The Boston Celtics will open the 2015 campaign minus star point guard Rajon Rondo, who underwent surgery to repair his broken left hand, the team announced last Friday.

Accidental slip

In an official statement, Celtics’ officials said that the 28-year old guard “underwent a surgical fixation of a left metacarpal fracture on Friday morning at New England Baptist Hospital” after accidentally injuring himself during a slip at his home last Thursday.

Rondo is expected to miss 6-8 weeks, leaving rookie Marcus Smart and sophomore Phil Pressey as the Celtics’ point guards in Rondo’s absence. Pressey started 11 games for the Celtics during his rookie season last year and averaged 8.2 points 3.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists as a starter. Smart was selected by the Celtics as the 6th overall pick in last June’s draft after a stellar college career at Oklahoma State.

The injury to Rondo is yet another off-season issue regarding the Celtics’ team captain.

Part of the future

Rondo is the last link to the Celtics 2008 title team with the other catalysts Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen all gone to other teams. Rondo is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2014-15 season and has been the subject of multiple trade rumors. However, the Celtics have repeatedly said that Rondo “is a part of their long term future” and that they have no intention of trading him.

Last week, it was the turn of Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck to douse the trade rumors. Grousbeck said that it was “his goal to keep Rondo in Boston.” He added that he believes that Rondo “is proud to be a Celtic and wants to stay as a Celtic.”

Best season ever

The All-Star guard has missed a total of 95 games in the last two seasons, mostly because of an ACL injury which he suffered in 2013. Despite that, team doctors and officials had high hopes for Rondo’s successful return after the former Kentucky Wildcat showed up in tremendous physical shape in the off-season. Team officials were even anticipating “the best season ever for Rajon Rondo” before this latest injury sidelined him again.

Rondo averaged 11.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game in 30 games last season. But more than his numbers, the Celtics missed his leadership and championship experience last season where they finished 25-57.

The crown jewel isn’t leaving King Arthur’s waist.

Controversial scores

Arthur Abraham overcame a very competitive challenge from England’s Paul Smith to hack out a unanimous decision victory and retain his WBO super middleweight title last Saturday at the Sparkassen Arena in Kiel, Germany.

The judges scored the bout 117-11, 117-11 and 119-109 but the scoring wasn’t necessarily indicative of how the fight actually went. While it was obvious that Abraham landed the more telling blows, Smith absorbed the champion’s biggest bombs and returned fire with his own combinations. And while Abraham looked like he was ready to counter his challenger all night long, Smith appeared to be the more consistent boxer in the fight. Thus, when the verdict was read, there were some violent reactions on the scoring.

Feeling robbed

After the bout, Smith told reporters that “he felt robbed.”

He had a point. Smith gave Abraham hell, starting out very confident and targeting Abraham’s face with  laser jabs and solid body shots. Smith clearly out boxed Abraham in the first half of the bout, but t seemed that when Abraham landed, he had more authority in his punches. Sensing a close fight, Abraham picked up the notch in the championship rounds and clearly dominated his challenger in the final six minutes of the fight. But even then, it looked as if Smith had racked up enough rounds to keep the fight at least close. But the judges gave the nod to Abraham’s more meaningful punches rather than Smith’s scoring.

Smith called the decision “disgusting” and added that it’s what he hates in boxing. But it is now what it is, and Smith has to live with it.

Stronger at middleweight

It was the 34-year old Abraham’s second defense of the title he won from Robert Stieglitz last January. He successfully defended it against Nikola Sjekloca last March, as well. Although the Armenian-born German is ranked as the #2 super middleweight in the world, he has “struggled” in this weight class.

Abraham was an undefeated middleweight champion when he went up in weight to participate in the Super Six World Boxing classic super middleweight tournament. There, he lost twice to Andre Dirrell and Carl Froch. Two fights after his losing effort at the tournament, he fought and lost to Andre Ward in his attempt at the WBA super middleweight belt.

King Arthur is 41-4 with 28 KOs but only three of those KOs have come in the super middleweight division and he hasn’t scored a knockout since 2012. He was looking to establish his second reign as WBO super middleweight king but his win only made his flaws more evident as Smith exposed them for twelve competitive rounds last Saturday despite what the judges say.

