Ultimate Fighting Championship superstar Conor McGregor made it a triumphant return to the Octagon on Sunday (Manila time) at “UFC 246,” defeating Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in the headlining welterweight fight in just 40 seconds (!).

Day One of the Australian Open came and went with 32 matches either suspended or postponed for today, but not for reasons players feared would affect the schedule. Even as decades-worst bushfires continued to ravage parts of the country, air quality turned out to be just fine for those who managed to take to the court; instruments continually measuring particulates churned out ideal numbers for competition, in stark contrast to conditions that affected qualifying matches last week. Instead, rain proved the tournament’s nemesis, limiting contests to Melbourne Park’s three arenas with retractable roofs once it made its presence felt.

HAVING won practically everything there is to win in the Philippine Basketball Association, Tim Cone cannot be faulted if he decides to already take it slow. But the league’s winningest coach has signified he is anything but done, more so since he is coaching the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings.

LOS ANGELES -- Raheem Mostert rushed for four touchdowns as the San Francisco 49ers beat Green Bay 37-20 to book a spot in the Super Bowl where they will face Kansas City, who advanced to the NFL championship game for the first time in 50 seasons with a 35-24 win over Tennessee on Sunday.

SUCCESSFULLY hurdling its first test in AFC Champions League 2020 last week, top local club football team Ceres-Negros FC looks to sustain its push forward when it collides with Port FC of Thailand in an away Preliminary Round 2 match today in Bangkok.

MELBOURNE -- Defending champion Naomi Osaka overcame a patchy and error-prone performance to advance to the second round of the Australian Open on Monday with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Czech Marie Bouzkova.

GM Evgeny Shtembuliak was an unfamiliar name to most of us until October last year when the won the World Junior (Under-20) Championship. He started off as the seventh seed with a rating of 2577 behind favorite Tabatabaei of Iran (2642), Murali Karthikeyan (IND 2617), Chithambaram Aravindh (IND 2609), Dmitrij Kollars (GER 2587), Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (CUB 2581) and Shant Sargsyan (ARM 2580). Then he jumped into the lead right from the start with 3/3 and kept it all the way to the end.

The Chiefs figured the Titans were going to hit the ground running, both literally and figuratively. It was a no-brainer, really. Given the way their opponents blazed the starts of set-tos against the Patriots in the wild card game and the Ravens in the divisional round, they knew the same determined effort would challenge them from the get-go yesterday. And, true enough, they were greeted by a ground attack starring Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry, who put up 32 yards in the first two series that netted 10 points. With 5:52 still left in the first quarter, they were already down by double digits.

FOR the 12^th time in league history the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings are Philippine Basketball Association champions after annexing the Governor’s Cup title on Friday over the Meralco Bolts.

LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James produced his 31^st double-double, Kyle Kuzma chipped in 23 points and the visiting Los Angeles Lakers turned a third-quarter defensive clinic into a 124-115 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday.

SOUTHEAST Asian Games gold medalist and Olympic weightlifting silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz made a courtesy call to PLDT-Smart Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers. Diaz is a beneficiary of the MVP Sports Foundation, an organization under the MVP Group of Companies, that supports Filipino athletes as they train to bring honor to the Philippines in their respective sporting events.

COMING off from a successful run in 2019, sports patron, and head of Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (ASAPHIL) and Unified Tennis Philippines (UTP) Jean Henri Lhuillier sees an even stronger 2020 for Philippine softball and tennis.