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Defending champion Galaxy lose in season-opening stunner to San Diego FC

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Defending champion Galaxy lose in season-opening stunner to San Diego FC

It was just 11 weeks ago that the Galaxy raised the MLS Cup for a record sixth time, an occasion the team celebrated Sunday with a relay of supporters and first responders carrying the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy back to midfield at Dignity Health Sports Park.

A triumphant video played on the stadium’s huge video screens, fireworks filled the air and a dark blue championship banner was unfurled above the southwest grandstands of the newly refurbished stadium.

Then the new season kicked off and all of that suddenly seemed like a distant memory with San Diego FC, an expansion team playing its first MLS game, crashing the Galaxy’s party by riding two second-half goals from Anders Dreyer and a clean sheet from goalkeeper CJ dos Santos to a stunning 2-0 upset before a sellout crowd of 25,244.

The loss was the Galaxy’s first in 22 games at home, dating to the final game of 2023.

“The challenges are going to be different,” coach Greg Vanney had said before the game. “It’s going to be a different road to success this year.”

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Indeed. And with four of the players who led Vanney’s team to the title last year missing, that road was closed Sunday. Among the missing were MLS Cup MVP Gastón Brugman and Dejan Joveljic, who scored the winning goal in the final. Both were sacrificed to the league’s salary cap.

Joveljic was one of four Galaxy players to reach double digits in goals and assists last season; no MLS team had done that before. But just one of the four, winger Gabriel Pec, was in uniform since Joveljic was traded last month, and Joseph Paintsil and Riqui Puig are out with injuries.

“We start again,” Vanney said. “It’s all just about fitting these [new] pieces into our puzzle.”

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The pieces didn’t fit against San Diego. Christian Ramírez, the replacement for Joveljic up front, was ineffective in his 63 minutes while German veteran Marco Reus was unable to provide either the pace or the passing of Puig in the midfield. That left Pec isolated — and frustrated — for most of the afternoon.

Bruce Arena’s Galaxy teams of 2011-12 were the last to win back-to-back MLS titles, a piece of history Vanney’s team will be chasing. But the league has changed a lot since then, growing from 19 to 30 teams while the addition of allocation money, U22 initiative signings and young designated players has changed the way teams are built, making MLS more competitive.

Yet history and a rebuilt roster aren’t the only things working against the Galaxy. They also have a huge target on their backs.

“Everyone’s going to come after us,” midfielder Diego Fagundez said.

Dreyer, a Danish international who last month was playing in Belgium with Anderlecht, scored the first goal in franchise history seven minutes into the second half. It was set up by a massive Galaxy error with keeper Novak Micovic, making just his fifth MLS start, taking a backpass from Miki Yamane in front of his goal and flipping a poor waist-high outlet ball to center back Emiro Garcés deep in the Galaxy penalty area.

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Garcés lifted a boot but was unable to control the pass, which bounced to San Diego’s Chucky Lozano. He then sent it into the center of the box for Dreyer, whose left-footed shot beat Micovic cleanly.

The Galaxy, pushing for the equalizer, nearly got it in the 79th minute when a Yamane cross found a sliding Miguel Berry, but Berry’s left-footed deflection was smothered by Dos Santos. A minute later Dos Santos made another save, one of three on the day, on a try from the center of the box by Ruben Ramos Jr.

Dreyer then made all that moot with his second goal three minutes into stoppage time. Tomás Ángel, the son of former Galaxy player Juan Pablo Ángel, got the assist.

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.

Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.

“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.

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Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.

He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.

After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.

“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”

MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME

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Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida.  (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.

He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.

Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.

He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.

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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.

Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins

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Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins

Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.

Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.

It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.

In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.

Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.

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Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.

After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June. 

But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract. 

White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card. 

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Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City.  ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))

“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”

White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it. 

UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT

The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan. 

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On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter. 

UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026.  (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)

“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready. 

“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”

Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.

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Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote. 

The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.

Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion. 

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