A rematch? Smith certainly deserves another title shot after the performance.

Donald Cerrone believes that he is cursed to be a slow starter. But that didn’t matter on Saturday night as the Cowboy rode on his leg kicks and knees to defeat Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in the co-main event of UFC 178 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Had to dig deep

Cerrone said that he had to dig deep early in the fight as Alvarez was gaining momentum in the first round. Showing no fear, Alvarez tied up Cerrone at the center of the octagon in the first minute of the fight and peppered him with right hands to the head. But although he scored a lot of points in that exchange, he wasn’t able to do significant damage on the slow starting Cerrone.

After they broke apart, Cerrone was able to weather the storm by scoring on a lot of leg kicks that began to redden Alvarez’s left leg. He also showed tremendous takedown defense as he stuffed all of his opponent’s attempts to take him down. Aside from leg kicks, Cerrone also did damage by hitting Alvarez with powerful knees to the ribs. While Alvarez may have won the round, Cerrone’s striking investments would later accumulate in the fight.

A diesel engine

Like a diesel engine, Cerrone got better as the fight went on. His leg kicks and knees were starting to take their toll on Alvarez. After Cerrone took round two and started to dominate round three, Alvarez landed a hail mary of a punch that knocked an off balanced Cerrone to the mat.  But Cowboy recovered quickly and continued to chop down Alvarez. With less than a minute left in the fight, another leg kick forced Alvarez to finally fall to the mat with a badly bruised left leg. Cerrone finished the fight on top position by landing several blows.

A bigger bonus?

All three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of the UFC’s 5th ranked lightweight. It was Cerrone’s fifth consecutive victory since losing to Rafael Dos Anjos by unanimous decision in August 2013. And although the victory was very impressive, it was the first time in five fights that Cerrone didn’t get a stoppage. It also broke his streak of four consecutive fight bonuses.

But the bigger bonus for Cerrone could be a title shot. Cerrone improves to 12-3 in the UFC and he becomes a top candidate to face the winner of the December 6 bout between lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and challenger Gilbert Melendez.

After her very impressive win at UFC 178, UFC #1 women’s bantamweight Cat Zingano ran over to UFC President Dana White and screamed “Do you see me?” According to White, all he could say was ” Yes, I see you.”

Forget Gina

It’s been months since Dana White has been trying to bring back Gina Carano to the UFC in an effort to stage a mega fight with current women’s champion Ronda Rousey. But getting Carano to sign has been very difficult and complicated for the Zuffa executive. And while that issue has dragged forward, UFC 178 came.

UFC 178 was supposed to be about Jones and Cormier, but that fight was called off. Mighty Mouse was promoted to the main event, while the other highly anticipated fights were Eddie Alvarez’s UFC debut and Conor McGregor’s fight with Dustin Poirier. But one fight may have stolen the show and made White forget about Gina Carano once and for all – Zingano vs Nunes.

Worth the wait

It has been 17 months since Cat Zingano dominated Meisha Tate in her UFC debut and a lot has happened since then. Zingano was injured and was forced off her coaching stint at TUF 18. She would have fought Ronda Rousey in the finale. But that was not it, a personal tragedy struck Zingano in January when her husband Mauricio committed suicide. That tragedy further moved back her return to the octagon.

But it was worth the wait.

Zingano was ambushed by #8 Amanda Nunes in the first round of their UFC 178 fight and was getting busted up with the Lioness on top position. But Zingano didn’t waver. She mustered enough courage to survive the opening onslaught and was able to return to her feet before the round was over. She then turned it on by throwing Nunes to the mat just before the end of the first round.

Zingano wasted no time in Round two and tossed Nunes to the ground once again to earn top position. This time, she didn’t give her opponent the chance to recover. Zingano bloodied Nunes with hard punches and elbows and ended the bout with a brutal ground and pound at the 1:21 mark of round 2.

Definitely a title shot

Zingano didn’t say much during her post fight interview except that she wanted to go home to her child. That was expected after all the hard times that she’s been through. But to have the courage to comeback and fight again after all that she has been through, it was amazing. Add the fact that she faced tremendous adversity in round one of her comeback makes her story more inspiring and incredible.

