Chase Hooper needed less than four minutes to dispatch Clay Guida in dominant fashion on the UFC 310 prelims on Saturday. After securing a couple of takedowns during the fight, Hooper ended up jumping on Guida’s back before transitioning into the armbar on the canvas. Despite Guida’s best efforts to scramble and break free, he couldn’t get loose and once Hooper arched his back, the 42-year-old veteran had no choice but to tap out or risk serious injury to his arm. The tap came at 3:41 in the opening round. Quick work for Chase Hooper #UFC310 | LIVE NOW | ESPN+ https://t.co/XX1YuUOYuv pic.twitter.com/jZGDWqQl0J Following the win, Hooper paid homage to recent UFC signee Mikey Musumeci for showing him how to get that armbar submission, which he employed to finish Guida on Saturday. “Feels like everything’s coming full circle,” Hooper said about returning to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where he started his UFC career. “That armbar was my butchered version of what [Mikey Musumeci] showed me. 10 fights, I’m here.” Prior to the finish, Hooper also showed off some solid improvements with his striking as well but his grappling game never gave Guida a chance to breathe. While Guida did manage to get back to his feet on a couple of occasions, he just couldn’t keep Hooper off him long enough to mount any real offense. Once the fight hit the floor the final time, Hooper set up the submission perfectly and he tapped Guida for his fourth straight win in a row overall. Now 15-3-1 overall, Hooper really seems like he’s coming into his own while building momentum in the lightweight division while Guida suffers his third straight loss while falling to 1-4 in his past five outings.Ange Postecoglou has said he is happy Pep Guardiola signed a contract extension at so he has a chance to "knock him off" the summit. City confirmed on Thursday that after agreeing a new two-year deal. Guardiola is seeking an unprecedented fifth consecutive league title but despite 's last silverware coming in 2008, Postecoglou has never hidden his ambition of returning Spurs to serious challengers for the game's biggest prizes. When asked in a news conference whether there was any part of him that wanted Guardiola to leave City after a period of sustained success, Postecoglou said: "I look at it the other way -- 'imagine you knock him off?' That would be something, eh? And I'm at the stage of my life where I'd rather have a chance of knocking him off than missing that opportunity. In the right way, obviously. "I think when greatness is around, you want to be around it. Hopefully it challenges you to be like that as well. "I love the fact that there is a massive target out there that can seem insurmountable. It does for me anyway, raises my level, gets me going. "I keep saying, I lived the experience of equalisation of sport in Australia and it is great from a competitive point of view because everybody believes they can win but after a while I used to get frustrated with it because excellence tends to be capped at a certain point. It is up to everyone else to bridge that gap. "I love the challenge of that and I never see that as a bad thing." Postecoglou also insisted he had no concerns about the integrity of Premier League officiating despite . The 42-year-old was suspended last week by referees' body Professional Game Match Officials Limited pending an investigation after footage emerged in which he appeared to make derogatory remarks about and their former manager Jürgen Klopp. "I'm not across the detail of it but firstly, he's obviously made some poor decisions, made a big mistake," Postecoglou said. "He's a human being so you worry about his welfare. I'm sure he's getting good support around him. With our officials, rightly so, we hold them to the highest possible standard because of those things but I don't think just because one person makes a mistake that necessary means ... I'm not silly to think every official is perfect, like no manager is perfect or anyone else. We all make mistakes. "I never lose faith in the officialdom because if you do then it is a very slippery slope. I've worked in a couple of leagues where that was always kind of the undertone and I hated it because you kind of questioned everything. "I don't want to do that. I believe the officials. I believe in the integrity of the officials. I'll always abide by their decision-making and accept it."
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BEIRUT (AP) — Insurgents' stunning march across Syria accelerated Saturday with news that they had reached the gates of the capital and that government forces had abandoned the central city of Homs. The government was forced to deny rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country. The loss of Homs is a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base. The pro-government Sham FM news outlet reported that government forces took positions outside Syria’s third-largest city, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies have withdrawn from the city, adding that rebels have entered parts of it. The insurgency announced later Saturday that it had taken over Homs. The city's capture is a major victory for the rebels, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama , as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27. Analysts said rebel control of Homs would be a game-changer. The rebels' moves around Damascus, reported by the monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters. For the first time in the country’s long-running civil war, the government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus. The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad's government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army. The rapid rebel gains, coupled with the lack of support from Assad's erstwhile allies, posed the most serious threat to his rule since the start of the war. The U.N.’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Saturday called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.” Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad's chief international backer, said he feels “sorry for the Syrian people.” In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country. Many shops in the capital were shuttered, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open ran out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price. “The situation is very strange. We are not used to that,” the resident said, insisting on anonymity, fearing retributions. “People are worried whether there will be a battle (in Damascus) or not.” It was the first time that opposition forces reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured the area following a yearslong siege. The U.N. said it was moving noncritical staff outside the country as a precaution. Syria’s state media denied social media rumors that Assad left the country, saying he is performing his duties in Damascus. He has had little, if any, help from his allies. Russia, is busy with its war in Ukraine . Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad's forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on the implementation a U.N. resolution, adopted in 2015, and calling for a Syrian-led political process, would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections. Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, along with Pederson, gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit to discuss the situation in Syria. In a statement issued late Saturday, the participants affirmed their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to the end of military activity and protect civilians.” They also agreed on the importance of strengthening international efforts to increase aid to the Syrian people. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents were in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters were marching toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he added. A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. HTS controls much of northwest Syria and in 2017 set up a “salvation government” to run day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s image, cutting ties with al-Qaida, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance. The shock offensive began Nov. 27, during which gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, and the central city of Hama , the country’s fourth largest city. Opposition activists said Saturday that a day earlier, insurgents entered Palmyra, which is home to invaluable archaeological sites had been in government hands since being taken from the Islamic State group in 2017. To the south, Syrian troops left much of the province of Quneitra including the main Baath City, activists said. Syrian Observatory said government troops have withdrawn from much of the two southern provinces. The Syrian army said in a statement that it carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints came under attack by “terrorists." The army said it was setting up a “strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the area,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south. The Syrian government has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists since conflict broke out in March 2011. The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey, meeting in Qatar, called for an end to the hostilities. Turkey is a main backer of the rebels. Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems. “Assad didn’t seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people,” he said. Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by how quickly the rebels have advanced and said there is a real threat to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He said the war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process. Karam reported from London. Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Josef Federman and Victoria Eastwood in Doha, Qatar; and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.What happens when 'The Simpsons' join 'Monday Night Football'? Find out during Bengals-Cowboys
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