This Weekend in Sports: PGA Travelers Championship, UFC on ESPN: Poirier vs. Hooker & EPL

My calendar has always revolved around sports.

Each season is colored by the sounds of a game. A quarterback’s pre-snap cadence reminds me of fall and the crack of a bat sparks memories of spring and summer. Winter is spent on the court. The deafening silence as a last-second shot is hurled into the air, followed by the eruption of sound and emotion as the buzzer drowns out the snap of the net. The never-ending MMA schedule that fills in the gaps and the PGA weekends when you need to relax. Hockey, too, on occasion!

Sorry but hockey’s just not in my rotation… I may have to outsource my NHL content to DSM. That goes for the EPL as well. Feel free to DM your applications to @NickRizner.

I’ve missed having sports in my life these past few months. And I’ve missed talking about them even more.

As we slowly return to normalcy, I’ve decided to start a weekly sports column. We’ve got MMA and golf at the moment. What an odd pairing. Baseball, basketball and hockey are working towards their reopening; all scheduled for late July at the moment. And I think it’s finally time to dive back in.

I’m sure this column will evolve and change as the weeks go by, but it will always serve as a landing spot for my thoughts and probably-biased opinions on the sports I love. Enjoy.

WHAT TO WATCH

Travelers Championship – PGA Tour:

The PGA tour is currently in my backyard as Connecticut’s Travelers Championship marches on without a crowd. The leaderboard is riddled with household names despite Covid-19 causing some last-minute withdrawals.

Five golfers, including #4 ranked Brooks Koepka and #5 ranked Webb Simpson, have dropped out of the event after coming into contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19. A bummer, obviously, but it’s just the reality we live in at the moment.

Even with those departures, five of the world’s top ten are competing this weekend with #1 Rory McIlroy, #2 Jon Rahm, #6 Dustin Johnson, #7 Patrick Reed and #10 Xander Schauffele all in the mix. Not to mention superstars Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth.

I also want to give a special shoutout to my boy Jim Furyk aka J-Fury (definitely not his nickname). I love everything about this guy. The weird hook in his swing, the even-keeled persona, the seemingly random bursts of greatness. I mean this guy’s won the U.S. Open and currently holds the record for lowest single-day score in PGA Tour history, shooting a 58 at this very same tournament back in 2016.

Not to mention his hilarious 5-Hour Energy sponsorship. This has to be a troll, right? He literally sounds like he’s going to fall asleep during this commercial… For an energy drink.

Jim’s the best. Canada’s Mckenzie Hughes nearly broke his single day record yesterday with a round of 60, but couldn’t quite match the performance by Mr. 58. Nice try buddy.

UFC on ESPN: Poirier vs. Hooker:

The UFC has been my saving grace over the past couple months. As a fan of most sports, I’ve felt the pain of these postponements. I don’t watch a ton of NBA or NHL but I always tune in for the playoffs. March Madness is my favorite thing in the world and we were robbed of that. I miss watching baseball, despite the Boston Red Sox having no chance this year. But at least we’ve had the UFC.

Now I know MMA is a bit more niche than these other sports. As the host of an MMA podcast for the past 5 or 6 years, I’ve got more of a thirst for the undercard than your casual fan, and I’ll do my best to keep that in mind. Luis Pena vs. Khama Worthy is an excellent fight, for example, but I also understand most of you won’t be watching 5 hours of MMA tomorrow night.

So sticking to the bigger fights for now, I absolutely love this main event. Dustin Poirier has been one of my favorite fighters since I saw the documentary Fightville.

He’s an extremely exciting, emotional fighter who excels in every aspect of the game. He’s got outstanding boxing, great elbows and knees, a tremendous submission game and a ton of heart. He’s been fighting at the highest level in two of the deepest divisions in the UFC for nearly a decade.

Twelve knockouts, seven submissions and a 25-6-1 record with six Fight of the Nights and four Performance bonuses. This kid is fun to watch.

But with all things, you still need the right dance partner. Enter Dan Hooker, winner of 7 of his last 8 fights since returning to lightweight. More impressive than the record is the list of opponents, with names legends like Jim Miller, Ross Pearson and James Vick on his resume – all knockouts. Or rising stars like Gilbert Burns who has since won six in a row and is set to fight for the Welterweight title on July 11th.

Like Poirier, Hooker is no stranger to post-fight bonuses. He’s coming off a Fight of the Night win over Paul Felder, adding to his three Performance of the Nights bonuses. If you’re going to watch one fight this weekend, make sure it’s this one.

HIGHLIGHTS

Round 1 of the Traveler’s Championship: