for those of you who got into the sport around COVID, a name you probably don't know and need to look up is Tim Sylvia. From 2002 to 2007, Sylvia not only held gold in the UFC