White said that Zingano will definitely be Rousey’s next challenger. With this great comeback as a storyline, who needs Gina Carano anyway? Not the UFC and not women’s MMA.

Rousey versus Zingano should be one of the biggest fights in 2015.

Guillermo Rigondeaux will have to look for another opponent, as the WBO’s mandatory challenger Chris Avalos doesn’t want to fight Rigo.

Apparent pull out

WBO President Paco Valcarcel announced via twitter that Chris Avalos has “apparently pulled-out” from his title date with Ring and WBO Jr. Featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. This developed after Rigo’s promoter Caribe Promotions won the pursed bid held in Puerto Rico last September 19. The bout was already targeted for November 22 in Miami or the Dominican Republic.

According to WBO General Secretary Jose Izquierdo, Top Rank Vice President Carl Moretti informed him on Thursday about their decision to pull out Avalos from the Rigo bout. He added that Moretti thanked the WBO for the opportunity but said that they were moving forward to another direction.

Chasing another belt

Avalos is on a five fight winning streak and his 8th round knockout win on May 31 in Macau against  Japanese  Yasutaka Ishimoto made him the IBF’s mandatory challenger for its junior featherweight belt. The IBF champion at that time was Kiko Martinez, and Martinez secured an exception not to fight Avalos but rather take on Carl Frampton in a more financially rewarding fight. Unfortunately, Martinez lost to Frampton via unanimous decision last September 6.

Although Frampton is the new IBF champion, Avalos remains as the organization’s mandatory challenger. And as per agreement wit the IBF during the approval of “the exception to the mandatory”, Frampton is required to make a mandatory defense against Avalos within 90 days. But because Frampton is still nursing an injury, that mandatory defense will have to wait for a couple of months more.

Worth the wait

Frampton could be worth the wait for Avalos.

Compared to fighting a master boxer like Rigondeaux, Avalos has a much better shot at winning his first world title against a vulnerable Carl Frampton. Frampton, like Avalos, loves to fight while Rigondeaux loves to run. So do the math there.

Financially, Avalos would have made $79,444.45 purse against Rigondeaux. The amount is equivalent to 25% of Caribe Promotions’ winning bid of 317,777.77 and while that would have been easily the biggest payday of his career, Avalos and Top Rank believe they will make more money against Frampton. Kiko Martinez earned $700,000.0 to fight Frampton in Belfast earlier this month and although Avalos won’t make that money fighting Northern Ireland’s star boxer, he is expected to make more than what Caribe is offering in a much tougher fight against Rigondeaux.

It’s simple economics and a good strategy on the part of  Chris Avalos and his management team. Why would he fight a much tougher opponent for a lesser payday? As for Guillermo Rigondeaux, this is yet another setback in his bid to win some following in America.

UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has withdrawn from his scheduled title defense against Brazilian Vitor Belfort.

Champ is injured

According to UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, Weidman suffered a hairline fracture in in his hand, which has caused the postponement of the bout to February 2015. The exact date and venue of the rematch has yet to be announced. UFC President Dana White also said that Weidman’s hand will be in a cast for four weeks and he is expected to be cleared for contact after six weeks.

With the Injury, Weidman will end 2014 with just a single fight – his unanimous decision win over Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 last July. That win marked his second defense of the title which he won from longtime champion Anderson Silva last year. He also made his first successful title defense against Silva last December 2013

Here’s Johny

Replacing the Weidman-Belfort fight as main event of UFC 181 will be the rematch between UFC Welterweight champion Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler. Hendricks has been out of action since his victory over Lawler March 15 with a right bicep injury.

A couple of week ago, Hendricks’ camp had declared that their fighter fully healed and is already “ready to accept a fight” but said that since the UFC’s schedule until January has been booked, they were looking at a February fight. Weidman’s injury now moves Hendricks’ timetable forward.

Ruthless’ Rematch

Robbie Lawler has earned his rematch after back to back victories over Jake Ellenberger in May and Matt Brown last July. The 32 year old Lawler is 5-1 with 3 KOs in the UFC. Hendricks and Lawler went toe to toe in a back and forth battle during their first encounter last March. The bout was pretty much even after four rounds before Hendricks mustered enough firepower in the fifth and final round to pull of the win and capture the title vacated by Georges St. Pierre.

