PATRICK BLOG NEWS

Manchester City demonstrated substance as well as style as they overcame Liverpool, the greatest threat to their hopes of retaining their Premier League title, on a night of searing tension. Pep Guardiola's City side - who made history to win the league with 100 points last season - knew they would need to dig deep into their reserves to beat a Liverpool team arriving at Etihad Stadium on the back of a 20-game unbeaten start to the campaign. The purist flourishes that have become the hallmark of City's style were set to one side for much of a frantic, intense encounter in favour doing the dirty work required to get the job done after Guardiola admitted himself that a failure to win would make their title task close to impossible. And while the headlines may go to goalscorers Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane, City's whole approach and their victory was built on the performance of their great unsung hero. For all the glittering array of riches assembled at City, Fernan...

Cristiano Ronaldo converted a second-half penalty and was booked for provoking the beaten goalkeeper Salvador Ichazo as relentless Serie A leaders Juventus beat Torino 1-0 in an absorbing derby on Saturday. Sixth-placed Torino, who have beaten their larger  neighbours  only once in the last 23 years, put up a brave show but were undone by an unfortunate mistake by  forward Simone Zaza. Having dispossessed Leonardo Bonucci, Zaza  underhit  a pass back to Ichazo, allowing Mario Mandzukic to intercept and the Croatian was then tripped by Torino's substitute goalkeeper. Ronaldo converted the penalty, despite Ichazo getting a hand to it, to score Juve's 5,000th Serie A goal and leave the leaders with 46 points out of a possible 48 and 11 clear of Napoli, who visit Cagliari on Sunday. The Portuguese ran straight at Ichazo and nudged him in the shoulder as he celebrated his 11th league goal of the season, leaving him as Serie A's joint top scorer alongside G...

The UFC’s visit to Milwaukee was an absolute wild one — highlighted by this savage stand-up knockout that was tough to watch. There were three knockouts on the undercard of UFC Fight Night: Milwaukee but none more ferocious than Joaquim Silva’s third-round finish of Jared Gordon. After a wild fight, Silva improved his record to 11-1 by standing up Gordon against the cageOn the main card, Charles Oliveira earned his revenge on Jim Miller eight years after they first fought at UFC 124, winning via submission in a battle of veterans. Sergio Pettis’ move back up to bantamweight was unsuccessful as Rob Font jabbed his way to a shutout decision. But the brutality returned as New Zealand’s Dan Hooker went to war with Edson Barboza — and copped the most savage of beatings. Hooker was to brave for his own good, taking a series of spinning kicks to the mid-section before finally being felled by a body shot in the third round. It was Barboza’s first win after back-to-back defeats a...

LOS ANGELES -- A heavyweight title bout so good, the judges decided they should do it again. In his first bout of significance since he shocked the world by upsetting his way to the heavyweight championship in 2015, Tyson Fury survived a pair of hellacious knockdowns -- including one in Round 12 -- and appeared to outclass WBC champion Deontay Wilder before settling for a split draw in front of 17,698 fans at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The first heavyweight title pay-per-view bout in America since 2002 saw both fighters combine for a modern classic that was overflowing with tension and drama. One judge had it considerably wide at 115-111 for Wilder while the second had it 114-112 for Fury. The final scorecard was 113-113. CBS Sports scored it 115-111 for Fury. While the fight played out exactly in favor of each fighter's strengths as Fury controlled by boxing with constant feints and awkward angles while Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) picked his spots to land heavy counte...