UFC Fight Nights Results, NASCAR is Back!, Bundesliga Results, NBA, NHL, MLB League Status

Since the shutdown, this past week was the best yet for sports. UFC had two fight night promotions. NASCAR raced again. So did Churchill Downs and Santa Anita Park. Check out what happened last week in the world of sports!

Weekly Sports Recap & Update – May 18th Edition

Texeira and Overeem win at separate UFC Fight Nights

Dana White said that anybody who wanted to fight could. True to his word, White and Ultimate Fighting Championships had two UFC Fight Nights last week. Both took place at VyStar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL.

Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira headlined Fight Night on May 13. Teixeira-Smith was an excellent bout.

Heading into the fifth round, neither man had the upper hand. But then Teixeira stunned Anthony with a sweet uppercut. From then, it was all over. Eventually, Smith fell to the ground and Glover landed enough punches for the ref to stop it.

Alistair Overeem battled Walt Harris in the main event at the second UFC Fight Night. That promotion happened on Saturday, May 16. Overeem used a well-timed right kick to the head to force Walt against the cage.

Alistair followed up the awesome head-kick with a left punch. That sent Harris to the ground. After Overeem laid on top of Walt and landed punch after punch, the ref stopped it.

Although White has yet to set cards or locations, fans are clamoring for more promotions. UFC’s next promotion is on May 30. White has scheduled UFC 250 for June 6.

Kevin Harvick takes the NASCAR The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington

NASCAR returned to action. Wouldn’t you know it? One of the best drivers at Darlington Raceway took the checkered flag.

Since 2013, Kevin Harvick hadn’t finished out of the Top 10 at Darlington in 8 events. Harvick has 2 wins among those 8 races. He also has a second, 2 fourth place finishes and 2 fifth place finishes.

After starting sixth, Kevin led 159 laps. That almost doubled the next person to lead laps, Brad Keselowski. Brad led 80. Keselowski finished thirteenth.

Alex Bowman finished second. That’s a good sign Hendrick Motorsports may be back. The top team at NASCAR for decades, Hendrick had a tough 2019.

If you love motor racing, don’t rest on your laurels. MyBookie will soon post odds for the Toyota 500 at Darlington on Wednesday, May 20

Santa Anita Park and Churchill Downs have successful opening days

Two of the most important horse racing tracks in the United States opened over the weekend.

Santa Anita Park ran races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Churchill opened this past Saturday on May 16. The Twin Spires also ran races on Sunday.

On Saturday, Churchill tripled their usual handle. Per the race track, the May 16 handle came out to $14,278,726.

Santa Anita has yet to announce how much money horseplayers bet on last week’s race days. Be sure, though, that it will compare favorably to Churchill’s.

Bundesliga squads Dortmund and Bayern dominate in return to the pitch

Also on May 16, Bundesliga soccer returned. The two top teams on the Bundesliga Standings made winning returns to the pitch.

Borussia Dortmund dominated Schalke 04. Dortmund rolled Schalke 4-0.

Not be outdone, Bayern made a statement the next day on Sunday, May 17. Bayern blasted Union Berlin 2-0.

Matchday 27 starts on Friday, May 22. Check out MyBookie Sportsbook odds for a couple of this week’s top Bundesliga matches.

  • Eintracht Frankfurt +2 ½ (-135)
  • FC Bayern Munich -2 ½ (+102)
  • Leverkusen +177
  • Monchengladbach +125

NBA points to mid-to-late June return as best case scenario

Since May 8, the NBA hasn’t said anything about returning . On that day, Commissioner Adam Silver had a meeting with members from the NBA Players Association.

Among the topics they discussed was addressing players’ concerns about teams pressuring them to return to practice facilities for volunteer workouts. Silver also stressed that he wants a traditional playoffs with 7-games for each series.

Finally, Silver said a mid-to-late June return is a best-case-scenario.

MLB’s health-and-safety manual for a return does not paint a positive picture

Major League Baseball’s return to play plan is somewhat starry-eyed. MLB hopes to have 10,000 Covid-19 tests a week.

That’s the big news. The other big news is that players want to get backpay to return to work. All of it points to issues MLB must get past before the 2020 season starts.

The good news? Major League Baseball has the rest of May and all of June to get past those issues. The league won’t start play until July.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman provides no news

Last Tuesday, Gary Bettman appeared in a town hall. The San Jose Sharks hosted the question and answer session. One thing Bettman said stands out is that at no time has he ever “considered not awarding a champion” this season.

NHL is leaning towards going straight to the playoffs. That makes sense for the National Hockey league because they were far enough along with their regular season.

One potential site for playoff games is Arizona. On Saturday, Governor Doug Ducey opened the state for professional sports to return.

It shouldn’t be too long until pro sports in the United States does return.

In the meantime, check out odds on UFC, NASCAR, and Bundesliga soccer!