January 6th, 2025 - Philadelphia 76ers vs Phoenix Suns

Current Averages for The Machine in his rookie year:

10.8 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 6.5 APG

Before the game, The Machine got a decent little Kia sponsorship! Not too shabby always nice to get a little bit of extra cash! The Machine also got the honor of ringing the bell prior to tip-off!

Regarding the game itself though, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and the Suns came to Philly with the Sixers sporting their black throwback uniforms!

It was a tightly contested game and Devin Booker really almost played hero for the Suns but ultimately it wasn't enough. The Machine struggled scoring in a big way but he contributed the best he could from a passing perspective. He finished the night with:

- 8 Points, 4 Rebounds 9 Assists
- Teammate Grade: A+

---

🌎My Thoughts on the Sports World Today🌎

In the real world, UFC 322 happened yesterday and it offered an interesting mix of boring and exciting contests!

Bo Nickal won his bout against Rodolfo Vieira in exciting fashion with a really nice and out of nowhere head kick knockout. Bo Nickal has shown relatively ideal progression in his career thus far and bounced back well after his last loss. There's a lot of hype around Nickal and he seems pretty determined to live up to those expectations. His attitude towards the fans who give him mixed reactions is rather interesting. He sort of seems to resent the boos and celebrations he gets and says love me or hate me pick one. It gives surprisingly Kobe Bryant vibes to me for some reason and I think having a chip on his shoulder is really going to help him.

Benoît Saint Denis has started to surprise me a bit as he's now on a three fight winning streak after dispatching the very respectable Beneil Dariush in just sixteen seconds via KO! After losing two straight not too long ago, Saint Denis is once again in a pretty nice place in his career, and I enjoyed his post fight interview and his soldier mindset.

Two new welterweights are now surging!

Carlos Prates absolutely schooled Leon Edwards and became the first person to knockout the former champ! He has pretty scary power and precision and brings a uniquely violent aura into the cage. I'm becoming a fan.

Michael Morales is another welterweight who really brought himself squarely into a contender position after knocking out Sean Brady who was #2 in the rankings! Morales looks massive for the weight class. He extends his undefeated record to 19-0. He is a scary dude it's simple as that!

Championship Fights

There were two championship belts on the line and history was certainly made in a big way at UFC 322.

Valentina Shevchenko is just an absolute living legend and seems to be both skilled and made of stone. She absolutely was untouchable against fellow great Weili Zhang and defended her Flyweight Title with ease. Valentina was just too physical and experienced and frankly superior in every way. It was seriously a long night for Zhang as she could literally do nothing over 25 minutes. I'm pretty grateful to witness a great like Valentina Shevchenko.

The main event was essentially a carbon copy of the co-main event and Islam Makhachev is proving to be simply an inevitable freight train of pain. He's just undeniable and relentless. Once again he proves how much of a problem ELITE wrestling can be. Jack Della Maddalena looked nothing remotely close to a champion in the cage with Islam and it was rather stunning. I thought Jack's size and athleticism might be hard for Islam but I was dead wrong, wrong as possible frankly.

Islam is now a champion at two of the harder weight classes in MMA. Not simultaneously but pretty dang close, back to back anyway. Islam is really proving to be greater than his close buddy Khabib Nurmagomedov but the wholesome thing about it is, their bond is so great that I think the two of them enhance each other's legacy in a unique, awesome way.

While the main events were somewhat boring to some more casual fans, I think they simply proved why they are champions.

I know damage is what people want and it's part of the scoring criteria, this is true. But in my opinion a more unspoken rule, at least the way I see it is, if a fighter met a fellow fighter one on one in the woods or in some room, who makes it out of the woods or out of that room? Who is ultimately in control, who is ultimately in danger? Both Islam and Valentina showed that they would likely survive such a scenario.

---

I'm excited to see what happens next in the UFC! Today is an NFL Sunday and there's lots of games today! Shaping up to be a nice sports weekend.

The sports world never sleeps, till next time!