Despite the postponement of Weidman-Belfort, UFC 181 looks to be a solid card with the lightweight title match of Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melen.

The UFC’s #2 ranked women’s bantamweight contender Meisha Tate survived a desperate challenge from undefeated Japanese fighter Rin Nakai to win her second consecutive bout in the UFC.

Keeping the fight off the ground

Fighting before Nakai’s countrymen at the Saitama Super Arena, Tate used he supreme striking to fend off Nakai’s takedown and submission attempts en route to scoring a unanimous decision win at UFC Fight Night 52 last Saturday.

The 28 year old “Cupcake” out struck Nakai 83-37 throughout the three round bout. She showed tremendous improvement in her striking game which she emphasized after the bout:

“I wanted to keep this on the feet to show that I have a good striking set,” Tate said.

Tate used her size advantage in the first round to keep her distance, while landing solid right hands on her opponent’s head. She also controlled the shorter but stockier Japanese in the clinch and was able to land meaningful elbows. She finished round one strong, by hitting Nakai with uppercuts and combinations.

Relentless opponent

But Nakai was a relentless foe. Sensing that she could not out strike her opponent, she tried her very best to take the fight to the ground. She would often catch Tate’s kicks and try to sweep her off her feet or she would duck under her punches and try to take her down. But Tate was prepared for these and showed tremendous take down defense. She instead converted those situations to a clinch and landed knees, elbows and short punches on Nakai.

As the fight went on though, Nakai got more comfortable inside the Octagon and was able to take Tate’s back a couple of times in the second and third round to threaten her with submission attempts. Again, Meisha was up to the task. She held her own against one of the best women’s mixed martial artists outside of the UFC.

Getting called out

Shortly after winning he bout, Tate was called out by #3 ranked Sarah McCann via social media. The former Olympic silver medalist was Ronda Rousey’s next challenger following her victory over Meisha Tate last year. Unlike Tate, McCann avoided Rousey’s dreaded armbar but was stopped with a vicious knee 69 seconds into the bout. McCann has rebounded from that loss by defeating former Invicta FC women’s bantamweight champion Lauren Murphy last month.

Tate has back to back wins over Liz Carmouche and Rin Nakai after her loss to Rousey. If she takes on McCann’s challenge and the UFC obliges, then Ms. Cupcake could be on her way to another date with the rowdy one.

After fighting in so many fights, Sergio Martinez is used to waiting to hear the judges’ decision. But there is one decision that he is most anxious about, and it’s not about boxing.

Trip to the doctor

The former long-time world middleweight boxing champion was in New York last week for a scheduled trip to Dr. Answorth Allen, the New York Knicks’ orthopedic surgeon. Martinez had his surgically repaired right knee examined by the famed orthopedist as he wanted to get an expert opinion of whether his knee would hold up if he continued with his boxing career.

Lingering knee problems

Martinez had problems with the knee during his June defeat to Miguel Cotto where he looked like he did not have good balance and mobility. The knee has been a problem for the Argentine since he injured it when he got knocked down in the 12th round of his bout against Julio Cesar Chavez in 2012. Martinez had surgery on the knee but hurt it again in next fight against Martin Murray in 2013. Again, Martinez underwent surgery to repair the same knee.

Martinez got knocked down four times by Cotto during their bout and although he did not hurt his knee, it appeared that it disrupted his fight and caused him to lose his belts to Cotto.

The long wait begins

According to promoter Lou DiBella, Martinez had tests done on his knee while in Dr. Allen’s clinic. He did basic tests, had MRI and did some exercises to check his mobility. DiBella refused to say what the initial findings were but said that it would take at least a “couple of days to a week” to get the full results as Dr. Allen wants to review his medical history and view tapes of his previous fights before making a recommendation. DiBella promised to announce the result once they get it.

Martinez (51-3-3 with 28 knockouts) has said that he wanted to continue his boxing career because he felt he still has something left in the tank at age 39. However, he said that he would have to ensure that his knee would be fit for boxing before he puts on the gloves once again. Maravilla said that he “wants to live a normal life and have a normal leg like a normal person”  because although his knee is repaired, he still feels some pain in his right leg. He has vowed not to fight again if Dr. Allen tells him that his knee isn’t  100%.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said on Tuesday that he has already talked to six potential buyers for the embattled Atlanta Hawks.

The Atlanta way

The Hawks have been under the microscope since the decision of majority owner Bruce Levenson to sell his ownership shares as a result of an “inappropriate and offensive” 2012 email which he voluntarily reported to the NBA in July. Related to that, it was also discovered that GM Danny Ferry made racist remarks against free agent Luol Deng during a conference call with the team owners last June.

Reed did not name the six potential buyers, but he expects the sale to proceed quickly and smoothly. He also said that the crisis would be solved “The Atlanta way.” The prospective buyers will go through “a process vetted by the NBA.” Commissioner Adam Silver has lined up an investment bank to look into the finances of any buyer.

New majority owner

Reed added that Ed Peskowitz, the Washington based partner of Levenson, has also decided to sell his share of the team. This means that while the local minority owners led by Michael Gearon Jr. and Rutherford Sydel are reportedly keen on keeping their ownership shares, the potential buyer becomes the new majority owner as the shares of Levenson and Peskowitz are a combined 50.1% of the team ownership.

Ready to take a bigger role

Former Hawks franchise player and now color commentator Dominique Wilkins has expressed his willingness to “take a greater role with the franchise” with the departure of Levenson and the leave of Ferry.

Danny Ferry has decided to take an indefinite leave from the team as a result of the scandal. A lot of groups have been calling for Ferry’s ouster, but CEO Steve Koonin has refused to fire Ferry, saying instead that management has “disciplined” the GM. The punishment wasn’t disclosed although Koonin said it was based on the result of the independent investigation conducted by an Atlanta law firm hired by the Hawks.  Despite that, Ferry’s future with the team is still uncertain even if he wasn’t fired because once the new ownership is in place, it will have the free hand in appointing a GM of its choice. After Danny Ferry’s blunder, it’s unlikely that he will be absorbed by the new owner/s.

The city of Atlanta is set to honor Wilkins with his own statue outside the Philips Arena before a March 6 home game against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Known as the Human Highlight Film during his heyday, Wilkins is one of the most recognizable stars in the team’s history and one of the city’s most beloved athletes. Mayor Reed said that the city’s civic leaders would “look favorably” on Wilkins’ possible involvement with the new management.

UFC Welterweight champion Johny Hendricks is close to being 100% after a successful surgery to his injured right biceps last March.

at 85 percent

According to Kenny Monday, Hendricks’ wrestling coach, the 31-year old Oklahoma native is now  “around 85%” recovered from the injury that has kept him off the Octagon since UFC 171. Monday said that while Hendricks is already training daily without any limitations, it’s likely that the champ will be back in February or March 2015 since the UFC schedule is fully booked right now.

Monday adds that Hendricks could be ready to fight later this year, but since his first title defense is expected to headline a UFC Pay Per View event, then it will have to wait. The UFC has already released its schedule through January 31 and all the main event fights have already been booked.

Rematch with Robbie

Hendricks is expected to make his first title defense against the man he defeated last March to win the vacant UFC welterweight title. Hendricks fought Ruthless Robbie Lawler in a back and forth bout which Bigg Rigg won by a close unanimous decision at UFC 171.  After winning the belt, Hendricks revealed that he suffered a torn right biceps during training and that he would be needing surgery.

Lawler has fought twice since UFC 171 when he knocked out Jake Ellenberger at UFC 173 and then defeated Matt Brown by unanimous decision at UFC on Fox last July 26 to earn another title shot against the champion.

GSP to return?

In a related news, UFC President Dana White announced last week that should former UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre return to the octagon, he will be guaranteed a title shot. It can be recalled that St. Pierre walked away from the sport after his controversial split decision victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 last November 2013.

But it’s unclear whether St. Pierre will even return to the octagon after announcing that he won’t fight again unless he and his opponent will ” be thoroughly tested for the most advanced PEDs by a credible and independent body like VADA or USADA under the strictest standards of the WADA code.